Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

On January 24, 2025, the court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction of the Lori region, presided over by Judge L. Sepkhanyan, decided to uphold the submitted application regarding the arrest record of V.M., who is under the legal protection of the Organization. 

On January 10 of this year, two persons in civilian clothes visited the V.M. 's apartment at 7:45 in the morning, who introduced themselves as the employees of the Lori regional police department of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs. The latter, without any justification and presenting a document, urged V.M. to go to the Department, noting that they need to talk. 

On the same day, V.M. was subjected to a personal search without legal grounds. After the search, the employees of the department subjected V.M. to physical violence to extract a confession for an act he had not committed. Unable to extract a confession, the next day, at around 13:00, V.M. was set free without any legal justification. 

HCAV and Ani Chatinyan, the coordinator of the legal department of HCAV have undertaken the protection of the rights of V.M. On January 15, Chatinyan filed a complaint with the court of the First Instance of the General Jurisdiction of the Lori region, which was granted on January 24. 

The record to arrest V. M.  and the actions to arrest him were evidently illegal, and the court recognized the latter’s arrest illegal based on the existing legal and factual grounds.