HELSINKI ASSOCIATION DEMANDS SETTING ALEXANDER ARZUMANYAN FREE

Panorama.am
16:26 30/08/2007

"Carefully watching the process of the criminal case against Alexander
Arzumanyan we once again came to the assurance that the Armenian law
enforcement bodies continue to act in the field of illegality as they
did in the past," Helsinki Association made this statement today. The
statement says: "Keeping to the logic pursued for years in their style
of work the Armenian law enforcement bodies first found the "guilty"
and then made up the "guilt."

The statement also says the aim is to keep ex-foreign minister and
the initiator of Civil Disobedience Movement Alexander Arzumanyan
away "as long as possible" in order to avoid problems before the
presidential elections.

Helsinki Association demands to "swiftly set ex-foreign minister
Alexander Arzumanyan free" and to charge "criminal officials of
the National Security Service" for making groundless accusations
against Arzumanyan. The authors of the statement also demand civil
investigation in the National Security Service and the Prosecutor’s
Office of Armenia saying the latter was not "consistent in preventing
the illegalities taking place within the case."