As we have already reported, on the night of 10 February, two lawyers during the performance of their professional activities were violently assaulted, beaten, and cursed by the police officers in the Erebuni Police Department.

Lawyer Hrant Ananyan, who will represent the interests of fellow lawyers Marzpet Avagyan and Emanuel Ananyan, who were subjected to violence, noted that the incident and its motive, is the professional activity of lawyers. The lawyers participated in the confrontation of their minor client with the police officer who brought the minor into custody.

“During the given investigative operation, in the face-to-face interrogation, in which Marzpet Avagyan and Emanuel Ananyan participated, the minor witness, in the presence of his legal representative and a psychologist, testified with the operational inspector of the Erebuni Police Department, who confronted him, about how they, the students, were brought using brute force to to the Erebuni police department. He mentioned how they were tortured in the department, including covering their heads with clothes, beating them with several people, making them lie on the ground, putting their feet on top of them while giving these statements. In fact, tensions built up and reached a peak at the time when the operative officer, who was confronted with the minor witness in question, when the defenders of the arrested minor asked questions to the operative officer, aimed at the full disclosure of the circumstances of the case. All those questions were recorded in the minutes of the investigative operation, which are completely correct. However, the facing operating officer got even hotter than that, and the situation got even tenser.

About 10 operative officers, who should not have been there in general, were gathered at the door of the investigative operation. Then, before signing the protocol of the given investigative operation, the operative inspector also left the office, from the corridor, started to make insulting expressions of various nature and questioning the honor and dignity of Marzpet Avagyan. He just demanded an explanation and said that they don’t know each other; he is there because of his profession, what is the problem. Those questions were followed by aggressive answers and attacks on Marzpet Avagyan.

Emanuel Ananyan, who came out into the corridor a few seconds later, when Marzpet Avagyan was already surrounded and hit with hands and feet, urged everyone to calm down, they also twisted Emanuel Ananyan’s hands and hit him. When his hands were twisted, especially the police officer who participated in that face-to-face interrogation, as well as the deputy in charge of the Erebuni police department, also cursed Emmanuel Ananyan, and the police officer hit him on the head,” Hrant Ananyan said.

According to him, since a department of the Investigative Committee is located on the second floor of that police building, only as a result of the intervention of the IC investigators it was possible to curb the police and stop the process.

“If it hadn’t happened, I think there would have been more serious consequences. This is not only a private case, but this is also an action against the institution,” the lawyer said.

More details about the case here.