On the night of March 13-14 of this year, at the intersection of Amiryan-Zakyan streets, more than ten masked persons with batons attacked a trans woman, brutally beating her. The trans woman ran away, and then, noticing the patrols on duty in the area, approached them to ask for help, but before the patrols approached the scene, the predators managed to flee. On the same day, half an hour after this incident, the above-mentioned men beat another trans woman in the territory of the Yerevan Municipality, causing injuries of varying degrees, besides targeting two other trans women on Mashtots Avenue, who managed to escape. The trans woman contacted the police regarding the incident. The legal department of Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO has been involved in the case and provides representation at all stages of the case.

It is worrying that 6 months have passed since this incident, but the police have not managed to reveal the identity of the perpetrators, regardless of the fact that the trans woman stated that she managed to see the faces of some of the men, and there were many cameras in the area, and through the study of their videos, it is possible to identify the abusers, especially since some of them were not masked.

In the absence of a law criminalizing discrimination against Trans and LGBIQ persons and imperfect law enforcement practices, police inaction further deepens the already-formed atmosphere of impunity and keeps members of vulnerable groups in a constant atmosphere of fear. Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO calls on the RA police to redouble their efforts to identify and prosecute the members of the organized group that committed gender-based violence against trans women.

October 24, 2023 Armenia, Yerevan