Armenian Center for Political Rights issued a statement regarding the case of lawyerRuben Mkhitaryan. On October 20, Vardan Ghukasyan, the opposition mayor of Gyumri, was arrested and subsequently detained. While investigative actions were being conducted at the City Hall for approximately six hours, a crowd gathered outside the building, consisting of the mayor’s supporters, journalists, lawyers, and other citizens. Among them was Ruben Mkhitaryan, a member of the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Armenia.

Experts from the Armenian Center for Political Rights (ACPR) analyzed multiple livestream recordings from media outlets covering the scene and reconstructed the sequence of events leading up to Mkhitaryan’s arrest. The synchronized footage is available here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Z5pDd_MY827wAIOMLT5jkKk8FU5fS8-/view

Video evidence clearly shows that Mkhitaryan was not engaged in any unlawful activity. On the contrary, the lawyer remained at a distance from the clashes between police and demonstrators and did nothing beyond raising his hands. Therefore, there was no legal basis for either the criminal charges brought against him or for restricting his liberty.

Mkhitaryan is the second lawyer to have been arbitrarily detained this month. The other lawyer, Aleksandr Kochubayev, remains under detention.

Details and reasoning are available in the statement.