Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

At 10:29 a.m. on March 20, 2020, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor phone number 094-04-22-68, which provides legal advice for citizens, received a call from   +79102119294 phone number. The man who called the Organization’s phone number, asked the answering lawyer if he had contacted HCA Vanadzor and, using swear words in Armenian, threatened to inflict bodily harm to HCA Vanadzor Chairman Artur Sakunts, if the latter continued to criticize V. Putin.  

Qualifying the phone call as a direct threat addressed to Artur Sakunts and the Organization, the Organization applied to the competent bodies claiming to initiate a criminal case on the incident, to find out the identity of the person calling by +79102119294 phone number and to make the latter liable in a manner prescribed by law.  

This incident indicates that some people perceive the freedom of speech and expression as an opportunity to express their personal unrestrained passions, make use of some sponsorship and be sure that they would remain unpunished. We  call on the RA law enforcement bodies to take immediate measures and disclose this criminal, and in case the latter turns out to be Armenian, to make efforts to bring him to Armenia and conduct further investigation. 

Journalists’ Club-Asparez
Open Society Foundations-Armenia
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor
KhoranArd non-governmental organization
Public Journalism Club
Union of Informed Citizens
‘Helsinki Association’ human rights NGO
Transparency International Anticorruption Center