Aram Hakobyan: I did not surrender, seven policemen attacked me when I was transporting my wounded comrades (video)

Support A1+!

During a discussion held at the Media Centre NGO, Hasmik Sahakyan, Head of the Public Monitoring Group for Police Detention Centres, spoke about Aram Hakobyan, one of the members of the Sasna Dzrer group that attacked and seized a police compound in Yerevan on July 17. According to the police, Hakobyan surrendered to law enforcers on the night of July 27. Today, Hasmik Sahakyan had a private conversation with Aram Hakobyan who is kept at a police detention centre in Yerevan. “He has injuries and cannot move freely,” she said. “Hakobyan told me that according to press reports he had surrendered voluntarily. But during the private conversation, he said that after Pavel Manukyan and his son were wounded by the police, he went with a stretcher and helped transport the wounded outside of the police building so that they would be taken to hospital. Hakobyan was not armed at that time. Just at that moment he was attacked by seven policemen in the area of the police station who began beating him. Then he was forced into a police car and taken to Nalbandyan street where the building of the National Security Service is located. Hakobyan was beaten all the way through the third floor of the NSS. He refused medical aid despite his numerous injuries. Hakobyan officially announces that they are not criminals but he says they have done it for our nation and our security. He wanted people to know that he did not surrender himself, that he was attacked by seven police officers and beaten up severely. He says they hit him on his head and back. He may have broken ribs and it will be better to invite a doctor to examine him, I think,” Hasmik Sahakyan said.