From civil disobedience to armed violence: political developments in Armenia

Armine Ishkanian

 

On Sunday 17 July, a group of armed men, calling themselves the Sasna Dzrer (Daredevils of Sassoon) seized the Erebuni police station in Yerevan and took several policemen hostage. As of today, 19 July, the siege continues, but there has been little proper analysis of why this event occurred.

According to the statement released by Sasna Dzrer on Sunday, their “primary demand” is the resignation of Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan and the establishment of a new government. Additional demands include the release of their friend and comrade in arms Jirair Sefilyan, along with other political prisoners.

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Valeria Thus is currently a Masters student in Human Rights International Law at the University of Buenos Aires and an alumna of the Raphael Lemkin scholarship granted by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) of Yerevan. She is working on her thesis, "The Legal Anti-negationism: Reflections from a Human Rights Perspective."