ORGANIZERS OF YEREVAN RIOTS TO BE PROSECUTED – PRESIDENT

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 3, 2008
Russia

All the organizers and participants in the Yerevan riots will be
prosecuted, President Robert Kocharian told the Special Representative
of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Heikki Talvitie on Sunday.

All points of law must be given legal interpretations, the presidential
press service cited Kocharian as saying.

The president described the current situation in Yerevan to the OSCE
envoy and said that the latest developments could hardly be described
as politics.

First and foremost, the state of emergency in Yerevan targets security,
Kocharian said.

We are trying to reduce possible inconveniences and limits on
fundamental rights as much as possible, he said.

The interlocutors voiced hope for the soonest settlement in Armenia
and the restoration of stability and order.

The police dispersed a rally of supporters of Armenian ex-president
Levon Ter-Petrossian on Yerevan’s Freedom Square on March 1, and the
protesters moved to the area adjoining the embassies of France and
Italy and the Yerevan City Hall. Up to 10,000 people gathered there.

The police said that the crowd ran out of control by night and
protesters began to pillage governmental facilities and private shops
and set fire to vehicles.

The riots stopped as the president announced a state of emergency for
a period of 20 days. The ordinance said that the state of emergency
was to prevent the threat to order and to protect rights and interests
of lawful citizens.

Although the situation is becoming dangerous in Yerevan, the
authorities will not turn to a curfew, Kocharian has said.

"It was my duty as the guarantor of the Constitution to make such
a decision. By all accounts, the certain concessions made were
misinterpreted by one of the presidential candidates. What is going on
now is a political process. Shots were fired at police, and weapons
and grenades, we had been talking about, were used," Kocharian said
at a news conference early after he signed a decree ordering a state
of emergency in Yerevan.

Eight police officers, including a regiment commander, were seriously
wounded, he said. "I have no information about fatalities," he added.

Kocharian said he had signed the decree "when reports arrived about
eight wounded police officers and the use of firearms against law
enforcement personnel."

"I am calling on citizens to demonstrate restraint and understanding,
to respect the law, and to help restore law and order," Kocharian said.

Viktor Sogomonian, a spokesman for the Armenian president, said, that
authorities in Armenia are in control of the situation in Yerevan,
and the atmosphere is calm in all remaining regions.

"The situation is under control. There is no public unrest. A state of
emergency has been introduced in Yerevan for 20 days, until March 21.

Under the constitution, the restrictions, in particular, apply to
mass actions in Yerevan. Some restrictions have also been imposed on
the media," Sogomonian told Interfax.

The authorities have done their best to mitigate inconveniences for
Yerevan residents. "Even a curfew has not been introduced in Yerevan,"
he said.

"People have calmed down. The authorities are resolute in their
intention to identify and punish the organizers and participants in
any unrest," he said.

Sogomonian was asked if he knew who was behind the actions in
Yerevan. "This is within the competence of the Interior Ministry,"
he said.

Information about eight deaths during the unrest has not been
confirmed. "According to recent data, seven people died, amongst them
a serviceman," he said.

"Everything has been calm and remains calm" in other regions of
Armenia, he said.

Meanwhile, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka
Kanerva called for the beginning of political dialog in Armenia
on Monday.

He urged the authorities to release detained protesters and suggested
dialog between the authorities and the opposition.

Kanerva said he had sent his special representative, diplomat Heikki
Talvitie, to Armenia.

He said the special representative would try to organize negotiations
between the sides and resolve the crisis through political dialog.

The U.S. Department of State urged Armenians to avoid new outbreaks of
violence, to act in strict compliance with laws, to show self-control
and to resume political dialog.

Human Rights Watch said that Armenian security forces used
disproportionate force.