Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, Chamber of Advocates to sign cooperation memorandum

ArmInfo. RA Minister of  Internal Affairs Vahe Ghazaryan met today with the Chairman of the RA  Chamber of Advocates Simon Babayan, Head of the Office of the Public  Defender (PDO) Gevorg Mkrtchyan and Director of the RA School of  Advocates Ara Zohrabyan.

According to the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs' press service, the  meeting was attended by Police Chief - Deputy Interior Minister,  Major General of Police Aram Hovhannisyan, Head of Internal Security  Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Police Colonel  Vaghinak Martirosyan.

Following the meeting, a joint statement was adopted.

In particular, it reads: "The RA Ministry of Internal Affairs and the  RA Chamber of Advocates, having discussed the incidents that took  place in February and June of this year in two metropolitan police  departments (in Central and Erebuni), declare that the parties  emphasize the role of the attorneyship and the police in the legal  system of Armenia and consider any manifestation of violence  unacceptable.

In addition, based on the results of internal investigations, the  Ministry of Internal Affairs gave its assessment of the incident that  occurred in the Erebuni department, and the incident that occurred in  the Central Department is in the process of internal investigation.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs assures that the actions of the  police officers involved in the incidents will be given a proper  legal assessment, ensuring a comprehensive, complete and objective  investigation.

Moreover, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Chamber of  Advocates will establish a joint commission consisting of police  officers and lawyers to quickly respond to such situations, organize  mutual conversations, training courses, and discuss issues related to  the behavior of police officers and lawyers.

And in the coming days, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the  Chamber of Advocates will sign a memorandum of cooperation."

As ArmInfo previously reported, on July 11, Armenian lawyers began a  three-day protest outside the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs,  demanding the resignation of the RA Police Chief Aram Hovhannisyan.   In the morning, the head of the RA Police was awarded the certificate  "Enemy of the Attorneyship".

Relations between the Police and the Chamber of Advocates  deteriorated after employees of the Erebuni police department  insulted and beat two lawyers, Marzpet Avagyan and Emmanuel Ananyan,  at the beginning of the year (the incident took place during a  confrontation involving a minor and a police officer - ed. note).  Then, the chief of the police promised to punish those responsible,  and the incident was hushed up.

However, on June 7 of this year, another lawyer was severely beaten  by law enforcement officers. The incident took place in the Central  Department of the RA Police. This time, the police targeted Karen  Alaverdyan's lawyer.