FAMILY CONDEMNS EX-FM’S ARREST, PLEADS FOR SUPPORT
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 17 2007

The family of Aleksandr Arzumanian on Thursday condemned as politically
motivated and groundless the accusations of money laundering that
have been leveled against the jailed former foreign minister staunchly
opposed to Armenia’s leadership.

The condemnation was echoed by some of Armenia’s most famous human
rights campaigners who pledged to fight for his release.

Arzumanian was arrested on May 7 and remanded in pre-trial detention
three days later as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into
the alleged financing of his Civil Resistance Movement by a fugitive
Russian-Armenian businessman. The arrest came two days after officers
of the National Security Service (NSS) searched his Yerevan apartment
and confiscated $55,4000 kept there. They also confiscated a comparable
amount of cash from the Yerevan apartment of Vahan Shirkhanian,
another movement leader and former government minister.

"All of us who know Aleksandr Arzumanian, personally or by reputation,
believe that the criminal charges are absurd, that his arrest is
part of an ongoing campaign by the current leadership of violence
and intimidation, bribery and misuse of administration resources,
aimed at suppressing true democracy and human rights in Armenia,"
the opposition politician’s closest relatives said in a statement.

They appealed to his "friends and colleagues in Armenia and abroad" to
help secure his release from jail. "Let it be known to the leadership
and the people of Armenia that you are following this case, that you
are concerned, that you care," the statement said.

Arzumanian’s American wife, Melissa Brown, said she also sent a
separate appeal to the U.S. embassy in Yerevan.

The NSS claims that Arzumanian and Shirkhanian received a total
of $180,000 for subversive purposes from Levon Markos, an ethnic
Armenian citizen of Russia who is wanted by the Yerevan government
for alleged financial fraud. The security agency charged the former
foreign minister with trying to "legalize revenues obtained by criminal
means." Both men deny receiving any cash from Markos.

Arzumanian’s defense lawyer, Hovik Arsenian, said NSS investigators
would have no grounds to prosecute his client even if he admitted
being financed by the fugitive businessman. He argued that just because
Markos is on the run does not mean that his earnings are illegal.

"They have not verified and will never verify whether that money
was indeed earned by unlawful means," Arsenian told journalists,
again dismissing the charges as politically motivated. He claimed
that the authorities brought the case to hold radical opposition
groups in check.

"According to our information, even government officials often go to
Moscow and meet Levon Markos," said Edik Baghdasarian, a prominent
investigative journalist. "The authorities know his whereabouts. But
if they want, we can tell them where he lives."

Baghdasarian is one of six human rights campaigners and other
prominent public figures who issued a separate statement in support
of Arzumanian. "The political subtext of his persecution is palpable,"
the statement said.

The signatories, among them Soviet-era dissident Vartan Harutiunian and
the head of the Armenian affiliate of the anti-corruption organization
Transparency International, Amalia Kostanian, also vowed to save no
effort to campaign for the ex-minister’s release.