CAUSE AND CLAIM: ARRESTS CONTINUE AMID ALLEGATIONS OF POLITICAL MOTIVATION
Critics call it a “witch hunt”, authorities call it good police work. Labels aside, Armenia remains under a police alert that leaves citizens out for a stroll or going about their normal work liable to interrogation and arrest. Apartments of the most active protesters are subjected to searches with almost identical charges– violence against a representative of authorities, provocation of disorders and activities aimed at appropriation of the state power by force. About 1,000 people have been brought to police departments, National Security Service and Prosecutor General’s office after the March 1 events; 135 have been arrested so far. Three of them are National Assembly former Republicans Myasnik Malkhasyan, Sasun Mikaelyan and Hakob Hakobyan. Another one is the former Foreign Minister of the republic Alexander Arzumanyan. Beginning April 2, 29 arrested people and convicts started a one-day warning hunger strike demanding that ‘the crimes incriminated’ to them are ‘immediately reconsidered’; 16 of them continued the open-ended hunger strike with the same demands also after the one-day strike was over. Among those on hunger strike are National Assembly members Myasnik Malkhasyan and Sasun Mikayelyan, Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s former campaign manager, former minister of foreign affairs Alexander Arzumanyan, chairman of the Armenian All-National Movement’s Board Ararat Zurabyan, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly Karapet Rubinyan, and former deputy minister of national security Gurgen Yeghiazaryan. On March 25 charges were also brought against the chairman of the Republic Party Aram Sargsyan, who is not arrested yet given a written order not to leave the country. The former Prime Minister Sargsyan has been charged with 3 articles of the Criminal Code, with two of the articles provided for serious crimes; part 3 of the article 225 of the Criminal Code refers to the organization of mass disorders ‘accompanied with violence, beatings, arson, destroying or damaging property, with the use of explosive materials or devices or with resistance to the representative of authorities’ ‘accompanied with murder’ and provides for 6 to 12 years of prison. The next heavy crime the supporter of the former president has been charged with is provided by the article 300 which refers to ‘appropriation of the state power with the violation of the RA Constitution by use of force or keeping it by use of force, as well as activities aimed at overthrowing the constitutional order by use of force’ and provides for 10 to 15 years in prison. “All are arrested for their political position, but the authorities move everything to the criminal sphere carelessly stating we don’t have political prisoners,” Hovik Arsenyan, Sargsyan’s and 16 other arrested activists’ defender told ArmeniaNow. Ararat Mahtesyan, first deputy of the Police head reiterated in opposition to Arsenyan during the meeting with the AGO group members on March 31 no person has been arrested for political reasons: “each has been arrested in suspicion of committing a certain crime. I am confident the special investigative service, an independent body, will secure objectivity of the investigation.” The defenders of the arrested persons state their defendants have been brought to police and have been arrested mainly with harsh violation of laws and use of force. Arsenyan insists his 16 defendants have illegally been kept in the police department without any charges against them 20-30 hours longer than the permitted time. A young man, who was detained on March 2 and was later freed, willing to keep his name undisclosed, told ArmeniaNow the way he and several other young people detained with him were forced to put their signatures under evidences written down by the investigator. “One of them would hold [us], the other one would beat, telling to sign, otherwise they promised we would not get out of the place. We had no choice but to sign,” says the young man, who has confirmed by his signature he used drugs and that food with strange taste was distributed to them during the rally. “They wrote it without even taking into notice we were taken to the addiction clinic and tested, where [the conclusion said] no traces of either drugs or alcohol were found in our blood. The doctor even wondered if we hadn’t eaten anything the whole day,” he says. Mikayel Danielyan, head of the Helsinki Assembly says the organization received scores of calls about the use of torture during interrogations. “But that’s not