On 8 May, the DIY
club, situated on 14/11 Parpetsi str., Yerevan was set on fire. Two young men
were arrested, a criminal case was opened against them according to Article 185
(part. 3, para. 1) of the Criminal Code “willful damage or spoilage of property, which
caused particularly large damage”.  The
youth was released on the basis of their signature on not leaving the place of
residence and on the bail paid by Artsvik Minasyan and Hrayr Karapetyan,
Deputies of RA National Assembly, members of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) party. Artsvik Minasyan reasoned his action as: “The kind of
Tsomak (the director of DIY club Armine Oganezova) destroys the Armenian
society. These young people acted in the context of our society and national
ideology, in a right way [1]”.

Later on Eduard
Sharmazanov, Vice Speaker of RA National Assembly, member of the executive body
of the Republican party, declared: “I find the rebellion of the two young
Armenian men against the homosexuals, who aimed at establishing a den of
perversion and alienating the society from its moral values, completely right
and justified [2]”.

“Such
declarations by political figures promote and justify similar crimes, based on
disrimination and hatred. They, by expressing such positions become accomplice
and promote spread of crime of this type”, notices Artak Kirakosyan, General Secretary
of International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

Civil Society Institue calls to:

refrain from declarations and positions that
promote and justify violence;

accept as universal and national values the
respect for the personal life of an
individual, the restriction of any
kind of discrimination, and human rights and freedoms provided
by the RA Constitution.

We demand that the investigative body leading
the case include Article 143 “Breach of citizen's legal equity” [3] as a legal
basis, in addition to Article 185 of the RA Criminal Code.

Civil Society Institute NGO

[1]www.panorama.am/am/interviews/2012/05/15/minasyan-about-comak/

[2]www.armenianow.com/hy/society/38168/diy_gay_lesbian_club_bomb_attack_yerevan_reactions

[3]RA Criminal Code, Article
143. Breach of citizens’ legal equality. 1. Direct or indirect
breach of the human rights and freedoms of citizens, for reasons of the
citizen’s nationality, race, sex, language, religion, political or other views,
social origin, property or other statuses, which damaged the citizen’s legal
interests, is punished with a fine in the amount of 200 to 400 minimal
salaries, or with imprisonment for up to 2 years. 2. The same action committed
by abusing official position, is punished with a fine in the amount of 300 to 500
minimal salaries, or by deprivation of the right to hold certain posts or
practice certain activities for 2 to 5 years, or with imprisonment for up to 3
years.