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Armenian Opposition Rallies To Mark Anniversary Of Activist’s Death

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Anniversary Of Activist’s Death

Anniversary Of Activist’s Death

Several hundred supporters of a newly organized Armenian opposition group rallied in Yerevan to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of an activist who had been arrested for aiding antigovernment gunmen during a standoff with security forces.

The rally in Yerevan’s Liberty Square on March 16 was organized by the Front for the State of Armenia, which has called for opposition unity to force the creation of a provisional government and the release of political prisoners.

Speakers at the rally highlighted the case of Artur Sarkisian, 49, who died of heart failure on March 16, 2017, just days after being released from prison following a 25-day hunger strike.

Sarkisian had been jailed on charges of aiding armed members of a radical opposition group by delivering food to the gunmen during a two-week standoff with security forces in the summer of 2016.

In the incident, some 30 armed members of the group took hostages and barricaded themselves inside a police station. They eventually surrendered, but not until two police officers were killed and several injured during the standoff.

Rally speakers also callied for a combined effort by opposition groups to prevent outgoing President Serzh Sarkisian (no relation) from staying in power as prime minister after he completes his second and final term on April 9.

Following a referendum in December 2015, Armenia changed its form of government from a semipresidential to a parliamentary republic.

Skeptics see the constitutional reforms as a way for Sarkisian to maintain political control in Armenia by becoming prime minister when the mandate for his presidential term expires.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/armenian-opposition-rallies-anniversary-activists-death/29104757.html?ltflags=mailer

Armenian activists dispute constitutionality of presidential election by parliament

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While the National Assembly was conducting its Friday hearing to elect the fourth President of Armenia, a group of civic activist gathered outside for a protest to dispute the constitutionality of the voting.

With posters bearing the slogan ‘No to Constitution’s Misrepresentation’, the group claimed that the parliament was conducting the election in violation of the basic law of Armenia.  Garik Sarukhanyan, a member of the Union for National Self-Determination, said they dispute also the legsitimacy of the 2015 constitutional referendum proposing a transition to the parliamentary government, downgrading the president’s status.

“We are attending the burial of constitutionality here, because what they are doing inside the National Assembly now is practically killing the institute of constitutionality.

So we are eye-witnessing that process in a way. In the Constitution which they have themselves written, it is plainly stateed that the a new Constitution enters into effect after the presidential election. So the people were supposed to elect the president at this stage of developments,” he told reporters.

Volodya Avetisyan, a veteran of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) war also attending the protest, called for an active civic campaign for achieving a government change.

“What we have in the Republic of Armenia today is a tyrannical and criminal regime everybody knows about. So those criminal authorities, which acceded to power by distributing bribes, are now illegitimately appointing  a president,” he said.

Public protests will be inevitable in Armenia in 2018 – human rights activists

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Public protests and instabilities will be inevitable in Armenia in 2018, according to top representatives of human rights NGOs.

Speaking to Tert.am, President of Helsinki Committee of Armenia Avetik Ishkhanyan stressed the importance of civil society campaigns as a serious effort towards combating numerous human rights abuses.

He also highlighted last year’s public debates addressing the problem of domestic violence, and political prisoners. “But because human rights violations bear a systemic character in Armenia and there is no clear-cut separation of powers, the civil society’s achievements can be only partial, not systemic,” Ishkhanyan noted.

He added that very often violent acts by law enforcement officials go unpunished, encouraging them to commit further abuses.

Addressing the problem, Artur Sakunts, President of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office, said he sees that the scope of activities has essentially narrowed for civil society organizations, restricting their chances to react freely to different developments.

“I observe regress in participatory processes and the civil society’s role in, and impact upon, the decision-making,” he said, citing restrictions on the media and civil society NGOs in election monitoring activities.

 

Sakunts also stressed the importance of considering opinion-makers’ decision, a process which he said also saw a regress in the country in 2017.