a novelty at all; violence in police is a common matter,” Danielyan told ArmeniaNow. Inessa Petrosyan, defender of 4 arrested says force has been used also against two of her clients as they were brought to police. “They hit Davit Hambardzumyan, 62 on the head, he was injured, but they did no forensic examination, although he has serious health problems. He is a Karabakh war participant, has many medals and is a disabled of second category,” says Petrosyan. Hambartzumyan’s wife asserts her husband did not take part in rallies at all, but was caught at the Republic Square around 9 a.m. on March 1. “He went there in the morning to have some documents copied at the copy center in the subway, then go see doctor to appeal for state financed medical services as a freedom fighter and a disabled person. They attacked him and dragged him into the car, saying he had escaped from the rally site,” says the woman, underlining he would hide somewhere had he run away from the rally site, instead of walking in the street. According to the task group created upon the order of the human rights defender that visited about 90 arrested persons, only 12 have confessed during private talks they underwent tortures while being brought to police. The task group has mentioned an arrested person in Vardashen penitentiary had informed on March 11 “he was subjected to tortures both while being brought to police and in Kentron department of the Yerevan Police. On March 2 2008 he was given a document to undergo forensic examination that was passed on to the forensic doctor on March 6, but the latter visited him and examined on March 10,” i.e. 9 days after the tortures when the traces were gone. The task group also stated a significant part of the arrested have expressed disagreement to the charges brought against them underlining they were arrested only ‘for political views’. Suren Surenyants, a member of the political council of the Republic Party, who has been on hunger strike beginning March 24, also insists on the same facts. Surenyants has been incriminated with the same charges as the head of the party Aram Sargsyan. Surenyants demands that the precautionary means against him are changed and political persecutions are stopped. “His health deteriorates every day, he has sharp bouts of the kidney disease he suffers, his blood pressure drastically drops, but he does not stop the strike, because he is confident he has appeared in prison unjustly only because of a political order,” says Surenyants’s defender Arsenyan. 10 right activist and non-governmental organizations as well as 21 parties have spread a statement mentioning: “Democratic reforms have resulted in the creation of state terror in Armenia. After the state of emergency was lifted, the authorities have launched a new wave of violence and terror. RA Police and National Security Service have adopted the methods of the Soviet KGB and subject unprotected people to organized repressions,” and calling to stop the arrests. National Assembly Zaruhi Postanjyan worries that the number of arrested might outnumber the pool of attorneys on hand to defend them. “Paid services of lawyers are very expensive and are not affordable to everyone. And there are only 16 public defenders, who are physically unable to defend all,” the deputy told ArmeniaNow.
- Gayane Abrahamyan
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The latest internal political developments in Armenia are a test for relations with Europe, representatives of the Caucasus-Caspian Commission expressed an opinion during the Armenia-Europe 2008 conference ...FAILED TALKS?: SARGSYAN-ALIYEV MEETING NOT ON THE CARDS IN BUCHAREST
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A top-level meeting of Armenian and Azeri leaders is very unlikely to take place on the sidelines of the NATO summit due to start in Romania later this week, it transpired over the weekend. Before that, ...EUROPEAN DISPATCH: AGO GROUP BRINGS IN PROPOSALS TO DEFUSE TENSIONS
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Armenia’s parliament is set to consider proposals advanced by a Council of Europe delegation on ways to end the country’s current political crisis in the aftermath of the post-election developments. ...LET THE LEGAL BATTLE BEGIN: 13 COMMITTED FOR TRIAL, SOME OF THE REST GO ON HUNGER-STRIKE
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Cases of at least 13 out of more than a hundred people currently remanded in custody on charges stemming from their different roles in the March 1 events have been sent to courts this week, the Prosecutor-General’s ...GENERAL UNDER SIEGE: MANVEL GRIGORYAN FIRED AS DEPUTY MOD FOR BREAKING RANKS
