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
Brief Summary of Violations and Obstacles Against the Heritage Party in 2005
and 2006
Yerevan–Since the Heritage Party redefined its engagement in Armenia’s
civic life and political arena in the fall of 2005, the incumbent regime has
carried out campaigns of repression against party members in general and its
founder Raffi K. Hovannisian in particular.
In the lead-up to the constitutional referendum held on November 27, 2005,
the Heritage Party–which had prepared its own draft of constitutional
changes in May and opposed the version that was introduced by the ruling
powers–convened from November 25 to 27 a series of open public meetings at
Yerevan’s Liberty Square. The meetings were joined and endorsed by several
broad-based citizens’ groups and assemblies. To sabotage these efforts, the
administration imposed a variety of measures to block to their free and just
expression. Electronic media were ordered not to cover the event, and vans
and cars carrying participants from the country’s outlying regions were
stopped and turned away en route by the police. During the day, the local
authorities were commanded to organize concerts and other conflicting
activities at the same location. At night, they prevented participants from
accessing heating sources of any kind. On November 27 and 28, Heritage led
the opposition alliance in establishing at the Armenia Marriott Hotel an
unprecedented alternative information center regarding the referendum. Every
three hours, the center disseminated data on the latest election violations
and commissions of fraud, which were documented in polling stations across
the Republic.
Thereafter, on November 30, 2005, Raffi Hovannisian was detained at Yerevan’s
international airport for detailed questioning and inspection before heading
for Kiev, where he would attend the International Public Forum of the
Community for Democratic Choice. Awaited and confronted at the airport by
national security (formerly KGB) agents, Hovannisian was interrogated about
the purpose of his trip, the Armenian constitution, and other matters
unrelated to airport security. Hovannisian’s personal effects and papers
were individually examined on the pretext of a search for possible "state
secrets." Since that day, Hovannisian receives the same "special treatment"
upon each Yerevan departure.
The spiral of repression took a turn for the worse right after the massive
demonstration held on December 9, 2005, as Raffi Hovannisian read out the
"Citizens’ Demand for A Public Accounting"–a list of 21 questions addressed
to acting president R. Kocharian. In the days that followed, more than 3,000
citizens, including 72 intellectuals, joined this first-ever call for a
national audit of conduct of Armenia’s governors and governance system.
Since then, a black list wholly forbids Heritage and its founder from access
to all television media, which are all controlled and supervised by the
authorities. No television cameras or reporters are allowed to cover
Heritage’s news conferences, and all television companies–both state-run
and private–refuse to provide either free or paid airtime to Raffi
Hovannisian. Even the Press Club Plus program–which receives subsidies from
the Open Society Institute and is broadcast by the Yerevan Press Club on the
Yerkir Media television channel–invited Hovannisian and two other Heritage
members to appear in studio in the summer of 2006. In characteristic
application of the blacklist, just a few days before the program was to be
televised, the creators rescinded the invitation under the pretext of
technical difficulties. As even private advertising companies refuse
Heritage’s requests to place billboard advertisements, the official media
blockade is virtually total.
The mainstay of these repressions was achieved on March 4, 2006, when the
authorities instructed the Paronian State Theater to breach the law in the
form of the lease it had signed with Raffi Hovannisian (which was in effect
until 2007) and without judicial sanction to fasten an illegal lock on the
party’s central headquarters. To this day, Hovannisian continues to be
deprived of his property rights, and the party’s normal operations have been
paralyzed with the executive board and staff members being denied access to
their office space, necessary documents, and the party seal. Heritage’s
subsequent attempts to restore its rights by meticulous recourse and appeal
to law enforcement and the judicial system–the police, the prosecutor’s
office, and the courts–were met at all levels with unlawful rejections
issued by those "tribunes of justice" at the behest of the highest echelons
of power.
Moreover, in the late hours of March 8, exactly four days after party
headquarters had been forcibly shut down without a legal warrant,
unidentified individuals entered in clandestine fashion the already-locked
and sealed premises and, after circumventing the main computer’s password,
gained illegal entry into the party’s database which contains
constitutionally-protected information regarding the party, its membership
rolls, and its activities. After having examined the computer, experts from
the National Bureau of Investigation confirmed in their report to the police
department that the computer had been put in operational mode for 22-24
minutes, hooked up to an external monitor, and connected to a USB-type
memory-bearing flashcard of an unknown brand. The results of the
investigation demanded, therefore, that a criminal case be launched. In a
flagrant disregard of law and justice, however, the police department and
the prosecutor’s office refused to authorize such a probe, making dubious
references to the absence of corpus delicti. In effect, this
Watergate-inspired scandal in Armenia was neither investigated nor exposed.
The authors and beneficiaries of that inaction were the authorities and
their security apparatus which, having forced their way to the information
stored in the computer, then fine-tuned their fear-mongering political
persecution of Heritage’s regional office managers and rank-and-file members
alike. This methodology of threat and intimidation continues to this day.
