COURT PROLONGS OPPOSITIONIST’S ARREST
By Karine Kalantarian
Radio Liberty
Aug 31 2007
Czech Rep.
A court in Yerevan allowed the National Security Service (NSS)
on Friday to keep Aleksandr Arzumanian, a former foreign minister
opposed to the government, for two more months, ignoring protests
from his lawyer.
The court of first instance of the city’s Kentron and Nork-Marash
districts accepted NSS investigators’ arguments that they need more
time to complete their politically charged inquiry into the allegedly
illegal financing of his anti-government activities. The presiding
judge, Ruben Nersisian, ruled that Arzumanian could obstruct the
inquiry, have "illegal influence" on investigators and even go into
hiding if he were to be set free.
The defense lawyer, Hovik Arsenian, condemned the ruling as "illegal
and pathetic" and said he will appeal it. Arsenian also repeated
his claims that the NSS lacks evidence against his client and is
deliberately dragging out the criminal proceedings to keep him in
jail as long as possible.
Arzumanian, who had served as Armenia’s foreign minister from
1996-1998, was arrested on May 7 on charges of illegally receiving a
large amount of money from Levon Markos, a fugitive Russian businessman
of Armenian descent. His arrest came two days after NSS officers
searched his Yerevan apartment and confiscated $55,400 worth of cash
kept there.
Arzumanian, who leads a small opposition group campaigning for regime
change, denies being financed by Markos and attempting to "legalize
revenues obtained by criminal means." He and other prominent opposition
politicians have denounced the case as politically motivated.
In a written petition to the court, a senior NSS official said that
the security agency needs to investigate claims by a Moscow-based
friend of Arzumanian, Aleksandr Aghazarian, that he is the one who
sent the money to the former minister. The official said it has asked
Russian prosecutors to certify the veracity of the claims and look
into the legality of Aghazarian’s revenues.