No to Plunder movement addresses letter to law enforcement authorities
The No to Plunder movement has addressed letters to Armenian Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan, Chairman of the Investigative Committee Aghvan Hovsepyan, Chief of Armenian Police Vladimir Gasparyan and Chairman of the Special Investigation Service Vahram Shahinyan. “Citizens of the Republic of Armenia have been fighting against the unjustified rise in electricity prices since 2014. On June 23, the Police used excessive force against protesters who had been staging a sit-in in a central avenue in Yerevan since June 19. Using water cannons, the Police violently dispersed the participants of a peaceful sit-in and journalists and forcibly detained many of them, taking them to police stations. In a press release issued later in the day, the Police said over 237 people had been detained who were believed to be charged with hooliganism. The Ministry of Health said, in turn, that 25 people had applied to the Ambulance Service, with 15 being hospitalized. On the same day, 13 protesters were taken to a police station in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri. One of them was immediately charged with an offence. We condemn the violence against peaceful protesters and journalists and demand that - the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Special Investigation Service punish the police officers who used excessive force to disperse and arrest protesters and journalists during the police crackdown on the sit-in on Marshal Baghramyan Avenue on June 23 and compensate the damage - the Police, the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office stop unfounded criminal and administrative prosecution against peaceful demonstrators and journalists, " the movement said.
