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On The Frontlines
Armenian Lawyer Turned Lawmaker Is Fearless In Face Of Authority
July 21, 2008
By Ruzanna Khachatrian, Suren Musayelyan
Zaruhi Postanjian at her seat at the National Assembly chamber in Yerevan
Armenian lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjian is known for her tireless activism
in the cause of human rights.
It was a sensational statement made amidst one of the most controversial
court cases in Armenian history.
"If I fail to win the case, I swear I’ll tear up my lawyer’s license,"
Zaruhi Postanjian publicly vowed before taking up the appeals of Razmik
Sargsian, Musa Serobian, and Arayik Zalian.
The three men, all soldiers in the Armenian Army, had been charged with
murdering two of their fellow conscripts, Roman Yeghizarian and Hovsep
Mkrtumian, whose beaten bodies were found in the Sarsang reservoir in
the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in January 2004. Sargsian says
videotaped testimony in which he confessed to his and his fellow
soldiers’ role in the deaths was obtained under torture. Serobian and
Zalian also say they were abused and mistreated while in detention.
They all pleaded not guilty, but were convicted in 2005 and sentenced to
15 years in prison. Their sentences were increased to life in prison by
an appeals court in May 2006.
So, when in December 2006, Armenia’s appeals court, the Court Of
Cassation, overturned the murder convictions in a surprise move, the
family and supporters of the three soldiers could not hold back their
tears, including Postanjian.
The court said the case against the three men was flawed and lacking in
evidence.
"It is not just a victory of lawyers, it is a victory of the whole
society," Postanjian said after her clients were released, after having
spent nearly three years behind bars. Though they are free, they have
not been acquitted and still face an additional investigation into the
killings.
Postanjian (lower right) overturned the convictions of Musa Serobian
(left), Arayik Zalian, and Razmik Sargsian.
Nevertheless, the 35-year-old Postanjian had achieved the impossible —
winning a case in the highest court of criminal justice in Armenia, a
country where, according to rights watchdog Freedom House, the judicial
branch is subject to political pressure from the executive branch and
"suffers from considerable corruption."
Such a U-turn in a high-profile judicial proceeding had never been
achieved by a defense counsel in Armenia, nor has it since.
In February 2007, Postanjian was awarded a medal of courage for her
efforts by the Zoravar Andranik All-National Armenian Union, named after
the freedom fighter and national hero.
Following the verdict, Postanjian suddenly found herself thrust into the
media spotlight in Armenia. Since then, she has become well-known in the
country for her tireless activism in the cause of human rights, for her
fearlessness in the face of authority, and for her flamboyant personal
style, both in the courtroom — where she’s been known to cry, scream,
and jump up and down — and in parliament, the latest arena in which she
is continuing her crusade.
Dramatic Career Change
Postanjian moved from applying Armenia’s laws to writing them in May
2007 when she was elected to the country’s 131-seat National Assembly on
the list of the opposition Zharangutyun (Heritage) party, along with six
other political newcomers. The move meant she had to quit her legal
practice, and give up a handsome income far exceeding her deputy’s
salary of about $600 a month.
She says she’s not sure why she made the dramatic career change. "I ask
myself this question every day," she says, "and cannot find an answer to
it."
The first major test for the opposition in the new Armenian parliament
was consideration of a government-sponsored package of draft legislation
that included amendments to the country’s media-regulation bill that
would have banned, or severely restricted, the retransmission of foreign
broadcasts, including those of RFE/RL.
Postanjian poses in the home of her father, which served as campaign
headquarters of the Heritage Party in 2007.
Opposition deputies called the proposed amendments an infringement on
free speech and said that, if adopted, the legislation would further
cement the government’s already pervasive control over electronic media
in the country.
In the end, the package was rejected by just one vote.
"What we’ve got in the end shows that everything is in our own hands,"
Postanjian said after several days of heated debate. "When I say ‘we,’ I
mean those who have a wish to achieve a change of quality in our life,
those who have a desire to put up a struggle."
Since her election, Postanjian has authored a number of draft laws aimed
at improving the human rights situation in the country.
