Armenian Police refute Republicans` statements about pressure exerted  by law enforcement officers on RPA supporters

ArmInfo. Armenian Police refute the statement of candidates from the Republican Party Arpine Hovhannisyan and Eduard Sharmazanov that law enforcement agencies are putting pressure on RPA supporters, demanding to refrain from party  assistance during election campaign and on election day.

Police qualify these statements as false caused by the logic of  election campaigning. "The police is an non- political body and do  not interfere in political processes. Its function is to ensure equal  rights in elections for all participants in the electoral process,"  the police statement reads.

The police also commented on another statement by Arpine Hovhannisyan  that the law enforcement agencies refused to open a criminal case on  her complaint about threats to her. "The case was not initiated due  to the lack of component of crime, but Arpine Hovhannisyan is free to  appeal this decision," the police said in a statement.

To note, yesterday the candidates from RPA Arpine Hovhannisyan and  Eduard Sharmazanov made statements that the law enforcement bodies  are putting pressure on the party's supporters, call them to the  Police and demand to refuse to assist the Republicans. According to  Hovhannisyan, law enforcement agencies even "advised" RPA supporters  to leave the republic temporarily. "All this is very easy to prove;  now I understand why the Police refused to initiate a criminal case  on my complaint about the threats against me, it is busy with more  important matters," Hovhannisyan said.

Another RPA candidate, Vahan Babayan, also contacted the Police  regarding threats against him. A similar statement was also made by  the 3rd number of the proportional list of the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun"  party Artur Khachatryan. He said that unknown persons tried to hack  his Facebook account and wrote there various threats against him.

Another information appeared in the media regarding attempts to  violate electoral legislation. The matter, in particular, concerns  putting pressure on the military for the purpose of voting for the  ruling "My Step" bloc. Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense  Artsrun Hovhannisyan refuted the information in an interview with  ArmInfo correspondent, calling these publications "ridiculous".