Torture of journalist result of her criticism against police chief -  lawyer 

ArmInfo. The head of the Shirak regional department of the main criminal police department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, police colonel Karen Gevorgyan threatened journalist Lilit Aghekyan during her personal  search, emphasizing that he will not forget that she is the only  journalist who criticized his activities. This is reported by the  journalist's lawyer Zaruhi Postanjyan.

According to Postanjyan's statement received by ArmInfo, on the  instructions of Karen Gevorgyan, the police officers forced her  client to strip naked in front of cameras at the police station for a  personal search.  These actions by law enforcement officers led to  the fact that Aghekyan's health condition sharply worsened, and the  police were forced to call an ambulance, after which the journalist  was taken to the hospital.

"The police were not satisfied with abducting Lilit Agekyan in her  pajamas and slippers, without hygiene products, but also wanted to  record her naked body on video," the lawyer complained.

In this regard, the lawyer drew attention to the fact that Gevorkyan  is known as a person who prefers to spend time in restaurants and  cafes during working hours, while in uniform. In addition, in her  statement, Postanjyan sent a number of questions to the Minister of  Internal Affairs of Armenia Arpine Sargsyan, demanding an explanation  of who gave the order for her client to be stripped naked during the  search and for the entire process to be recorded on camera. "If such  an order really existed, where was it published. If the order did not  come from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, I demand that  the author of this order be indicated and the time frame for  responding to the torture committed by the police against Lilit  Agekyan. If you or your neighbor were in Lilit Agekyan's situation,  what would you feel? Would you experience pleasure?" the lawyer asked  rhetorically.

In turn, the press secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of  Armenia Narek Sargsyan assured that the lawyer's statements regarding  the nature of the search of her client do not correspond to reality,  assuring that the search of Agekyan at the Kumayri police station  took place in the presence of female police officers and assistants  without video surveillance cameras.

"In accordance with the relevant decision of the Armenian government,  an ambulance team was called to perform a medical examination of the  detainee while already in the place of detention. The doctor examined  the detainee without the presence of the police and without cameras,  after which he was placed in intensive care," Sargsyan noted.

In his statement, the press secretary of the Ministry of Internal  Affairs also called "not to spread false information and not to make  unfounded accusations against police officers."

It is noteworthy that the Armenian Ombudsman Anahit Manasyan has not  yet responded to the situation and has not given a legal assessment  of what happened, although the journalist was detained on May 8.

The Union of Journalists of Armenia had previously responded to the  situation, noting in its statement that after her detention, the  journalist was not allowed to meet with a lawyer for a long time. In  addition, they drew attention to the fact that, despite the  deterioration of Agekyan's condition, the police still decided to  arrest her for a month. The Union also noted that the desire to  arrest a woman who has an elderly parent in her care and is known for  her opposition views raises doubts in a situation where, in much more  extraordinary cases, the law enforcement system does not take any  action if the person who committed the alleged criminal act is loyal  to the authorities. In this regard, in their statement, they  expressed their conviction that the actions against the journalist  may be aimed at isolating her in order to limit the speech and  activities of Lilit Agekyan.

We will add that, according to the Investigative Committee of  Armenia, the reason for the detention of the journalist was her  statements that Agekyan allegedly made in one of the schools  addressed to students and teachers, as well as in connection with her  statements, as part of the announcement of the court decision.