Leader of Armenian Oppositional Independence Movement Beaten Up in Yerevan
On October 18, Edgar Ghazaryan, the opposition politician and ex-head of the Constitutional Court of Armenia apparatus, was severely beaten at the entrance of his own house in Yerevan.
According to local media, the oppositionist was taken to the Erebuni medical center after the incident.
Ghazaryan is known as the founder and leader of the "Independence Movement," which appeared on the socio-political scene after the "Resistance Movement" of the parliamentary opposition of Armenia, which from late April to June 15, held mass protests in the capital of the republic demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
As previously reported by Caucasus Watch, according to a statement released by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Western Europe Central Committee on August 1, Masis Abrahamian, an activist from the ARF and the leader of the Armenian National Committee of the Netherlands, was prohibited from entering Armenia by security officials.
Moreover, on July 31, Suneh Abrahamian, a young Armenian woman from the Netherlands, said that after about 12 hours of waiting at Yerevan's Zvartnots Airport, Armenia's security personnel informed her that she had been denied entry and was thought to be a persona non grata. Suneh Abrahamian posted on Facebook that she had traveled to Syunik, Armenia, to participate in a camp by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Youth Office.
On the same day, Russian peacekeeping forces prevented Raffi Hovannisian, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia and the founder of the Heritage party, from entering the Nagorno-Karabakh region. According to a statement from the party, Hovannisian was going to Nagorno-Karabakh to attend his grandchild's baptism in Stepanakert/Khankendi.