EurasiaNet
July 28, 2006

OPPOSITION PARTY STILL UNDER LOCK AND KEY

Marianna Grigoryan 7/28/06

Armenia’s opposition Heritage Party has been blocked from entering
its rented offices as part of an ongoing property dispute that party
sympathizers say is politically motivated.

Party representatives were blocked on July 21 from reentering their
office in Yerevan’s Paronian Theater of Musical Comedy after a
three-and-a-half month court battle that had appeared to end in their
favor. The theater’s management had sealed the door in early March as
allegedly part of the transfer of the theater to state ownership.
Since then, the party’s documents, seal, all computer equipment, and
telephones have remained under lock and key.

A June 26 court ruling that found the closure illegal prompted Party
members to believe they could return to their office. But marshals
from the Ministry of Justice’s Service for Execution of Mandatory
Acts (SEMA) resealed the office last week after saying that the
ruling did not specify that the party could begin work again in the
space. The officials stated that they planned to take the office
contents to SEMA in the meantime.

Party lawyers are disputing the interpretation of the ruling, while
party members and political analysts consider that what happened is
more than a property dispute.

The Heritage Party was founded in 2003 by Raffi Hovannisian, foreign
minister from 1991 to 1992, and the only Diaspora figure in the
Armenian opposition. (Hovannisian was born in Fresno, California.)
The party claims to have more than 5,000 members.

In an earlier interview with EurasiaNet this year, Hovannisian said
that he is convinced that Armenian President Robert Kocharian had
ordered that his party’s office be shut. The offices of
Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian and Police Chief Hayk Harutiunian
have affirmed that no crime was committed by closing Heritage’s
office, although an investigation is ongoing into the confiscation of
the party’s computer databases.

Some analysts say that Hovannisian’s popularity rating is high enough
to pose a real threat to the authorities in the next parliamentary
and presidential elections.

"In recent years, there have been many cases when the authorities
interfered with opposition parties, confiscated their property,
created numerous problems for them [by] disorganizing their
activities," said parliamentarian and National Democratic Party
Chairman Arshak Sadoyan. "The authorities’ handwriting . . . is well
known to everyone. This way, the authorities are trying either to
subdue the opposition or clear the way, or to frighten others so that
they stop making active efforts."

According to Suren Sureniants, a political analyst and board member
of the opposition Hanrapetutiun (Republic) Party, the government
began to view Heritage’s activities with concern after Hovannisian
"publicly caused certain unpleasant things for Kocharian and his
entourage."

Before the November 2005 constitutional referendum, Hovannisian
called on voters to protest the vote in Yerevan’s Freedom Square.
Upon leaving the country later that month, he was reportedly searched
by national security service workers who explained that they were
looking for documents that contained state secrets.

Associates contend that the pressure on Hoyannisian increased
considerably after the party leader read out 21 questions for
President Kocharian at a November 9, 2005 opposition rally. The
document, titled "A Civil Request for a Public Account" quizzed
"acting" President Kocharian on whether he had killed a man during
the 1988-1994 war with Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, and on the details of his relatives’ property
holdings, among other topics.

The presidential administration responded that the questionnaire was
not worth a response, but in the months following, pro-government
media outlets began to circulate discrediting reports that accused
Hovannisian of espionage. Public television also took aim at
Hovannisian’s wife, alleging that that funds raised in the United
States for a local chapter of the non-profit youth education
organization Junior Achievement, run by his wife, had been used to
fund the political activities of her husband and the organization of
public rallies.

Sympathizers maintain that the tussle over the Heritage Party’s
office space is just the latest installment in the government’s
campaign against Hovannisian.

Theater Director Karapet Shahbazian, however, has ruled out any
political motives for closing the Party’s office. "I told them I must
hand over the property to the state, but they refused to leave, and I
put on the second lock," Shahbazian said. Hovannisian had a five-year
lease with the theater, signed in 2002.

Meanwhile, the party leader maintains that he will fight on. "All I
need in this country is a small tent," he commented to EurasiaNet.
"But recent experience shows that even a tent causes fear."

Editor’s Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a reporter for the
Armenianow.com weekly in Yerevan.