He added that he doesn’t have optimistic forecasts for 2018 either. “We will be facing an institutionalized authoritarianism in 2018. With the problems never finding a real solution, exercising pressures, silencing and taking processes under control remain the only possible method. So instabilities and demonstrations will be inevitable,” Sakunts said.

Turkey court orders arrest of six human rights activists

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Turkey court ,human rights activistsAn Istanbul court on July 18 ordered that six human rights activists including Amnesty International’s Turkey director be arrested for aiding a terror group, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Turkey director Idil Eser was detained on July 5 along with seven other activists and two foreign trainers during a digital security and information management workshop on Büyükada, an island south of Istanbul.

“Six were remanded in custody and four released on judicial control,” Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher Andrew Gardner told AFP.

Prosecutors accuse them of “committing a crime in the name of a terror organization without being a member,” he said.

The ruling came a day after the activists gave statements to prosecutors for the first time since their detention.

Eight of those detained were Turkish rights activists, including Ilknur Ustun of the Women’s Coalition and Veli Acu of the Human Rights Agenda Association. Four of those have now been released, Gardner said.

Two foreigners – a German and a Swedish national who were leading the digital information workshop – remain in pre-trial detention.

“It is politically motivated targeting not just of these six human rights defenders who have been remanded in pre-trial prison custody but it is taking aim at Turkey’s entire human rights movement,” Gardner told AFP.

“What we’ve learnt today is that defending human rights has become a crime in Turkey,” Gardner added.

“After this decision none of us who defend human rights in Turkey, whether it is Amnesty International or other organizations, are safe in this country. This decision cannot be allowed to stand.”

Gardner earlier said the meeting on Büyükada had been a “routine” workshop and there was nothing suspicious about it.

“What is absolutely crystal clear, one hundred percent clear is this was a routine human rights workshop – the sort of workshop that happens all over Turkey, in fact the sort of workshop that happens all over the world,” he said.

Armenian activist’s death in prison sparks protests

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By Associated Press,

YEREVAN, Armenia — Several hundred protesters gathered Thursday in the Armenian capital after an activist died in prison while on hunger strike.

Artur Sarkisyan was detained on charges of aiding terrorists by delivering food to armed men who seized a police compound in Yerevan last year.

Sarkisyan died of heart failure earlier Thursday after being transferred to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery, according to Suren Makaryan, one of the doctors who treated him. He had announced a hunger strike after being re-arrested by police in February.

Demonstrators angry about his death marched through downtown Yerevan despite heavy rain, but were stopped from reaching the Justice Ministry by a police cordon. Some shouted slogans accusing Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan of being responsible for Sarkisyan’s death, while others called for the resignations of the justice and health ministers.

The unrest comes ahead of a parliamentary election scheduled for April 2.

Another demonstration in central Yerevan was planned for Friday, protester Shagen Arutyunyan said.

Two people died and several wounded in a two-week standoff in July when about 30 armed members of a radical opposition group took hostages and barricaded themselves inside a police station. Sarkisyan was accused of breaking a police cordon to deliver food to the gunmen.

The violent confrontation triggered political unrest in the Southern Caucasus nation, galvanizing the opposition movement and leading to repeated clashes between protesters and police.

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Azerbaijani activists, journalists targeted online, Amnesty International says

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Amnesty International says human rights activists, journalists, and dissidents in Azerbaijan have been targets of fraudulent computer-based campaigns aimed at gaining access to personal information and private communications, RFE/RL reports, citing the organization.
In a report issued on March 10, Amnesty said the “spear-phishing” attacks had been directed at government critics during the past 13 months.
Victims of the practice have told the watchdog group they believe Azerbaijani authorities are behind the attacks.

