A year later, the case of the taking of hostages in the heart of Yerevan is given in the news by a parade in the heart of the city while some members of the commando of 31 people pass in judgment.
Yerevan, 17 July 2017 – 11 pm – It was just a year ago, in the Erebuni district, on Kokhenatsi Street. Around 5:30 am, an armed commando storms a police station, which houses anti-riot control facilities. The time to shake off the torpor of a start of the day already too hot and the country was learning, flash tv after flash radio and via social networks, that the attack had made at least one victim in the ranks of the police – In fact, one at the time, Arthur Vanoyan, and another policeman who will die in early August as a result of his injuries. Very soon, the commando, composed of 31 armed men, declares and its name – the Sasna Tserer, allusion to the most famous of the Armenian epics – and its purpose. The first, obtain the release of Jiraïr Sefilian, leader of the opposition parliamentary founding group, imprisoned for a month because suspected of preparing actions likely to unbalance the regime in place. As for the second claim – the Sasna Tsrer simply demands that President Serge Sarksyan give up power.
They will not get either, and after very violent street demonstrations, which have caused dozens of wounded among simple demonstrators and many others among journalists, the commando will eventually surrender, on 31 July evening. On the spot, in the Sari Tagh district, which overlooks the police station from its narrow streets, tension has continued to rise throughout the hostage-taking process. At the height of the demonstrations in the city and in the police station itself, more than 20,000 people joined vigorously repressed parades – up to 136 arrests in only one of these Demonstrations – while there will be a third victim in the police.