Armenian police used excessive force against peaceful protesters on July 29, 2016 and assaulted journalists reporting on the demonstrations, Human Rights Watch said in its statement.
Police used stun grenades, which wounded dozens of demonstrators and some journalists, some severely, the human rights organization reported, adding that the police also beat journalists and protesters and detained dozens of people.
“Armenia’s investigation of the police assaults on demonstrators on July 29 should be swift and thorough,” said Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus director at Human Rights Watch. “While the police have an obligation to maintain public order, they do not have carte blanche to use violence against people gathered to peacefully express their views.”
Human Rights Watch spoke with victims and witnesses of the violence.
Human Rights Watch interviewed several injured journalists and protesters in a Yerevan hospital. One of them has 30 lacerations and first- and second-degree burns covering both legs. Doctors removed five plastic fragments from the stun grenade from his legs. He was not able to walk normally at the time of the interview.
Interviewees told Human Rights Watch that the crowd was not attempting to cross the cordon when police started launching the stun grenades. Video footage of the events reviewed by Human Rights Watch supports the witness accounts.
While police could legitimately seek to prevent protesters from getting too close to the police station, they were still bound to uphold human rights and respect standards on the use of force, Human Rights Watch said.
Security forces should not fire stun grenades directly into crowds, the organization said in its statement. Although the grenades are technically non-lethal, their fragmentation can foreseeably cause serious injuries in an indiscriminate manner, exposing non-violent protesters and on-lookers to grave harm.
“Police should not interfere with the legitimate work of journalists, let alone attack and punish them for doing their jobs,” Gogia said.