Concern Dialog law firm announces:

On April 22, 2012, at about 11:30 am, Nikol Pashinyan, RA National Assembly deputy was apprehended by the police officers from Artsakh Street in Yerevan city.

By the time this announcement was published, on April 23, at 10 am, none of Nikol Pashinyan's family members or colleagues had any clear information about Nikol Pashinyan's whereabouts.

According to Article 27(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, “Everyone deprived of his/her personal liberty shall have the right to inform about it without delay any person of his/her choice. The exercise of this right may be postponed only as and when prescribed by law for purpose of preventing or detecting crimes."

According to Article 129(3) of the RA Criminal Procedure Code: "Before the arrest record is announced to the arrestee, the latter shall have the right to:

(...)

5) inform the person of his/her choice about his/her whereabouts

(...)";

Pursuant to Article 129(7) of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, “The agency responsible for the proceedings may, by written consent of their immediate supervisor, delay the exercise of the minimum right provided for Part 3(5) of this Article for a maximum of 12 hours from the moment of his/her arrest, if there is a solid assumption to the effect that immediate exercise of this right may impede the prevention or obstruction of a crime or lead to destruction or damage of evidence."

According to Article 1 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance ratified by the Republic of Armenia:

“1. No one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance.

No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.”

Pursuant to Article 2 of the said Convention:

“For the purposes of this Convention, "enforced disappearance" is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.”

Pursuant to Article 3 of the said Convention:

"Each State Party shall take appropriate measures to investigate acts defined in article 2 committed by persons or groups of persons acting without the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State and to bring those responsible to justice.”

It follows from the foregoing that the Republic of Armenia violates the fundamental rights provided for by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, the RA Criminal Procedure Code and international treaties, which is incompatible with the principles and values ​​inherent in the rule of law.

We hereby urge the law enforcement agencies to give Nikol Pashinyan the opportunity to inform the person of his choice about his whereabouts. At the same time, we demand that the state authorities bring to justice those officials who have violated the above-mentioned fundamental human rights.