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  • Armenia: Civilians Die As Police Suppress Demonstrations And Riots

    ARMENIA: CIVILIANS DIE AS POLICE SUPPRESS DEMONSTRATIONS AND RIOTS

    Reuters AlertNet
    March 3 2008
    UK

    Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this
    article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are
    the author's alone.

    (New York, March 2, 2008) ? The Armenian government should launch
    a prompt and independent investigation into the use of lethal force
    by security forces to quell demonstrations and rioting overnight on
    March 1, 2008, Human Rights Watch said today. The violence occurred
    after a 20-day state of emergency was declared by President Robert
    Kocharian in response to an alleged threat to public order posed by
    opposition demonstrators. Clashes between police and demonstrators
    in downtown Yerevan, the capital, on the night of March 1-2 resulted
    in at least eight deaths, according to the Armenian Health Ministry.

    Military forces deployed in Yerevan helped suppress the protests and
    riots. The ministry also reported that at least 131 people ?

    including 57 police ? were injured, some of them seriously. Many
    demonstrators have been reported missing, according to journalists
    and other observers in Yerevan.

    "The Armenian government should swiftly investigate whether the
    police and army used lethal force against protesters in accordance
    with international standards," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central
    Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "While the government has a duty
    to maintain civic order, lethal force may only be used when strictly
    necessary to protect life."

    The protests began when tens of thousands of supporters of opposition
    presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian took to the streets in
    downtown Yerevan on February 20 to denounce the declared election
    results and what they alleged to have been electoral fraud. The
    protests continued peacefully on Freedom Square for the next 10 days,
    with some demonstrators camping out on the square in tents. Early
    in the morning on March 1, Armenian security violently dispersed
    the crowd.

    Several demonstrators and eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch that
    violent clashes started late in the afternoon of March 1, after
    demonstrators refused to abide by police instructions to disperse.

    Police then shot tracer bullets, allegedly resulting in the first
    casualties, including the death of a demonstrator.

    Later in the morning of March 1, protesters gathered in front of the
    French Embassy in downtown Yerevan. Their numbers grew substantially
    during the day, as did the police presence. Observers reported that
    police were equipped with rubber truncheons, electric-shock devices,
    and water cannons, and that military personnel arrived in armored
    personnel carriers. Several journalists present told Human Rights
    Watch that angry masses of people prepared for a confrontation with
    the security forces by arming themselves with stones, wooden sticks,
    and iron bars. Another demonstrator explained that people used nearby
    park benches and fences to find metal and wooden objects.

    By about 5 or 6 p.m., tens of thousands of people had gathered near
    the French Embassy. A demonstrator told Human Rights Watch that the
    crowd wanted to march towards the home of Ter-Petrosian, who has been
    under effective house arrest since police had cordoned off his home.

    Demonstrators made a cordon around the rally area using cars and buses.

    Violent clashes broke out, according to eyewitnesses, when a tracer
    bullet apparently struck and killed a demonstrator. Angry demonstrators
    cried for revenge and attacked the security forces. A local observer
    who watched a video recording of the events told Human Rights
    Watch that the video showed how demonstrators, demanding revenge,
    placed the dead body of a man, apparently in his 50s, on top of a
    car. Eyewitnesses reported that demonstrators then attacked police,
    who retreated. One protestor told Human Rights Watch how a group of
    young demonstrators chased police, set fire to police cars, and broke
    shop windows.

    Persons in the vicinity told Human Rights Watch that they heard weapons
    being fired. A local source who watched video footage of the aftermath
    of some of the clashes told Human Rights Watch: "I saw thick layers
    of blood, parts of human bodies, several dead bodies...

    at least eight police cars were on fire... a lot of wounded, who cried
    for help and water, a lot of people with open head wounds, claiming
    that they had been assaulted by police... I saw also wounded police,
    a lot of blood, pools of blood."

    "Police and security forces clearly faced an extremely difficult
    situation," said Cartner. "But they are still obliged to adhere to
    standards for the use of lethal force."

    The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms
    by Law Enforcement Officials call upon law enforcement officials in
    the dispersal of violent assemblies to use firearms only when less
    dangerous means are not practicable and only to the minimum extent
    necessary. Lethal force may only be used when strictly unavoidable
    to protect life and only when less extreme means are insufficient to
    achieve these objectives.

    Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned by reports from journalists
    and local observers that many demonstrators have gone missing. In the
    current state of emergency, with an effective media blackout, relatives
    have little access to information about their missing family members.

    "Armenian authorities should promptly make the casualty list public,
    as well as the names of those arrested and places of detention," said
    Cartner. "The authorities should also not use the state of emergency
    to unnecessarily restrict freedom of information."

    Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
    to which Armenia is a party, governments may limit certain ICCPR
    rights only during a state of emergency that is declared during a
    "public emergency which threatens the life of the nation." Limits on
    rights and freedoms may only be to the extent strictly required by
    the situation. Governments must at all times guarantee the right to
    life, the prohibition against torture and ill-treatment, the right
    to liberty and security of person, the right to a fair trial, and
    freedom of thought, conscience and religion, among other rights. The
    European Convention on Human Rights provides similar protections.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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