Appeal to the Diplomatic Missions in Armenia

Over thousand members of the civil society of Armenia have signed an appeal addressed to the Diplomatic Missions in Armenia to hinder any chance of Ruben Hayrapetyan, an MP and the owner of 'Harsnaqar' restaurant (where his personal bodyguards beat up to death Dr. Vahe Avetyan) to flee from the jurisdiction of our state and to manifest the solidarity with the civil society of Armenia.

During his many years of activity, Ruben Hayrapetyan, the Member of the RA National Assembly and President of the Football Federation of Armenia (more widely known by his criminal nickname, Nemetz Rubo), has proven that he is a propagator of violence and hatred by manifesting his utter disgust and disrespect towards universal values and human rights.

Many people became victims of the unlawful actions and crimes committed by him and his host of bodyguards, which in our opinion, is a criminal gang of thugs. However, all of these crimes were covered up by the Armenian Police, the RA Prosecutor’s Office and the Armenian Judiciary. He enjoys complete impunity in Armenia, since he serves as one of the pillars of the fraudulently re-elected Republican Party of Armenia.

Our patience has been exhausted after the recent events, when 3 young men were brutally beaten by his gangsters in his privately owned restaurant: this violence resulted in the death of one of those young men, Vahe Avetyan.

This is an official appeal and request addressed to you both the official diplomatic missions in the Republic of Armenia and to the employees of those missions personally, whereby we ask you:

1. To reject any visa application to your embassy and/or consulate attempted visa application submitted by or on behalf of Ruben Hayrapetyan (Nemetz Rubo), and

2. In case if Ruben Hayrapetyan has already granted visa(s) or any other entry document to your state, to annul them with appropriate notice to all relevant authorities of your state, and

3. Not to invite him to your events and not to participate in the events he contributed to in any way, and not to accept both his and any other invitations to events organized on the premises owned by him or his family, such as “Harsnakar,” the venue of the most recent crime.

Appealing to you with the present request, we are hopeful that being committed to the universal human rights values, you will not deny our request and appeal and, by rejecting entry documents and permissions to this person, you will reaffirm your commitment to the values of the states you are representing in our country and your solidarity with our people.

Neither this is an appeal or request to interfere in our internal affairs of bringing the perpetrators to justice, nor need we such assistance. We are fully capable of holding him accountable by following all guaranties of fair trial and principles of justice. We are merely appealing to you to hinder any chance of Ruben Hayrapetyan and those like him, to flee from the jurisdiction of our state.

We are declaring absolute intolerance for any infringements upon human life, rights, and dignity. Nothing will be forgotten, no one will be forgotten.