The Investigative Committee said on Wednesday that the latest indictments brought to 16 the total number of protesters prosecuted over that incident. Eight of them are in pre-trial custody and five others under house arrest, the law-enforcement agency said in a statement.
Thousands of people led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian gathered on June 12 on a street outside the Armenian parliament building where Pashinian answered questions from lawmakers amid unprecedented security measures. Scuffles broke out there moments before security forces hurled dozens of stun grenades into the crowd.
The use of force was strongly condemned by not only Galstanian’s opposition-backed movement but also Armenia’s leading civic groups. In a joint statement, 17 mostly Western-funded NGOs described the police actions as “unnecessary, disproportionate and illegal.” They were especially outraged by the unprecedented number of stun grenades used in the crackdown.
The Investigative Committee again defended the crackdown, saying that it stopped “mass disturbances.” Echoing Pashinian’s claims, it also said protesters tried to break through the police cordons to storm the parliament.
According to the committee statement, only one man now stands accused of participating in the “mass disturbances.” The 15 other indicted protesters were charged with “hooliganism” that mainly took the form of plastic bottles and other objects thrown at the riot police.
The arrested men include the 73-year-old Tigran Saribekian. A video of the clashes shows Saribekian touching one of his ears injured by a stun grenade blast before picking up an object and throwing it towards the police officers.
Saribekian’s lawyer, Ruben Melikian, said that like other protesters, his client did so instinctively to express outrage at the indiscriminate use of the deafening explosive devices. Melikian argued that many policemen were also caught on camera throwing various objects at the crowd.
“If they arrested eight protesters for doing that, then they should have also arrested 80 policemen,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Varazdat Harutiunian, another lawyer linked to Galstanian’s movement, claimed that the investigators are acting on government orders. The head of the Investigative Committee, Argishti Kyaramian, is one of Pashinian’s trusted lieutenants.
The committee on Wednesday claimed to be also investigating “the proportionality and legality” of the police actions that left at least 83 protesters and 8 journalists injured. It indicated that it has not indicted any law-enforcement officers.
Dozens of other protesters have also been seriously injured by the police since Archbishop Galstanian launched his campaign for regime change on May 9. No policemen have been charged over those incidents, including the May 27 beating by members of a special police squad of an opposition parliamentarian, Ashot Simonian.
The authorities have prosecuted instead dozens of supporters of Galstanian on various charges denied by them. At least 29 of them are currently under arrest pending investigation.
