POLITICAL PRISONER’S PERSECUTION CONTINUES

Lragir, Armenia
10-09-2007 17:50:22

The ex-foreign minister of Armenia Alexander Arzumanyan who initiated
the Civil Disobedience Movement, held a news conference on September
10 after his release from the isolation ward of the National Security
Service. The conference was at the Pressing press club. Alexander
Arzumanyan, who had been arrested May 7 on a charge of money
laundering, said after he was set free that he is not a political
prisoner any more but he is persecuted because only the preventive
punishment has been replaced.

Alexander Arzumanyan was set free four months after his arrest when
the report on the investigation of his case was submitted to Aghvan
Hovsepyan. Alexander Arzumanyan says both his arrest and release are
manifestations of arbitrariness in Armenia. "There was no case. There
were no criminal charges. The prosecutor general confirmed that if you
heard him a few days ago. I must restore my reputation. They pinned
labels on me. The prosecutor states to the country that there was a
crime, the National Security Service only needs to prove that Sashik
Aghazaryan’s money is illegal. In other words, they only need to do
what is needed to consider and suspect of money laundering. There
remains only to do what they must begin with. In other words, it shows
that they took me to the isolation ward four months ago for nothing,
and put up a case," Alexander Arzumanyan says. Sashik Aghazaryan and
Alexander Arzumanyan were friends at school, and after his arrest he
stated that he had sent him the money, so there is nothing secret or
illegal about it.

Alexander Arzumanyan does not know why he was arrested and why he
was released. He does not believe that one representative of the
pyramid instructed to arrest him and the other instructed to release
him. "For the rumored controversy between Robert Kocharyan and Serge
Sargsyan, I cannot imagine the regime without this tandem. I find
no controversy between them. My release gave me a surprise, just
like you," Alexander Arzumanyan said. He said his wife visited him
three hours before the release. If they were going to release me,
why did they allow me to meet my wife three hours before the release,
Alexander Arzumanyan asks? "Apparently, it is not a legal procedure. If
it were a legal procedure, they would know beforehand, they would not
allow my wife to visit me at 17.30 to send me home at 20:30. In other
words, it is not only political order but also legal arbitrariness,"
Alexander Arzumanyan says.

He thinks both his arrest and release are the problem of the people
who gave the instructions. Alexander Arzumanyan says he does not know
yet why he was arrested, what they feared. "If they arrested on a
put-up charge, they were afraid of something. If I am a political
figure who scares some people, I am proud of that," Alexander
Arzumanyan says. According to him, his arrest might be a signal for
other political figures to behave themselves otherwise they will be
punished like me.

Alexander Arzumanyan says he will have everyone apologize to him,
and will go to the ECHR to restore his reputation. "I expect the
apology of everyone who was involved in this case, who instructed and
who fulfilled the instructions. I have questions, I wonder how the
judges who make illegal decisions and appear funny look their wives,
children in the eye. Let them tell me excuse us, we were told to
do that. Let them tell me who was involved in my illegal arrest and
apologize to me," Alexander Arzumanyan says.

Arzumanyan said he has such a crystal biography that the government
was unable to find anything over these four months that would enable
them to convict him. Alexander Arzumanyan thanked the reporters for
support and said he believes the reporters do the real work, while the
politicians do not. Alexander Arzumanyan also said he was treated with
respect at the isolation ward. "People know what is going on in our
country. I am respected not only in the street, in the neighborhood,
but also at the prison, Alexander Arzumanyan stated."