Meanwhile, the president’s office piloted a negative media campaign–by
means of newspapers and television–against Raffi Hovannisian. The start of
this project of slander was announced by the presidential spokesperson who,
on December 12, 2005, declared that Hovannisian’s "Citizens’ Demand for A
Public Accounting"–which was joined by 3,000 citizens–"might be a secret
code written by a professional spy." In the months to follow, this
self-serving, hypocritical theme and corollary deflective tactic were
parroted by Hayots Ashkharh, Golos Armenii, Iravunk, and 168 Zham
newspapers. What is more, even the benevolent activities of Armenouhi
Hovannisian, Raffi Hovannisian’s wife, were not spared this ruthless
defamation. The media shamelessly accused Mrs. Hovannisian of diverting
funds provided by international organizations and donations made by Armenian
benefactors to her husband’s political agenda.
As the surveillance and smears got worse, Raffi Hovannisian sent a formal
letter of regret, dated April 21, 2006, to the head of the National Security
Service, General Gorik Hakobian. "I am saddened by the fact that limited
state resources are being wasted on individual manhunts which have no
connection whatsoever with national security," he noted.
Over the past months, Raffi Hovannisian and the Heritage Party have, under
varying pretexts, been deprived by national and municipal authorities of
renting both public and private halls for the exercise of their
constitutional right of peaceful assembly in Giumri, Vanadzor, Armavir,
Etchmiadzin, Yegheknadzor, Sisian, Kapan, and elsewhere. In Yerevan, the
authorities have denied Heritage’s request to rent the halls of the
Government Conference Facility, the Union of Architects, the Demirjian
Sports and Cultural Complex, the American University of Armenia, the
National Academy of Sciences, the Sundukian and Moscow Theaters, and so on.
Other political organizations have freely used, and even broadcasted from,
the very premises in question. All written applications by the party with
respect to renting meeting space have either received outlandish responses
or no answers at all from the persons in charge of the petitioned
institutions. The foregoing continues to reflect, among other things, a
long-standing policy to forbid, cancel, or otherwise prevent any meeting
between Raffi Hovannisian, the nation’s first foreign minister, and students
and faculty at Yerevan State University, Yerevan Engineering University,
Yerevan Agricultural Institute, Yerevan Institute of Economics, and other
academic establishments.
In addition, most of Heritage’s logos and office signs have been removed
from its regional offices. The same goes for small posters and flyers that
have sought to inform people about the dates and places of scheduled public
gatherings with Raffi Hovannisian and the Heritage Party.
Even internal party happenings are permanently monitored and obstructed. On
May 20, 2006, for instance, Raffi Hovannisian and a delegation of party
officials paid a visit to the village of Miasnikian in the Armavir region.
This meeting was still in progress when word came from the town of Armavir
that the party’s local office manager Levon Margarian had been arrested.
Before being released, he was told that the region’s law enforcement agency
knew about the forthcoming visit of Raffi Hovannisian and the other senior
party members. The police demanded that Margarian ensure that the meeting
did not take place; otherwise they would use force to disrupt it. Upon
arrival at Armavir, the Heritage Party leadership witnessed local police
units standing on the sidewalk across from the party’s regional
headquarters. It was apparent that they had been called in to intimidate
their fellow citizens and to ensure the prevention of the meeting. This
outrage notwithstanding, an open discussion between the party officials and
local residents took place as scheduled. Afterwards, Hovannisian walked to
the local police precinct and asked to meet with the district chief, Colonel
Gevorgian. Initially he was told that this would be arranged in 15 minutes,
but was then informed that Gevorgian had convened an urgent consultation and
could not receive him.
On May 22, the executive board of the Heritage Party sent a letter to police
chief General Haik Harutiunian demanding a full explanation and assessment
of these unlawful and unconstitutional acts. On July 17, head of the police
headquarters, Edward Ghazarian, forwarded a reply that reads: "The
examinations have shown that the arguments made in the letter, with respect
to unlawful police actions, are unsubstantiated."
In a separate development on May 24, Heritage forwarded a formal letter to
Yegheknadzor mayor Sirak Babayan requesting an explanation for his refusal
to lease a standard meeting hall for a public assembly on May 6. The letter
was sent after the party’s logo mysteriously disappeared from office walls,
event flyers were confiscated, and threat-implying "explanatory" visits were
made by state security agents to the homes and workplaces of active
citizens. Heritage has yet to receive a reply.
These are but a few exemplary links in a calculated and long-standing
program of fear-driven intimidation and fear-creating persecution.
On the eve of parliamentary elections, it is manifest that the Heritage
Party is (a) locked out of its central offices and denied access to its
office documents and computer system, (b) refused any and all access to
television, (c) deprived of its right to hold normal public gatherings, (d)
in a markedly uneven financial-material playing field that precludes a fair
competition with pro-establishment parties, and (e) endeavoring to function
while its members are constantly pursued and harassed, and with its database
broken into and compromised.
In this light, Heritage:
— states that this situation cannot, under any circumstance, be considered
congruent with the constitutional terms for respect of equal political and
civil rights;
— accordingly 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
— therefore expects that the international community and Armenian civil
society will exert every effort to ensure, as quickly and effectively as
possible, that the nation’s current rulers abstain from unconstitutional and
unlawful measures and instead guarantee equal access, healthy competition,
and complete freedom for all participants in the political process.