There was a case of torture by masked persons against Samvel Vardanyan, who was arrested in the criminal proceedings initiated in connection with the incident that took place with Armenian ruling force MP Hakob Aslanyan in a Yerevan public transport bus. Vardanyan’s lawyer, Varazdat Harutyunyan, informed about this at the urgent press conference called on Tuesday.

"Such episodes can only be heard from people who survived captivity in Baku prison. Samvel was not injured at all in the incident that occurred with Aslanyan. When I learned about the incident, I immediately went down to the Forensic Medical Examination Center, and they brought Samvel. I saw him with traces of fresh grass on the knees of his pants, the front part of his face was swollen, his right hand was swollen, his left temple was damaged, his shoulder and hand were scratched, " the attorney noted.

Harutyunyan presented what had happened to Samvel Vardanyan.

"When they go out, accompanied by the police, to go the detention center, only a minute and a half away is a police car. Two police officers in civilian clothes say that they need to take care of their natural needs, they informed Samvel and got out of the car. Then the persons completely dressed in black, masked take him out of the car, take him to the grass, bring him to his knees and hit his head on the ground, start beating him with their hands. This beating is combined with sexual insults, defamatory words, then they force Samvel to repeat the sexual insults spoken about him. Naturally, Samvel rebels, they spat on him, then they took off his pants, and his hands were handcuffed, they held a club between his legs, maybe to scare him. The behavior shown by those nothingness, such behavior we have only heard from prisoners of war.”

The attorney said that the aforesaid beating lasted for three to four minutes.

"After finishing the beating, they dragged him, threw him into a car, after which the police emerged. He was breathing with difficulty, as he didn't feel well after the beating, the police mockingly said, ‘You were fine just now, what happened to you?’ as if they don't know anything. An ambulance immediately arrived at the detention center, which is believed to be no accident."

The lawyer said that now his client is doing well.

"This is the most disgusting incident in Armenia that has happened in our public life," he added.