Tavush Protesters Who Got Run Over by Car Arrested and Face Charges

Three residents of Tavush have been arrested after a car ran them over during their protest, and they responded by stopping the car.

In an exclusive interview with The Armenian Report, Vahagn Makhsudyan’s attorney, Hovhannes Khudoyan, said, “Vahagn Makhsudyan has been arrested for 2 months. Based on my evaluation, clearly illegally. And two other people have also been arrested for one month each.”

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The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia has published a statement today regarding their investigation into the incident. “On April 21, 2024, in the area called 'Vodkhoz' of Haghtanak settlement of Noyemberyan community, Tavush region, in the direction of Bagratashen settlement, a group of citizens who closed the road for a long time apparently committed hooligan acts during the closure. A criminal proceeding has been initiated. As a result of a large-scale investigation, it was found that on the specified day (April 21), around 3:50 p.m. local time, a resident of Ayrum village demanded that the citizens who had blocked the interstate highway open the road and drove in his UAZ car. However, a group of people stopped the car's movement forward,” their statement reads.

For 10 days now, residents of Tavush province have been blocking roads in protest against the Armenian government’s decision to surrender their homeland to Azerbaijan as demining works have begun and border delimitation is in progress.

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“A group of people who blocked the road shouted curses and obscene expressions at the said resident and the citizens who supported his actions, in order to create fear among the residents of Ayrum and others who wanted to travel through the given road,” the Investigative Committee writes. 

According to The Armenian Report video footage and photographs from the scene, the UAZ car that attempted to run over the protesters on April 21 had the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union logo on it. We would like to remind our readers that the current Chairman of Yerkrapah is Sasun Mikayelyan, who helped lead the Velvet Revolution alongside Nikol Pashinyan, coming into power by blocking streets, roads, and highways.

Attorney to Makhsudyan tells The Armenian Report, “During the court hearing, the judge committed many procedural violations. From the beginning, it was clear that the judge had a goal to finish the hearing and imprison them as soon as possible. He did not even have a desire to listen.”

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The Investigative Committee reports, “Disregarding the demands of the police officers on duty at the scene of the action to stop the apparent hooligan acts, the mentioned persons attacked the UAZ car, hit the car with their hands and feet, damaging its various parts and breaking the windshield. In addition, one of the mentioned persons damaged the tire of the UAZ with a cutting-piercing object.”

The lawyer told The Armenian Report, “I consider the 2 months arrest illegal because it’s clear that Makhsudyan did not commit hooliganism. They ran him over with a [UAZ] car and then swore at him – to which he responded by not hitting another person but angrily hitting the windshield of the car.”

“We will receive the court decision tomorrow. There we will see the judge's reasoning for his decision. We are definitely going to appeal,” concluded Khudoyan.

Vahagn Makhsudyan was arrested on April 27, 2024, as he was giving a ride to The Armenian Report team to the nearby city of Ijevan in Tavush province. Our team has been in Tavush for days now, reporting on the ongoing protests in the region. The team decided to go to Ijevan for a warm meal and bring back some treats for the family who is hosting them in one of the villages. As they asked around town who can give them a ride, Vahagn said that he is actually headed to Ijevan himself and he would be happy to drop them off. As they neared Ijevan, they were stopped by police first, then masked and armed National Security Service officers. They arrested Makhsudyan and violently took down New Day’s camera operator. As the two reporters, Ani Khachatryan and Ani Gevorgyan urged the officers to stop, notifying them that he is a video-journalist. The entire scene was captured on video by Khachatryan.

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Makhsudyan, along with two other residents, has been arrested for trying to stop a car from running over protesters.

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION COURTESTY OF THE ARMENIAN REPORT

INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA statement:

The Armenia’s Investigative Committee has already informed that  on April 21, 2024, in the area called "Vodkhoz" of Haghtanak settlement of Noyemberyan community, Tavush region, in the direction of Bagratashen settlement, a group of citizens who closed the road for a long time apparently committed hooligan acts during the closure. A criminal proceeding has been initiated. 

As a result of large-scale investigation, it was found that on the specified day (April 21), around 3:50 p.m local time. , the resident of Ayrum village demanded the citizens who had blocked the interstate highway to open the road and drove in his UAZ car. However, a group of people stopped the car's movement forward.

A group of people who blocked the road shouted curses and obscene expressions at the said resident and the citizens who supported his actions, in order to create fear among the residents of Ayrum and others who wanted to travel through the given road.

Disregarding the demands of the police officers on duty at the scene of the action to stop the apparent hooligan acts, the mentioned persons attacked the UAZ car, hit the car with their hands and feet, damaging its various parts and breaking the windshield. In addition, one of the mentioned persons damaged the tire of UAZ with a cutting-piercing object. 

The apparent hooligan acts lasted for about 10 minutes and it was stopped as a result of the intervention of the police officers.

During the investigation, the identity of several people who committed the mentioned criminal acts was revealed by examining the video recordings published on the Internet regarding the mentioned event. Based on the petition of the body implementing the procedure, criminal prosecution was initiated against 4 of them: A.P.​, V.M.​, H.G., and A.A.

As already informed, earlier A.P.​ was charged and arrested.

The body implementing the procedure gave an order to arrest the other three mentioned persons in order to present them to the court to discuss the issue. On April 27, V.M.​ and H.​G. were arrested and charged under Article 297, Part 2, Clause 1 of the RA Criminal Code. A motion was filed with the court to detain the individual before his first hearing.

The investigation is ongoing, all the necessary measures are being taken in order to give legal evaluations to the actions of the other participants of the apparent hooliganism.