PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
7 Vazgen Sargsian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 27.00.03, 27.16.00 (temporary)
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46 (temporary)
Email: info@heritage.am; office@heritage.am
Website:

January 29, 2007

Heritage Releases Armenian Civil Rights Assessment

Yerevan–The Heritage Party’s press department made public today a report
entitled "Brief Summary of Violations and Obstacles Against the Heritage
Party in 2005 and 2006." The evidentiary materials detailed in the document
bespeak the recent string of unlawful actions which the incumbent regime has
persistently carried out against party members in general and its founder
Raffi K. Hovannisian in particular.

The paper concisely presents the facts as they relate to the illegal locking
down of Heritage’s central headquarters; the unlawful entry into the party’s
database, theft of information therefrom, and the subsequent persecution of
party activists and supportive citizens; the deprivation of Heritage
representatives of their constitutional right to hold basic public
gatherings; defamatory manifestations in the official media and, still more,
the total blackout of Hovannisian, his image, and his word in all television
media; the detention of Hovannisian at Yerevan’s international airport and
the recurring meticulous inspection of his and his children’s personal
effects and papers; and in all matters concerning Heritage and Raffi
Hovannisian, the open bias by law enforcement and the judicial system and
their subservient disregard of the law and the egregious violations
orchestrated by the powers above.

In this light, Heritage:

— affirms that it finds itself, and now enters the pre-election season, in
patently unequal conditions;

— asserts that, because of these unequal conditions maintained in every
way by the incumbent authorities against their opponents, the organization
and conduct of free, fair, and transparent parliamentary and presidential
elections are now in real jeopardy; and

— states that this situation cannot, under any circumstance, be considered
congruent with the constitutional terms for respect of equal political and
civil rights.

"All this clearly calls into question the countless declarations made at
various tribunes, both domestic and international, by the current rulers
that they are interested in the holding of free and fair parliamentary
elections this year," said Heritage board chairman Vardan Khachatrian in
commenting on the release of the 2005-06 report.

The full text of the Heritage assessment can be accessed at

Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central headquarters are located at 7 Vazgen Sargsian Street, Yerevan 0010,
Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 580.877, fax at (374-10)
543.897, email at info@heritage.am.