2016 Yerevan hostage crisis

Armed group leader Pavlik Manukyan (centre) and his men after seizing the police station in Yerevan.

Date	17–31 July 2016
Location	Erebuni District, Yerevan, Armenia

Belligerents

Government of Armenia

Sasna Tsrrer armed group
Anti-government protesters

Commanders and leaders

Pavlik Manukyan ()
Arayik Khandoyan

Units involved

Sasna Tsrer

Strength

Unknown

31 gunmen
Over 20,000 protesters

Casualties and losses

2 police officers KIA,
1 police officer DOW,
26 WIA

5 gunmen wounded,
one protester committed suicide, 100 protesters wounded,
26 people arrested

On 17 July 2016, a group of armed men calling themselves the Daredevils of Sasun (Armenian: Սասնա Ծռեր Sasna Tsrrer; the name is taken from an epic poem) stormed a police station in Yerevan, Armenia, and took nine hostages. They demanded the release of opposition leader Jirair Sefilian, and the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan. Two policeman were killed in the attack. The group began a standoff with government forces, with growing crowds of protesters joining the calls for the resignation of the president.

A controversial election occurred in 2013 which led to a loss of popularity for the governing Republican Party of Armenia. The Lebanese-born ethnic Armenian Jirair Sefilian leads the New Armenia Public Salvation Front. Sefilian was arrested in 2006 on charges of calling for "a violent overthrow of the government" and was jailed for 18 months. He was then released in 2008. In 2015, he and several of his supporters were arrested again on suspicion of preparing a coup, but released shortly afterwards. On 20 June 2016, Sefilian was arrested yet again. According to the Armenian Special Investigation Service, Sefilian and a group of people planned to seize buildings and communication facilities, including the Yerevan TV tower. When Sefilian was formally charged with acquiring and possessing weapons when he appeared in court, the allegations of plotting a coup were dropped.

Varuzhan Avetisian, a future Sasna Tsrer member, claimed that the opposition leader was arrested because he planned to campaign against Armenian territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Tensions in the country have also been running high over Russian mediation attempts following the aftermath of the 2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes. With the Kremlin suggesting to give some land back to Azerbaijan and in turn allow the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to receive international recognition.

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