ARMENIA ARRESTS OPPOSITION ACTIVIST AHEAD OF PARLIAMENTARY VOTE

Agence France Presse — English
May 8, 2007 Tuesday 10:21 AM GMT

Authorities in Armenia announced Tuesday the arrest of a former
foreign minister turned opposition activist on corruption charges in
the run-up to parliamentary elections this weekend.

Alexander Arzumanian was arrested on money laundering charges late
Monday after 55,400 dollars (41,000 euros) was found during a search
of his apartment earlier this month, a spokesman for the National
Security Service told AFP.

Authorities allege Arzumanian was acting as a front for
a Moscow-based scheme to launder 180,000 dollars (133,000 euros)
through Armenia. Officials said 28,000 dollars (21,000 euros) was
found in the home of another opposition activist, former deputy
defense minister Vaan Shirkhanian.

Arzumanian dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.

"This is absurd. It is an attempt to silence representatives of the
opposition," he told journalists before his arrest.

Arzumanian and Shirkhanian are both harsh critics of President Robert
Kocharian’s government. Neither is participating in Saturday’s vote,
instead calling for civil disobedience to overthrow the governmnent.

Saturday’s elections are being closely watched as a democratic test
for Armenia, a mountainous former Soviet republic of 3.3 million in
the strategic Caucasus region on Russia’s southern border.