Amnesty said it presented its findings to Azerbaijan’s government, which said the cases documented had not been reported to Azerbaijani authorities and, therefore, had not been investigated.
Amnesty senior technologist Claudio Guarnieri said, “Our research reveals that a targeted and coordinated cybercampaign is being waged against critical voices in Azerbaijan, many of whom are longtime victims of government repression.”
“The malware used has been designed with the express intention of gathering as much private information as possible about a target,” Guarnieri said. “Given the profiles of those targeted, it is not hard to see why victims believe the authorities are responsible.”
The Amnesty International report details how victims have been targeted using a practice known as “spear phishing,” which involves an e-mail with an attachment containing a virus being sent to a target from a fake address.

Amnesty said it was not able to trace the cyberattacks directly to any government officials or agencies.
However, it said, some of the attacks used an IP address from a block of addresses that predominantly host government institutions, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and state-owned television.

Do Azerbaijani Dictator planing Erdogan Like fake coup? Activists Stage Rare Mass Protest In Baku

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demonstrationAzerbaijani opposition activists held a rare mass protest in Baku, one of the largest ever seen in the country. The National Council of Democratic Forces called for the cancellation of a September 26 referendum which would strengthen the authority of President Ilham Aliyev, and likely prolong his rule. (RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service)

LIBERTY SQUARE Armenian activists arrested New

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arton121472-480x270Seven people were arrested in Liberty Square in Yerevan yesterday morning. The police dismantled a small tent camp that had been planted by an alliance of the radical opposition that seeks to overthrow the government of Armenia.

All these individuals were released a few hours later.

Small groups of members and sympathizers New Armenia remained in the square around the clock since the group began a campaign of anti-government protests in early December. The sit-in not sanctioned by city authorities continued even after the campaign fizzled due to the low participation in the protests.

In a statement, the Armenian police said the police confiscated one tent, table, heaters and other objects in Liberty Square protesters because drinking alcohol and thus disrupted the public order. The statement said one of those detained was searched by law enforcement authorities for theft while another, a minor wife, was questioned by police officers Tuesday on suspicion of theft.

“It was clear that the site around the clock has been turned into an area that has attracted individuals with anti-social inclinations”, the statement added.

New Armenia was quick to condemn the police action as a “provocation” of the government. One of its leaders, Andrias Ghukasian said that only three of those detained are activists of Armenia News. The other four are “provocateurs” government, which were sent to Liberty Square by police, he said.

“Their goal was to dismantle the tent and confiscate objects that have allowed citizens to continue the sit-in at night,” Ghukasian told journalists. He warned that the opposition movement will plant a new tent on the square if the police refused to return confiscated items.

Thursday, January 28, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

France places climate activists under house arrest during Paris summit

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pre-saint-gervais-police-cop21_0Twenty-four environmental activists have been placed under house arrest ahead of the Paris climate summit, using France’s state of emergency laws. Two of them slammed an attack on civil liberties in an interview with FRANCE 24.

French security forces have been on edge since Islamist gunmen killed 130 people in a deadly rampage across Paris on November 13, in the country’s worst ever terrorist attacks.

The ensuing state of emergency, declared by President François Hollande and extended by lawmakers for three months, has given police sweeping powers to search homes, handcuff residents and place people under house arrest, without judicial oversight.

On Thursday, one such raid in the western city of Rennes led police into an apartment shared by several unsuspecting flatmates.

“They entered the apartment with shotguns and assault rifles. It was quite violent. They pinned us to the ground,” said Amélie, a young barmaid who did not wish to give her full name. “It lasted quite a long time. We had no idea why they were there.”

The officers handed Amélie a restraining order informing her that she can no longer leave Rennes, is required to register three times a day at the local police station, and must stay at home between 8pm and 6am.

The order ends on December 12, the day the Paris climate summit draws to a close.

Anonymous-inspired activists 2015 Million Mask March

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563bb892c46188106e8b45adAnonymous-inspired activists are taking to the streets across the globe as the Million Mask March circles the world. Hiding behind symbolic Anonymous masks, the demonstrators are protesting censorship, government corruption, and police brutality.