Hate crime in Yerevan: Armenia's prominent human rights activist Mikael Danielyan was shot at and physically and verbally assaulted

A1+ reports that prominent Armenian human rights activist, head of Armenia's Helsinki Association Mikael Danielyan was shot at and physically and verbally assaulted in downtown Yerevan today. This assault was carried out by former leader of "Armenian Progressive Party" Tigran Urikhanian. He allegedly called Mikael Danielyan "CIA agent who defends the interests of gays" (in Armenian this verbal assault sounds even more disgusting "հերիք ա, կյանքներս կերար, ՑՌՈՒ-շնիկի մեկը, արվամոլներին ես պաշտպանո՞ւմ"). IA Regnum also carries this story (in Russian). Luckily, Mikael Danielyan did not get seriously injured.

Whether Armenian judiciary will conduct proper investigation of this apparent hate crime, physical and verbal assaults towards prominent human rights activist, and whether those who conducted this crime will get punished, remains to be seen. This should be a test case, including for Armenian Human Rights Ombudsman. I will definitely keep an eye on this story.

For more details - see Unzipped: Gay Armenia

*photo - via A1+