At This Moment, My Brother Cannot See, There Will Be Some Arrests Among the Police: Gevorg Petrosyan

The newspaper "Hraber" reports: "A few days ago, the police of the patrol service stopped the car of Edgar Petrosyan, brother of former MP Gevorg Petrosyan. After determining that Petrosyan, the senior prosecutor of the Erebuni and Nubarashen administrative districts, was driving under the influence of alcohol or, as government-affiliated websites reported, in an inebriated state, they applied tear gas and detained him. According to the police, Edgar Petrosyan did not comply with their legal demands and resisted, which led to his forcible apprehension. The prosecutor was arrested. However, some time later, he was released, causing outrage from Daniel Ioannisyan. The prosecution concluded that Petrosyan's arrest was unlawful. Ioannisyan, who seems to have no standing in this matter, is not an interested party or an official, yet he is very disturbed when police operations are questioned.

Attempts to understand why Ioannisyan is so involved in police work and why he constantly interferes remain unclear. We tried to get a statement from the former MP Gevorg Petrosyan, whose name has been heavily cited in relation to this incident:

- Mr. Petrosyan, after the incident involving your brother, Daniel Ioannisyan has expressed considerable anger and has been making loud statements mentioning your name. Why is he so involved in police matters?

- Well, he probably has connections among the police. The reality is that a major incident did not occur. The investigation is ongoing, and there will likely be some arrests among the police because some of them exceeded their authority. Ioannisyan is personally meddling where he should not. He is so far removed from legality and so ignorant that he stands up and says he forgot to wear a mask, that he drove his car without a mask, and then told the police to fine him. What do you expect from such a person? It's akin to walking into the police station one day and saying, 'I drove drunk five days ago, please fine me.' This speaks to his legal consciousness. Now, without any shame, he has declared himself a human rights defender; what right is he supposed to protect? One can expect anything from such a person.

- You mentioned that some of the patrol officers have exceeded their authority and may be arrested. What specifically do you mean?

- They used excessive force without justification. They deployed tear gas, and at this point, my brother cannot see. And for what reason? For crossing a solid line? My brother was at an event, felt unwell on the way, went into a pharmacy, and bought a calming medication called "Escard," which contains alcohol. Based on this, they followed him, and my brother said, 'Come with me home, I feel unwell.' In response, they called four additional officers who came and forcibly took him, in the presence of children, and there are even recordings of it, using force and so on. Now Ioannisyan is enjoying the fact that he could cause pain to Gevorg Petrosyan’s brother; that's the whole story.

- And what do you think is the reason behind this blatant hatred towards you?

- It is due to the fact that I have always spoken about his ignorance. He even sued me, and right now the case is in the appellate court, claiming that I have insulted his honor and dignity.

For more details, see today’s issue of the newspaper.