Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
May 29 2008
Armenian War Vets Still in Jail
Karabakh war veterans’ association under pressure after arrests.
By Diana Markosian in Yerevan (CRS No. 446 29-May-08)
One of the lingering consequences of the political crisis in Armenia
is that dozens of members of the influential veterans’ group Yerkrapah
remain in custody, creating a division between between the authorities
and men who fought in the Nagorny Karabakh conflict.
The Yerkrapah members were among the opposition supporters detained
during or after the March 1 violence that followed the country’s
disputed presidential election. Ten people died in the centre of
Yerevan, eight of them opposition protestors and two law enforcement
officers, and dozens of people were arrested.
Fifty-two people are still in custody charged with instigating
violence, organising mass disorder in order to `overthrow the
constitutional system’, or illegal possession of weapons.
Yerkrapah, which in Armenian means `custodian of the land’, is a union
of volunteers who fought in the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. Founded
during the war in 1993, the association supports veterans and their
families and seeks to instil patriotic values in young people. It is
estimated to have 27,000 or 28,000 members around the country.
Five of its members have so far been convicted by the courts, 24
remain under arrest and four are still wanted by the police.
Sixty-five-year-old Ashik Martirosian, who was decorated after being
wounded in the Karabakh war, is one of a number of veterans from the
Shirak region pressing for the release of their comrades.
`I am ready to give up all my medals to the institutions from which I
received them – I’ll give my presidential medal back to the president,
and my government one back to the government,’ said Martirosian. `When
our commanders are in prison, I am ashamed to hang these pieces of
metal on my chest.’
On May 29, Levon Ter-Petrosian, the opposition leader who lost the
election, visited a 11 veterans staging a hunger strike at a monument
to the Karabakh war dead on Yerevan’s Erablu hill. He urged them to
end their protest, but they refused.
The speaker of parliament, Tigran Torosian, denied that there was a
concerted official campaign against Yerkrapah, saying that individuals
were being punished for their actions.
`We must never do this [destroy Yerkrapah] – not today, tomorrow or in
100 years’ time,’ said Torosian. `The fact that members of Yerkrapah
have been arrested does not mean that they are being persecuted for
belonging to Yerkrapah. The law-enforcement agencies are obliged to
take into custody people who commit crimes, and extraneous
circumstances are irrelevant. Our country will always need the
Yerkrapah Union.’
Yerkrapah used to be one of the most powerful groups in Armenia, with
strong economic interests, widespread business ownership and ties with
government. It was not formerly associated with the political
opposition.
Its founder and honorary chairman was former defence minister and
prime minister Vazgen Sarkisian. After Sarkisian was killed in the
shootings in the Armenian parliament in October 1999, Manvel
Grigorian, a former deputy defence minister, took over as leader.
In the run-up to the presidential election in February, many of
Yerkrapah’s leaders began switching their allegiance from the official
presidential candidate, then prime minister Serzh Sarkisian, to
Ter-Petrosian, a former president of Armenia.
A week before polling day, member of parliament Myasnik Malkhasian,
deputy leader of Yerkrapah, announced he was throwing his weight
behind Ter-Petrosian, as did another leading member, deputy prosecutor
Gagik Jhangirian.
Jhangirian was sacked from his job the same day for publicly
interfering in politics. He was detained after the March 1 clashes,
and accused of carrying a metal staff, and now faces charges of
`usurping power’ which could carry a prison sentence of ten or 15
years. This is the same charge brought against most of the opposition
activists who were arrested.
After a month’s enforced leave, deputy defence ministers Manvel
Grigorian and Gagik Melkonian were also dismissed.
`I believe that the authorities are carrying out a pre-planned
operation to destroy Yerkrapah as a structure, as a single force, as
they see it as a danger,’ said one of the group’s founders, former
deputy defence minister Vahan Shirkhanian.
`Arresting dozens of Yerkrapah members, laying trumped-up charges
against them, and forcing others to leave Yerkrapah is all in pursuit
of the same goal – the ruin and destruction of Yerkapah.’
Former defence minister Vagharshak Harutyunian said that the campaign
against Yerkrapah was `dangerous’ for Armenia as it would lower morale
in the military.
`The destruction of Yerkrapah does great harm to the whole of society,
effectively destroying the idea of serving the country on a voluntary
basis,’ said Harutyunian. `It has an effect both on the moral and
psychological atmosphere in the country and on the Karabakh
question. This policy will be felt in the military-political balance
[with Azerbaijan] and will increase the risk of a resumption of war.’
Some commentators, however, say Yerkrapah has exerted undue political
influence.
`The Yerkrapah factor is activated from time to time,’ said former
deputy speaker , Ara Sahakian, a supporter of Ter-Petrosian.
`In 1998, Vazgen Sarkisian used massive manipulations [in the
election] and the Yerkrapah union was his support base. The very same
Yerkrapah made [Robert] Kocharian president. Now its role has
substantially diminished and a new generation of politicians has
appeared.’
Political analyst David Petrosian said the veterans still constituted
a powerful political force.
`In the current circumstances, it was a serious problem for our regime
to have the kind of organisation you keep an eye on but can’t
control,’ he said. `At the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008. it
became clear that this organisation was not under control.’
Diana Markosian is a journalist with A1+ television in
Yerevan. Armenuhi Vardanian in Gyumri contributed to this article.