Ombudsperson has no complete information on foreigner’s abduction in Armenia by Russia military police

When this information was disseminated in the press, I immediately contacted the law enforcement agencies, focusing on human rights related issues. Anahit Manasyan, the Human Rights Defender (ombudsperson) of Armenia, told this to reporters after Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government—and regarding the incident that happened a day ago, when, according to human rights organizations, the military police of the Russian 102nd Military Base in Gyumri, Armenia arrested  Russian citizen Dmitry Setrakov and then transferred him to Russia.

To the question whether these Russian policemen’s arresting of people in Armenia is a violation of human rights, Manasyan responded: "At the moment, I have not yet received complete information regarding the matter. For example, was the person transferred to Russia? Under what process did this happen? But if a matter related to human rights is recorded, in a specific context, we will certainly intervene."

The Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly had reported on December 8 that the representatives of the Russian 102nd Military Base had arrested Russian citizen Dmitri Setrakov, living in Gyumri, on a street. And later it became known that he was transferred to Russia, where he is accused of desertion.

In turn, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia had stated that it did not receive, discuss, and ranted a petition to detain, arrest, and hand over Setrakov to the respective authorities of Russia. It added that it does not have information regarding the search for Dmitry Setrakov by the relevant authorities of Russia, as well as his detection in Armenia.