Human Rights Watch urges probe into police violence at Yerevan rallyJune 25, 2015 - 13:14 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Police in Armenia used force to disperse a largely peaceful protest on June 23, 2015, raising concerns about potential human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said, according to Tert.am. The authorities should immediately open a thorough and impartial investigation to determine whether the force used was lawful and proportionate, and if not, ensure accountability for those responsible for use of excessive force. They should investigate all allegations of beatings, unlawful destruction of journalists’ equipment, and arbitrary detention of journalists covering the protests. The investigation should also examine the circumstances in which water cannons were deployed, such as what warnings were given to protesters and operational instructions on targeting of water jets. “Even if the Yerevan demonstration was unauthorized, nothing can justify physical attacks on largely peaceful demonstrators and journalists covering the protests,” said Giorgi Gogia, senior South Caucasus researcher at Human Right Watch. “Police responsible for beating protesters and interfering with the work of journalists should be held to account.” Top stories The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. London’s Armenian community has been left feeling “under attack” after the city’s Genocide monument was vandalised. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. Armenia to sing in 2nd semi-final of Eurovision The organizers of Eurovision 2024 have revealed the running order of the countries in the two semi-finals. |