CITIZENSHIP OF ARMENIANS UPHELD
By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press

Los Angeles Daily News
Sept 7 2005

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a judge did not err in
granting U.S. citizenship to two Armenian men convicted more than 20
years ago of planning to bomb the Turkish Consulate in Philadelphia.
The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ends a long
struggle by Viken Hovsepian and Viken Yacoubian, who plotted to bomb
the consulate in retaliation for the killings of Armenians by Turks
in 1915. The Turkish government denies a massacre occurred.

The men, who have been out of prison since the early 1990s, now have
doctorates, have renounced violence and volunteer many hours a week
in the Los Angeles Armenian- American community, said Mathew Millen,
an attorney who helped handle the immigration portion of their case.

Federal law currently forbids convicted terrorists from becoming
citizens. But anyone convicted of an aggravated felony before November
1990 can be granted citizenship if they have been “of good moral
character” for five years prior to their application, Millen said.

“They both renounced violence as a means of achieving any kind of
political end,” Millen said by phone. “They both have Ph.D.s, and
they had a lot of witnesses who talked about their activity in the
community” at their immigration hearing.

The federal government fought the citizenship application, contending
that the men lied on certain portions of their applications. The 9th
Circuit affirmed Tuesday a lower-court opinion that the alleged “lies”
were actually misunderstandings or oversights.

“We accept the court’s ruling, as we do with any ruling,” said Thom
Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.

The men were in their early 20s when they and two others were
arrested in 1982 after authorities tape-recorded them planning the
bombing. Authorities at the time said they were linked to the Justice
Commandos of the Armenian Genocide.

Hovsepian was sentenced to six years in prison in 1984, while Yacoubian
was sentenced to three years in prison and 1,000 hours of community
service.

Yacoubian is now principal of the Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian
School in Los Angeles’ Little Armenia and has obtained a doctorate
in counseling psychology from the University of Southern California,
according to court documents.

He declined to comment when reached by phone at the school. His
attorney, Michael Lightfoot, did not immediately return calls Tuesday.