TO THE MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA, MS. ARPINE SARGSYAN

COPIES TO:

The leadership of the institutions listed below in the Republic of Armenia, with a request to address the human rights issue created by the Ministry of Internal Affairs against a Greek family.

To the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan

To the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia

To the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia

To the Prosecutor of the Republic of Armenia

To the Human Rights Defender of Armenia

To the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia

To the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia

To the Embassy of the Hellenic Republic in Armenia

To the Mass Media

Ms. Sargsyan,

On January 3, 2025, the Greek community organization in Armenia “Patrida” received a statement from citizen of Armenia, Alvard Rubenovna Evoyan, residing at: Alaverdi city, Dzhravazani street 30, apt. 10.

In her statement, it is indicated that on December 13, 2024, at 8:00 AM, a group of police officers and an investigator broke into her apartment at the above address without any explanations (the explanation appeared later), without witnesses, and began conducting a search.

Ms. Evoyan lives alone. Such an unexpected visit by law enforcement officers at such an early hour frightened the sick woman. According to Ms. Evoyan, as a result of the search, it was recorded that they found nothing of interest. They were looking for compromising materials on her son — Armen Kilinkarov, a Greek by nationality, who had gone to the Russian Federation on business and is still there.

In a conversation with citizen Evoyan A., we learned that the brazen visit by law enforcement officers to her apartment also outraged her because she suspects that the regional law enforcement agencies have been directly monitoring her son for a long time. She therefore does not rule out the possibility that during the search in his absence, the police could have planted prohibited items (weapons, drugs, etc.) in her apartment in order to “discover” them later, when her son returns from Russia, to justify another search and use the planted evidence to take action against him.

The Greek community of Armenia “Patrida” responded to Alvard Evoyan’s letter regarding the provocation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs officers in Lori Province and appealed to you to initiate an internal investigation and punish those responsible for this legal outrage in your department. The first letter addressed to you was published in the press, and there were thousands of indignant responses from citizens of Armenia, Greece, and the Greek diaspora concerning the lawlessness of your employees in Lori Province. The first letter is attached.

More than three months have passed, but we have not yet received a response from you. We must point out that by failing to respond to the statement of the “Patrida” organization, you personally and your department have already violated numerous articles of the Constitution of Armenia, such as Articles 3, 16, 23, 29, 32, 64, and many others. Apparently, your department's employees have not read and are unfamiliar with the Constitution of Armenia. You do not have the right to hold this position since your subordinates are not fulfilling your orders. Otherwise, they would know that in the Republic of Armenia, according to the Constitution, a person is the highest value, and the inalienable dignity of a person is the inherent foundation of his rights and freedoms. Respect and protection of their fundamental rights and freedoms are the duties of the authorities.

Your officers violated not only the dignity of the individual but also the legality of the apartment search — of a property belonging to a member of a national minority, Armen Kilinkarov, a Greek by nationality, in his absence. This is not the first time the rights of Greeks in Armenia have been violated; there are even cases of Greeks being murdered in Lori Province.

They unlawfully entered Alvard Evoyan’s apartment, thereby violating not only articles on the inviolability of the home but also disturbing the peace of a disabled person — which Ms. Evoyan is. And all this under the pretext of allegedly looking for illegally stored weapons in her house, presumably belonging to her son Armen Kilinkarov.

One may ask: why was the search conducted in Armen Kilinkarov’s absence while he was in Russia? It is entirely reasonable that Alvard Evoyan suspects that weapons or drugs might have been planted in her apartment by the police to later be “discovered” during a repeated search when Armen Kilinkarov returns.

The Greek community organization of Armenia “Patrida” has, according to legal procedure and in order to provide legal assistance, secured legal services for Armen Kilinkarov. We are not sure whether you are familiar with the status, rights, and duties of lawyers as defined by current legislation. If you are, why then have you not responded to the inquiries of attorney Artur Grigoryan?

The currently persecuted Armen Kilinkarov has video recordings showing police officers in the district stopping him and demanding that he leave Armenia.

Who gave your employees the right to engage in unconstitutional activities? Who in Lori Province is interested in forcing Armen Kilinkarov out of Armenia, and whose orders are the police of Lori Province following? This begins to smell of collusion and corruption. What is this — an organized criminal group (OCG) in your ministry, left to you from the previous regime?

Madam Minister, bring order to the ministry entrusted to you by the state! Stop persecuting Greeks!

There are hardly any Greeks left in Lori Province — people are leaving not because of a hard life but because of the injustice reigning in the country! And the Greeks who left Armenia also did so for the same reason.

Someone once asked Aristotle: “How should one treat friends?” To which Aristotle replied: “The way you would like them to treat you!” This moral and ethical principle has come to us from ancient times and is applied worldwide, in all religions.

ALL THAT REMAINS FOR US IS TO SHOUT SOS — GREEKS ARE BEING PERSECUTED IN ARMENIA!

Chairman: Ed Polatov (Polatidis)

Lawyer and Human Rights Defender

The first open letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs, which was distributed in the media and social networks, is attached.