TSARUKIAN PARTY OFFICES DAMAGED BY BLASTS
By Ruzanna Khachatrian, Karine Kalantarian, and Satenik Vantsian in Gyumri

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 12 2007

Two Yerevan offices of the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia Party
(BHK) were rocked by explosions early Thursday in what President Robert
Kocharian promptly condemned as an attempt to destabilize the political
situation in the country ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections.

The blasts occurred in the space of two hours early in the morning,
blowing out the doors and windows of the BHK offices in the city’s
northern Kanaker-Zeytun and Avan districts but not injuring anyone.

Police said they were caused by explosive devices planted at the
entrance to the premises.

The Avan office, which occupies a single room on the ground floor of an
apartment building, was particularly damaged by the blast. BHK workers
were already repairing it early in the afternoon. Several apartments
in the 16-story building also had their windows shattered by the blast.

"We are not scared of anything," said Levon Asatrian, head of the
BHK’s Avan chapter.

Police quickly examined the sites of the bombings and launched a
criminal investigation under an article of Armenia’s Criminal Code
that deals with substantial material damage deliberately inflicted
on private property.

According to Kocharian’s press secretary, Victor Soghomonian, the
president of the republic, who is widely believed to support the BHK,
instructed law-enforcement authorities to "take all necessary measures
to solve the crime as soon as possible."

"Strongly condemning these crimes, we evaluate them an attempt to
destabilize the situation and create an atmosphere of intolerance in
the run-up to the elections," Soghomonian told RFE/RL.

"Manifestations of extremism can not undermine Armenia’s resolve to
hold democratic elections."

The BHK echoed that evaluation at an emergency meeting of its governing
council headed by Gagik Tsarukian, a millionaire businessman close
to Kocharian. But it avoided blaming anyone for the blasts.

"We believe that that crime is directed not only against the BHK
but the entire republic," the BHK spokesman, Baghdasar Mherian,
told RFE/RL. "We are grateful to the president of the republic for
his swift reaction and highly appreciate his statement," he said.

The governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), one of the BHK’s
main election rivals, promptly condemned the blasts, in what looked
like a denial of any responsibility for them. "Such actions are taken
by those who are incapable of waging an honest and just political
struggle and are ready to destabilize the situation in the country,"
the party said in a statement.

The HHK, which is led by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, and the
BHK are widely seen as the two frontrunners in the Armenian election
campaign. There are fears that the obviously uneasy rapport between
their leaders could flare up into a bitter confrontation on election
day.

Those fears grew after the May 25 local election in the southern town
of Armavir. Its incumbent Republican mayor controversially defeated
his main challenger representing the BHK. The latter refused to
concede defeat, alleging massive electoral fraud.

Meanwhile, the BHK itself was implicated in election-related violence
on Thursday when a resident of Artik, a small town in northwestern
Armenia, claimed to have been badly beaten up by local activists of
Tsarukian’s party. The man, Smbat Poghosian, was hospitalized with
severe injuries the previous night.

Speaking to RFE/RL from his hospital bed, Poghosian said he was
attacked by a group of men after "accidentally" tearing up a campaign
poster of the local BHK candidate, Mushegh Pepoyan. Police in Artik
opened a criminal case in connection with the incident.

Pepoyan admitted that his supporters attacked Poghosian. But he said
they did so only after he deliberately destroyed several BHK posters
and assaulted other Tsarukian party activists on Tuesday.

Pepoyan’s main election rival, Mikael Varagian, is not officially
affiliated with the HHK but is thought to be backed by Artik’s
Republican mayor.