The Armenian National Congress (HAK) thinks that the authorities continue instigating provocation. Similarly, the opposition views the criminal case opened in the the Kentron Police division on July 21 as another manifestation of provocation. The case involves former political prisoner Christopher Elazyan as a sufferer, and HAK members, Karabakh war veteran Hovhannes Harutyunyana and Arakel Semirjyan as defendants.
Elazyan announced that Harutyunyan and Semirjyan had beaten him up in the HAK central office on July 19. According to press reports, Elazyan regularly demanded money from the HAK to settle his financial problems.
"Since we work in an atmosphere of constant provocations, the Congress has elaborated its own tactics: under the given circumstances we shall give answers to all questions in open court hearings," Armen Khachatryan, member of the Center for Legal Assistance to Political Prisoners, told A1+.
Mr. Khachatryan says Arakel Semirjyan went to Kentron Police division without summons in order to assist in the preliminary investigation.