Armenia`s police victim of trolling - MP

ArmInfo. The head of the commission on financial, credit and budgetary issues of the National Assembly of  Armenia, Tsovinar Vardanyan, believes that currently the police forces ensuring the safety of the country's citizens are under direct attack from the protest movement led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan. 

For example, today, participants in peaceful protests of disobedience  used violence against them, she pointed out on May 30 at a hearing of  the report on the implementation of the 2023 budget by the office of  the RA Ombudsman.

According to her, recently, within the framework of actions "carried  out by certain circles," "persons leading this movement, a number of  people were chosen as targets." "Later, these persons, for example,  the citizen who was accused (of wiretapping Galstanyan's hotel room),  went to court, where she was paid some kind of compensation, but I  want to understand who will be responsible for this," she said. (It  is noteworthy that earlier the archbishop expressed bewilderment due  to the fact that after an attempt to install a listening device in  his hotel room, criminal proceedings were initiated not for illegal  wiretapping, but for causing moral <suffering> to the person  installing the device - ed.).

Personal data of servants of the law is posted and distributed  through TG channels, which makes them the target of online  harassment, the parliamentarian added.

"I would like law enforcement agencies to perceive this statement as  a report of a crime and they would conduct an investigation in order  to understand what is happening," Vardanyan emphasized. She also  asked Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan whether a legislative gap  could be the reason for this persecution.

Secretary of the ruling parliamentary faction "Civil Contract" Arthur  Hovhannisyan, in turn, called on his colleagues to criminalize  attacks on children caused by the activities of parents. <It doesn't  matter if their parents are government officials, opposition  officials, taxi drivers, programmers, etc. No matter how we treat  this or that person, his child should not be attacked," said  Hovhannisyan. (On April 24, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's wife  Anna Hakobyan and her youngest daughter Arpi at the Eternal Flame of  the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex were greeted with shouts of  "Armenia - without Turks", "Nikol is a murderer, a Turk" - ed.).

The Ombudsman responded in her usual manner - she called on the  parties to show restraint, saying that both persons holding public  positions and ordinary citizens are obliged to follow the established  rules.

In 2023, the office of the Ombudsman of Armenia was allocated 603  million drams from the state budget.  As stated by Armenian Finance  Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan, the bulk of the funds went to finance the  staff of the Ombudsman's office. In total, 557 million drams were  sold. The completion rate was 92.3%.

We also note that according to the police statement, today some  protesters on Republic Square attacked police officers. <The police  of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia continues to perform  their functions established by law. Any illegal action will receive a  criminal legal assessment. We urge the protesters not to break the  law and comply with the lawful demands of the police," the statement  says.