Ruben Melikyan, President of the “Path of Law” NGO, made a post on his Facebook page hours ago, which reads:

“I have just learned from Vahagn Chakhalyan, a representative of the” Kamk” public movement, that one of the members of that movement has been arrested for running over MP Nikolay Baghdasaryan on a bicycle. According to Chakhalyan, the detainee does not accept the facts presented by the deputy.

But the criminal side of the issue is more strange. Chakhalyan informed me that the person had been arrested on suspicion of committing the act provided for in part 1 of Article 316 of the Criminal Code. That is, “Violence or threat of violence, not dangerous for life or health, against a representative of authorities or close relatives, concerned with performance of his official duties.”

Moreover, part 3 of the same article defines the concept of “representative of the government”. A representative of authorities we mean, the official of state and self-government bodies who is vested with the power to command to persons who are not under his subordination.

In other words, Article 316 applies only to those employees who have the right to order any person. They are mainly police officers.

Now, since when did the NA deputy become a policeman, and the violence against him is describedunder article 316?  Since when have the deputies been endowed with the authority to order people?”