All 20 members of armed group arrested in Yerevan

/By Azernews/

By Rashid Shirinov

Members of the armed group Sasna Tsrer, who seized a police station in the Armenian capital Yerevan, surrendered to the authorities on July 31 after a two-week stand-off.

"The anti-terrorist operation is over," the National Security Service said in a statement, adding that the authorities had "forced the members of the armed group to lay down their arms".

During the 15-day armed seizure, two police officers were killed and both the attackers and police side got several wounded.

“20 terrorists have been arrested. The area of the police regiment is completely liberated,” the Service claimed.

On July 17, a group of armed men entered the territory of the Armenian police patrol department in the Erebuni district of Yerevan and took several people hostage. The attackers demanded the release of Armenian opposition figure Jirair Sefilyan, who was arrested nearly a month ago on charges of illegal possession of arms. They also claim resignation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

Following the long-lasting talks, the armed group on July 23 released all of the hostages. Nevertheless, they refused to lay arms down and surrender to the authorities.

On July 27, the group took new hostages. They were four ambulance doctors who arrived at the police station to assist the wounded in the shootout between the police and Sasna Tsrer members. By July 31, they were also released.

From the first day of the seizure, Armenian people started their protest actions against authorities by gathering on the Khorenatsi street and other main venues of the capital. Every evening they conducted rallies in front of the police cordon to stop the implementation of a special operation against the armed group.

On July 29, following a rally in Sari Tagh district of Yerevan, the police dispersed the protesters and arrested 165 people. Due to numerous violations by Armenian police, 73 people addressed medical institutions with injuries of varying degrees of severity.

This terrifying fact has also been mentioned by the U.S .Embassy, which called on Yerevan to preserve stability in the country.

“We urge the Armenian government to take immediate steps to prevent a repeat of last night’s actions and to direct the Armenian security forces to maintain order in a manner that upholds all Armenian citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly,” the Embassy stated.

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Pedro Agramunt also expressed his deep concern on the situation: “All those concerned should resolve this crisis through dialogue and respect of the Council of Europe’s standards.”