Statement on the incident with the participation of Zaruhi Postanjyan

Statement on the incident with the participation of Zaruhi Postanjyan

RA Human Rights Defender’s Office carried out a detailed examination of the videos depicting incident with participation of RA Parliamentarian, “Erkir Tsirani” party candidate for the mayor of Yerevan, Zaruhi Postanjyan, taking place in the pre-election headquarter of a “Republican” party candidate for the mayor of Yerevan, in Avan administrative district of Yerevan.

 

The activities of the police during the incident, specifically the attitude towards Zaruhi Postanjyan, the attempt to apprehend her, were subjected to a detailed examination.

 

In this respect, the Human Rights Defender’s Office declares that Police Officers are obliged to respect human rights, show restraint in relation to any citizen and specifically in their interactions with participants of political activities. A Police officer must be respectful and unbiased. These are binding legislative requirements aimed at ensuring public confidence. Compliance with these requirements is particularly important in relation to such events under public scrutiny as are Yerevan mayor elections.

 

All the material related to police activities were summarised by the Defender’s Office and will be sent to the Police, with a request to initiate respective proceedings.