
Published on March 04, 2008
ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SANCTIONS ARREST OF OPPOSITION MPS
- Armenia’s parliament on Tuesday gave a green light for the arrest and prosecution on coup charges of four of its members loyal to former President Levon Ter-Petrosian. Miasnik Malkhasian, Hakob Hakobian, Sasun Mikaelian and Khachatur Sukiasian will be formally charged under articles of the Criminal Code relating to attempts to seize power and provoke riots for that purpose. The charges stem from Saturday’s deadly clashes between Ter-Petrosian supporters and security forces that followed the forcible break-up of an opposition sit-in in Yerevan’s Liberty Square. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to lift their colleagues’ immunity from prosecution after a speech by Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian. He reiterated government allegations that the clashes had been planned by the Ter-Petrosian-led opposition in advance. Hakobian and Malkhasian were detained on Sunday and brought to the parliament session by masked security officers. Both men were allowed to address the National Assembly and deny the accusations. The two other accused deputies appear to have gone into hiding. Hovsepian told journalists later in the day that law-enforcement authorities are also hunting for several other unspecified Ter-Petrosian allies and trying to make sure that none of them flees the country. He did not exclude that the former president may also be arrested and put on trial. “The investigation is underway and we will make a decision based on its results,” he said. The coup case was described as baseless and politically motivated by Zharangutyun Party of Raffi Hovannisian, the only opposition group represented in the 131-member National Assembly. Addressing the legislature, Hovannisian said it will only deepen the post-election unrest in the country. In a written statement, Hovannisian and the six other Zharangutyun parliamentarians condemned the use of lethal force against opposition demonstrators and expressed serious concern about the ensued arrests of opposition activists. “The reports received from the legal defenders of several arrestees allow us to assert that all of Yerevan’s detention halls are full of people who have become the patent victims of police brutality,” they said. “This situation confirms the public fear that the country’s law enforcement bodies actually do not intend to carry out a fair and unbiased investigation into this and all other tragic events which have taken the lives of Armenian citizens,” added the statement. (Photolur photo: Malkhasian, left, and Hakobian pictured before the parliament vote

Discussion
Henry wrote:
Just like Stalin did. The methods have not changed. They don't know any other method. They only know how to use the stick which was used to beat them.
Gagik wrote:
You also read books abouth Stalin? now you make me scared.
Gagik wrote:
excuse me for my mistake
Headlines for March 04, 2008
ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SANCTIONS ARREST OF OPPOSITION MPS
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Armenia’s parliament on Tuesday gave a green light for the arrest and prosecution on coup charges of four of its members loyal to former President Levon Ter-Petrosian. Miasnik Malkhasian, Hakob Hakobian, ...DEADLY FIGHTING REPORTED IN KARABAKH
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Armenia and Azerbaijan reported on Tuesday fierce fighting between their forces stationed northeast of Nagorno-Karabakh, blaming each other for what appears to be the most serious ceasefire violation ...BAGHDASARIAN BLAMES TER-PETROSIAN FOR UNREST
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Former parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian joined Armenia’s leadership on Tuesday in blaming former President Levon Ter-Petrosian for the post-election unrest that has left at least eight people dead. ...CONSTITUTIONAL COURT STARTS HEARINGS ON TER-PETROSIAN APPEAL
Armenia’s Constitutional Court began on Tuesday considering two appeals against the official results of last month’s presidential election which were lodged by Levon Ter-Petrosian and another presidential ...WORLD URGES END OF EMERGENCY RULE IN ARMENIA
The international community has called on Armenia’s authorities to lift a state of emergency and the resulting severe restrictions on media freedom that were imposed following the violent confrontation ...
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Today in Armenian history- 1878 Birth of Academician Alexander Tamanyan in Ekaterinadar (Russia). He drew up the architectural plan for Yerevan. He died in 1936.
- 1893 Birth of armenologist, orientalist, translator, scholar, professor, and academician Karapet Melik - Ohanjanyan in Kaler (Meghri district).
- 1917 The Russian Provisional Government publishes the decision about "Conscience and the Elimination of National Restrictions". His Holiness Catholics of All Armenians Gevorg the Fifth, on behalf of the dejected Armenians, in his memorandum to the Russian National Assembly, identifies the Provisional Government as the only protector of small nations, including Armenia.
- 1922 The Armenian New Orthography is adopted by Armenia's Council of Ministers.
- 1922 The Armenian SSR People's Committee decrees reforms in orthography.
- 1937 Birth of artist Rudolf Khachatryan in Yerevan.
- 1965 The new building of Yerevan's Gabriel Soondookyan Academy Theatre is inaugurated. Previously, the actors used the Stanislavski Theatre.
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