The maverick activist, Karapet Poghosian, said that the officer verbally abused and hit him after a tense conversation in a local grocery store during which he told the latter to “stay away” from him.
“It was really a surprise to me, and I will definitely try to evaluate this as a clearly deliberate act,” Poghosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. He did not specify why he warned the policeman moments before the alleged assault.
Poghosian, who is a vocal critic of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, claimed that he was attacked because of his political activities. “This is not the first time in recent years that they resorted to violence or fabricated criminal cases against me,” he said.
Armenia’s human rights ombudswoman, Anahit Manasian, expressed concern over the allegations, saying that law-enforcement authorities must investigate them in a “detailed and comprehensive” manner.
“The human rights defender once again emphasizes that violence is totally unacceptable and condemnable,” read a statement released by Manasian’s office.
The police told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that they have already launched an internal inquiry into the incident. Another law-enforcement body, the Investigative Committee, said it is conducting a separate probe based on the policeman’s claim that he himself was attacked by the oppositionist.
The Gyumri incident was reported two weeks after scores of Armenian lawyers went on strike to show support for their colleagues allegedly beaten up by police officers.
One of the lawyers, Karen Alaverdian, claimed to have been subjected to “undue physical force” after trying to stop several policemen kicking and punching his client at a police station in Yerevan earlier in June. The Investigative Committee effectively denied the allegations on June 13, saying that Alaverdian himself shoved and even hit the officers in a bid to free the criminal suspect.
Human rights activists say that ill-treatment of criminal suspects remains widespread in Armenia despite sweeping law-enforcement reforms promised by Pashinian’s government. Law-enforcement officers are still rarely prosecuted or fired for such offenses.
As recently as on June 22, a man in Yerevan claimed that the Investigative Committee chief, Argishti Kyaramian, personally tortured and threatened to kill him following his arrest on June 17. A spokesman for Kyaramian denied the allegations.