Heritage MPs Address the International Community

Heritage MPs Address the International Community

[March 04, 2008]

Yerevan-On March 2, Armenian National Assembly members Miasnik Malkhasyan and Hakob Hakobyan were arrested on suspicion of provoking disorderly conduct during the political opposition’s recent demonstrations. Heritage Party parliamentarians Larisa Alaverdian’s and Zaruhi Postanjian’s subsequent attempts to visit the preliminary confinement unit of the Special Sixth Department of the National Police, where the two deputies are currently being detained, as well as the morgues of the Armenian capital, have met up against administrative obstacles placed by the relevant executive bodies. This fact stands as a severe violation of the law which regulates the rights and privileges of members of the National Assembly.

In addition, the reports received from the legal defenders of several arrestees allow us to assert that all of Yerevan’s detention halls are full of people who have become the patent victims of police brutality. And this fact is the real reason why the Heritage MPs were not permitted to visit the above-mentioned confinement unit.

We are deeply concerned with the present condition of those who are currently in custody, and this situation confirms the public fear that the country’s law enforcement bodies actually do not intend to carry out a fair and unbiased investigation into this and all other tragic events which have taken the lives of Armenian citizens.

In view of the aforementioned, we address the world community, which is represented here by the OSCE/PACE observation mission, and insist that international experts also partake in the future examinations of this national calamity.

The Heritage Parliamentary Group
Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan 0002, Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 536.913, fax at (374-10) 532.697, email at office@heritage.am or info@heritage.am, and website at www.heritage.am