HERITAGE HEADQUARTERS FORCIBLY VACATED, SEALED: WHAT ARE THEY AFRAID OF?

Lragir.am
31 May 06

Yerevan, 30.05.06, ACNIS. Today at noon, as Raffi Hovannisian and
his colleagues were at work, the Heritage Party’s main office was
surrounded and entered by a group of 10 uniformed bailiffs from
the Service for Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts (SMEJA) of the
Ministry of Justice.

In an unprecedented and incredible reversal of their execution
yesterday of the Court’s April 14 injunction against the defendant
theater’s restriction of access to Hovannisian’s premises and property,
and without further court order, the ministry officials, led by Vahram
Yenokian and joined by Yerevan’s commando-clad “chief evicter” Tigran
Tadevosian, forcibly vacated the premises, evicting Hovannisian and
his staff from the headquarters which has been theirs for 12 years
and which they had succeeded in reentering just yesterday, nearly
three months after its initial closure. All office doors, external
and internal, were then sealed.

As part of the official report prepared by Yenokian and his underlings,
Raffi Hovannisian recorded that “the instant operation by the SMEJA
bailiffs, who are supposed to be servants of the law, is illegal,
a travesty of civil rights and justice, and a sad reflection of the
subservience of the judiciary to the whims, caprices, and personal
interests of the executive branch of power, in particular the incumbent
presidency. I am being compelled to leave under the threat of force
and against my will.”

Upon the formal closing of his office within 24 hours of its hopeful
reopening, Hovannisian condemned the petty, parochial fear that drives
such acts of lawless retribution across the Republic, and vowed to
continue his quest, together with his fellow citizens, to achieve a
nation of laws, rights, and dignity.