For example, she presented a draft law in autumn 2007 proposing that
controversial Article 301 in Armenia’s Criminal Code be abolished. The
article calls for the leveling of a heavy fine and up to three years in
prison for anyone publicly calling for the violent seizure of power or
the overthrow of the constitutional system in Armenia. Human rights
advocates say the article can be easily abused for the purposes of
political persecution.
These draft laws have not yet come up for debate, however, and, in
Armenia’s current political climate, may never come up.
‘Where Are You Taking This Child?’
As expected, Postanjian could be found in the thick of things earlier
this year during Armenia’s tumultuous presidential campaign and
election.
For 11 days in February, tens of thousands of opposition supporters
rallied in Yerevan, in a mass challenge to the narrow first-round
victory of former President Robert Kocharian’s ally, Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkisian, in the presidential election on February 19. Opposition
leader Levon Ter-Petrossian — Armenia’s first post-Soviet president —
lost the vote to Sarkisian by more than 30 percentage points.
Clashes eventually erupted on March 1 that left nine people dead and
hundreds injured. Kocharian then imposed a state of emergency, which
ended the rallies.
A man injured in the postelection violence in Yerevan on March 1.
During the demonstrations, Postanjian appeared to be everywhere —
"policing the police," so to speak — particularly on March 1 as she
tried to protect demonstrators against police brutality and heavy-handed
tactics, both in her capacity as a deputy and as a civil rights
defender.
On one occasion, an RFE/RL reporter heard Postanjian verbally sparring
with police in an effort to prevent them from imprisoning a child along
with the child’s father.
"Where are you taking this child?! What right do you have to take a
child to a detention center?!" Postanjian screamed. "How will you look
into your own children’s eyes?â’
Following the unrest, Postanjian, along with her fellow faction members,
was a consistent critic of the restrictions on rights and freedoms
during the state of emergency.
Where are you taking this child?! What right do you have to take a child
to a detention center?!
She has also distinguished herself through her efforts to support three
opposition deputies — Hakob Hakobian, Sasun Mikayelian, and Miasnik
Malkhassian — arrested for their alleged roles in the March 1 violence
and stripped of their parliamentary immunity. They remain in custody,
charged under articles of the Criminal Code that deal with "usurpation
of state power" and "incitement to mass disturbances."
She, like many opposition supporters, considers the three to be
political prisoners.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, 40 opposition members and
supporters remain in pretrial detention and 30 others have been
sentenced to up to six years in prison on charges mainly stemming from
the postelection opposition protests and the March 1 unrest. Another 32
opposition supporters have been given suspended prison sentences.
Postanjian and her faction have been putting pressure on the authorities
to comply with the demands of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE), which has given Yerevan until the end of this year to
lift restrictions on public rallies, launch an independent inquiry into
the events of March 1, set up a dialogue with opposition parties, and
release those individuals imprisoned "on seemingly artificial and
politically motivated charges."
‘Credulous And Trusting’
Her new position as a lawmaker has done nothing to suppress Postanjian’s
flair for the dramatic gesture.
Last summer, Postanjian found herself at a Yerevan police station,
lodging a complaint of police harassment against officers whom she
accused of forcibly confiscating her handbag, as well as leaflets she
had been distributing. Postanjian and one of her aides had been passing
out flyers in defense of imprisoned military commander Zhirayr Sefilian
as tens of thousands of Armenians — including President Robert
Kocharian — had gathered in the capital’s main stadium to watch the
opening ceremonies of the Pan-Armenian Games.
Sefilian, a Lebanese-born Armenian, was a decorated commander during the
war over Nagorno-Karabakh. He and opposition activist Vartan Malkhasian
were arrested in late 2006. Both were charged with publicly calling for
the violent overthrow of the government. In 2007, the court found
Sefilian guilty of illegal arms possession and sentenced him to 18
months in jail. Malkhasian was jailed for two years.
The predominantly ethnic-Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh lies within
Azerbaijan’s borders. Karabakh seceded in 1988 with Yerevan’s help.
Armenian forces gradually took control of the mountainous region before
seizing a number of adjacent Azerbaijani administrative districts, which
they continue to occupy. The conflict claimed an estimated 35,000 lives
and drove hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. A cease-fire
was brokered in 1994. Negotiations continue on Karabakh’s future
status.
