Police had no right to abuse civil activist - lawyer 

ArmInfo. The police had no motive to abuse civil activist Samvel Vardanyan, who, with the permission of law enforcement officers, was tortured by masked  civilians on the way to being transferred from the Investigative Committee (IC) to a place of detention.

Lawyer Ruben Melikyan stated this at a briefing with journalists, noting that this horrific incident can be considered an order of the ruling Civil Contract party.

According to Melikyan, the order from the authorities is evidenced by  the course of events with the Speaker of the National Assembly, posts  on social networks left by deputies from the Civil Contract party  Vahagn Aleksanyan and Artur Hovhannisyan, which were followed by this  unprecedented crime.

A lawyer, some opposition deputies and citizens gathered in the  morning near the building of the detention center to escort the car  with Samvel Vardanyan to the Investigative Committee, where he will  most likely be charged.

As Melikyan noted, since yesterday he, together with human rights  activist and lawyer Varazdat Harutyunyan, have been constantly  signaling the fact of a crime. The lawyer added that the Armenian  media are actively covering this incident, and according to the  Criminal Procedure Code, publications in the media can serve as the  basis for initiating a criminal case. "But since yesterday we have  not witnessed the initiation of criminal proceedings. I will say  more, the Investigative Committee reported that no one contacted  them, and for this reason the case was not initiated. We did not  specifically contact them, since media reports about this kind of  crime should be taken into account according to the law. If  everything had been exactly the opposite, I assure you that these  messages would have been immediately accepted for production,"  Melikyan noted.

An incident occurred on public transport between activist Samvel  Vardanyan and a deputy from the party in power, Hakob Aslanyan, a  video of which appeared on the Internet. After this incident, law  enforcement officers detained the young man. The police officers who  accompanied him on the way from the Investigative Committee to the  place where the detainees were being held allegedly left "out of  need." At this time, the car was opened by people in civilian clothes  and masks, who forcibly took Vardanyan out of the car, used physical  force, humiliated him, uttering insults of a sexual nature.

The detained young man himself told his lawyers about this disgusting  incident. After this statement, the police announced that they were  starting an internal investigation, but so far no criminal case has  been initiated, and the police officers accompanying Samvel Vardanyan  have not been fired or arrested. Those who tortured the young man  were not found either.