Levon Gulyan managed a restaurant in the 3rd District of Armenia. On May 9th, across the street from his restaurant several male individuals initiated a fight. Guylan went outside and told the men to move away from the restaurant, because they were bothering the customers. At that point, shooting broke out and one of the men, Stephan Vardanyan, was shot and killed.

That same evening, around 3am, the local police took Levon Gulyan into custody as a witness to the murder. He wrote a statement for the police: "He wrote that he only recognized one individual from the group and that was Stephan Vardayan" states his wife, Jema Gulyan. However, the police did not find the written statement sufficient enough and they held Levon Gulyan at the station until May 10th, 10:30 pm.

On the evening of May 10th, 10:30pm he was allowed to go home, but was asked to come back to the station on May 11th, at 10:00 am. Open returning to the police station on May 11th, he was held for a 25 hour period. On May 12th at 11:00 am, he was given a few hours to go home, to take a shower and to partake in the Parliament election, however, he was told to once again return to the police station at 1:00 pm that same day.

He came home, groomed himself and once again returned to the police station at 1:00 pm as was said. From reliable sources, we are aware that on his return to the police station, a car from the police headquarters sent by Mr. Tamamyan came to the police station and picked up Ledvon Gulyan and took him to the police headquarters. Around 5:00 pm on May 12th, his family found out that he had died. The officers from the police headquarters stated that he had either tried to escape from the room he was being kept in by jumping from the second floor, or that he decided to commit suicide.

Levon Gulyans family does to not agree with the police headquarters that he either tried to escape or tried to commit suicide: "Why would a man that was an innocent witness want to run away from the police? Why would a man who has two young children and a wife want to commit suicide for no apparent reason?
We believe that Mr. Levon Gulyan was taken to the police headquarters for some unknown reason. We believe that Mr. Gulyan was beaten so heavily that he died prior to his fall from the window."

Facts:
1st Levon Gulyan was a witness to a fight which ended in one person being killed.
2nd He was taken to the police headquarters without the authorization of the judge that was at the local police station
3rd Bruises were found on his body on the several occasions that he was allowed to return home.
4th His body was found in a heavily fenced in back yard of the police headquaerter´s building. Thus discrediting the notion that he was trying to escape.

For related information see the reports on human rights in the OSCE countries of the International Helsinki Federation (IHF). Follow this link ...