Armenian police chief inflicts punishment on persons responsible for June 23 events on Bagramyan Avenue

By an order of the Chief of the Armenian Police Vladimir Gasparyan, disciplinary penalties were imposed on a group of law enforces who committed violations during the events on Bagramyan Avenue in Yerevan early in the morning on June 23, a spokesman for the Armenian police, Ashot Aharonyan, wrote on his Facebook page.

“The Armenian police launched an official investigation on June 23 into the facts reported on the same day on Bagramyan Avenue and In Liberty Square and related to measures taken to restore public order. The investigation shows – as of July 13 – that a group of policemen committed disciplinary offences that day,” the statement says.

The law enforcers who committed violations were deputy chief of the Department for Maintenance of Public Order, Police Colonel Gurgen Abrahamyan who was demoted to a lower rank, a deputy chief of Yerevan police, Police Colonel Arthur Mehrabyan (he received a reprimand), and junior police agent Arthur Galechyan who received a severe reprimand. Severe reprimands were also issued to another six policemen, RIA Novosti reported.

An investigation is underway. The police will regularly inform the public of results.

As was reported, earlier Armenian Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan - while commenting in an interview with GALA TV Station on the events on Bagramyan Avenue in Yerevan early June 23 (when water cannon were used to disperse the protesters against a power tariff hike) – apologized for law enforcers’ actions against reporters. He said that “an official investigation will soon shed light on what happened”. “There have obviously been some omissions which I noticed in work, especially with regard to mass media representatives. I apologize for that. I ordered an official investigation and we will deal with the matter. I know that technical equipment was damaged. The police will reimburse the reporters for material damage,” the police chief said at the time.