4
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Boxing Armenia-born Arthur Abraham performing for Germany knocked out Elvin Ayala of the United States with a 12th-round uppercut on March 29 to defend his IBF middleweight title for the seventh time. ...PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE: LEGACY, AND LESSONS OF THE KOCHARYAN YEARS
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I watch the ripples change their size But never leave the stream David Bowie -- Changes President Robert Kocharyan inherited turmoil. Ten ...ROBERT “THE BUILDER”?: KOCHARYAN’S LAST DAYS IN OFFICE – NO TIME LEFT FOR A FINAL SPURT
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Naira HayrumyanRepair works of damage caused by a late March storm in Nagorno Karabakh are still in process. The wind speed reached 50 meters/second: old-timers say they haven’t seen such strong wind for the last 50 ...RECOGNITION VERSUS BRINKSMANSHIP?: KOCHARYAN LEAVING OFFICE AMID AZERBAIJAN’S INTENSIFIED SABER-RATTLING
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In less than a week President Robert Kocharyan will leave his office having served two full consecutive five-year terms, leaving to his successor, among other things, a still unresolved dispute with Azerbaijan ...GUILTY: TER-PETROSYAN VANADZOR SUPPORTER INTERFERED WITH PROCESS COURT SAYS
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A resident of Vanadzor is to pay 300,000 drams (about $1,000) fine for violations during the February 19 presidential elections in Armenia. The Prosecutor General of the Lori province charged 59-year-old ...CALLING FOR ORDER: COE GROUP REMINDS AUTHORITIES FOR NEED OF LEGISLATIVE REVIEWS
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Senior visiting Council of Europe diplomats warned Armenian authorities this week that having political prisoners was unacceptable for a member country of this organization. Representatives of the Ago ...CAUSE AND CLAIM: ARRESTS CONTINUE AMID ALLEGATIONS OF POLITICAL MOTIVATION
Gayane AbrahamyanCritics call it a “witch hunt”, authorities call it good police work. Labels aside, Armenia remains under a police alert that leaves citizens out for a stroll or going about their normal work liable to ...TAXING TIMES: NEWSPAPERS NOT FRIENDLY TO GOVERNMENT GET VISITS FROM INSPECTORS
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Two of the most influential bodies of European diplomacy have condemned Armenia’s recent legislative amendments banning public assembly, approved by the National Assembly in the wake of March 1 post-election ...
NOBODY WINS: A VISIT TO POST-WAR GEORGIA
Vahan IshkhanyanNO FORGIVENESS: PRESIDENT’S TREND-SETTING SPEECH DID NOT INCLUDE AMNESTY FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS
Gayane MkrtchyanCOMPETING FOR COMPETITIVENESS: REPORT GIVES LOW RANKING TO ARMENIA
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Naira Hayrumyan
GENERAL UNDER SIEGE: MANVEL GRIGORYAN FIRED AS DEPUTY MOD FOR BREAKING RANKS
FAMILIES OF OPPRESSED SEEK INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION: LETTER DECRIES ACTS OF “POLITICAL OPPRESSION”
REFORM AND REBUILDING: US DIPLOMAT SAYS SARGSYAN HAS OPPORTUNITY TO “CHANGE THE PATH
John HughesUS MAKES RECOMMENDATION FOR AMBASSADORSHIP: KYRGYZ REPUBLIC DIPLOMAT VETTED
LET THE LEGAL BATTLE BEGIN: 13 COMMITTED FOR TRIAL, SOME OF THE REST GO ON HUNGER-STRIKE
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Marianna GrigoryanTARGETED: HUNTING COMPANY IN CROSSHAIRS OF CONTROVERSY OVER BIRDS
Sara KhojoyanFREEDOM FUNDRAISING: GALA MANAGED TO SECURE ITS FUTURE
Ani HakobyanSPORT: UNBEATEN KING ARTHUR READY TO MEET “THE GHOST”
Suren MusayelyanEUROPEAN DISPATCH: AGO GROUP BRINGS IN PROPOSALS TO DEFUSE TENSIONS
Aris Ghazinyan
- 1820 Birth of Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimyan "Hairik" in Van (Western Armenia). He died in 1907.
- 1915 Death of Arshak Vramian, a representative of the Central Committee of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Party.
- 1920 Genocide of the Armenians in Sooshee (Gharabagh).
- 1922 Death of Leopold Favri, benefactor and Swiss-Armenian armenologist. He supported orphanages in the Armenian provinces.
- 1945 Death of Vahan Tekeyan, writer, speaker, and public figure. He was born in 1878.
- 1957 Death of actor Ashot Shaghatoonee. He was born in 1882.
- 1995 Garegin I elected Catholicos of the Armenian Church. He became the 131st Spiritual Leader of Armenian Holy Apostolic Church.
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