Armenian opposition reproaches authorities of encouraging law enforcers' lawlessness

Authorities have allocated about USD 6.5 million as bonuses to policemen for their work at protests, Ishkhan Sagatelyan, a vice speaker of the Armenian parliament, has stated. The opposition has demanded to suspend the powers of law enforcers involved in using violence against demonstrators.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a total of 364 activists were detained in Yerevan on charges of disobedience to law enforcers. The detentions are caused by authorities' desire to prevent the growth in the number of protesters, analysts have suggested.

Mr Sagatelyan has stated that law enforcement bodies had opened more than a dozen criminal cases on facts of law enforcers' use of violence against activists.

Seiran Oganyan, a former Armenian Minister of Defence and now the head of the "Aiyastan" parliamentary faction, has stated that authorities' policy had led to threats to national security, and called for resignation of the government, for which "the preservation of power is more important than the country's security."

Ishkhan Sagatelyan, a Vice Speaker, has called on the international community to abandon the policy of double standards and assess the actions of Armenian authorities.

Kristine Grigoryan, the Armenian Ombudsperson, has criticized on the Facebook* the police for detaining the MP Artsvik Minasyan. She has added that the Ombudsperson's office had recorded the beating of two teenagers by law enforcers.