OPPOSITION MEMBERS ACCUSED OF PLOT TO SEIZE ARMENIAN TV CENTER

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
February 26, 2008
Russia

Armenia’s National Security Service said on Tuesday that supporters
of ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian, defeated in what he claims was
a rigged presidential election, had plotted to storm a television
center and demand the possibility of a live televised address for
Ter-Petrosian.

"The Criminal Investigation Department of the National Security Service
has instituted criminal proceedings under the Criminal Code Article
‘Usurpation of State Authority,’" the service told Interfax.

The service said the alleged conspiracy had been revealed by a man
who was arrested on Monday and had taken part in opposition rallies on
Freedom Square in Yerevan where demands were raised for the annulment
of the official results of the February 19 presidential election,
according to which Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan won the poll.

The service named the man who had been arrested as Karen Ter-
Stepanian.

"K. Ter-Stepanian gave evidence and said nine supporters of L. Ter-
Petrosian were to organize a procession toward the television tower
and the building of the Public Television and Radio Company. They
planned to enter the territory of the building and demand a chance
for Ter-Petrosian to go live on air," the service said.

It said several people has been arrested as part of the case.