Sefilian has been a vocal critic of the Armenian government’s
negotiations with Baku. Many human rights activists in Armenia,
including Postanjian, believe Sefilian and Malkhasian are, in fact,
political prisoners, an assertion which the government denies.
Postanjian’s support for Sefilian’s case didn’t stop there. On September
21, 2007, Postanjian was invited along with other parliamentary deputies
to a reception held by Kocharian on Armenia’s Independence Day.
Postanjian used the occasion to wear a short-sleeved T-shirt emblazoned
with an image of the wartime commander that said: "Freedom to Zhirayr
Sefilian."
Postanjian now and then.
Her daring outfit had the effect of repelling many of the celebrating
guests, who all appeared to do their best to stay as far away as
possible from Postanjian in the president’s reception hall.
Parliament speaker Tigran Torosian of Armenia’s ruling Republican Party
says he considers Postanjian to be an energetic, yet overly emotional,
lawmaker. He thinks she goes too far with her human rights efforts,
however.
"Parliament is not a human-rights protection body," he says. "A
lawmaker’s work does not directly relate to human-rights protection.â’
But Zharangutyun faction leader Raffi Hovannisian sees Postanjian as the
embodiment of a modern-day human-rights champion.
"She lives in order to defend the rights of her fellow citizens and the
interests of her nation," says Hovannisian, who also served as the
country’s foreign minister. "She is a citizen of law and will never
become a deserter. And her shortcoming is the same as the shortcoming of
the whole faction — we are credulous and trusting. The vision of
Armenia that we have is, indeed, different from the reality in which we
live."
Passion For Environment
Postanjian’s work in parliament hasn’t deterred her from more
grass-roots activism, especially when it comes to environmental issues.
In the mid-1990s, she worked as a senior inspector in the Environmental
Prosecutor-General’s Office, and the environment remains one of her
passions.
Last summer, construction was set to begin on a high-rise building in
downtown Yerevan. The only problem was that residents of a nearby
apartment block had long been using the land for a well-tended garden.
Bulldozers, escorted by police, began to clear the site. The residents,
desperate for help, sounded the alarm and called in whomever they could,
including the press. And, of course, Postanjian, who once again found
herself on the forefront of protest.
She lives in order to defend the rights of her fellow citizens and the
interests of her nation.
With wet hair, holding her 5-year-old daughter, Greta, by the hand,
Postanjian arrived and stood between an imperiled apricot tree and a
bulldozer, shouting, "I won’t let you do that!" Postanjian had jumped
out of the bath and hadn’t even had time to take Greta to her
grandmother’s. As others, emboldened by Postanjian’s courage, joined in
the defense, Greta stood by, calmly watching.
"I wasnâ’t afraid," she remembers. "My mom was working."
The garden on Pushkin Street was eventually saved, and Postanjian and
her daughter planted an apricot tree there. To their surprise, the local
authorities, including the prefecture of Yerevan’s central district,
also joined hands with the building’s residents to plant new trees in
the area.
Environmentalists have drawn attention to the lack of green zones in the
capital and the deforestation taking place, exacerbated by an energy
crisis in Armenia in the early 1990s, when many of Yerevan’s trees were
cut down. The crisis has been compounded by expanding construction
projects and emissions from the ever-growing number of cars on the
roads.
In November 2007, Postanjian also was instrumental in efforts to halt
construction of a new building on another tree-studded site in the city.
During a question-and-answer session with government members, Postanjian
asked Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian about the matter. After that, the
logging of trees and construction on the site were suspended.
Postanjian was among a group who visited the Teghut forest to study
firsthand how many trees will be logged as a result of a mining plan put
forward by the company ACP.
Zaruhi has also been behind protest actions against the company ACP
(Armenia Copper Program), which wants to cut down 1,500 acres of virgin
forest near the village of Teghut, in northern Armenia, to mine for
copper and molybdenum ore. The forest is home to hundreds of species of
birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, and plants, including many that are
registered in the International Red Book of Endangered Species. On
January 13, 2008, Postanjian led a few dozen activists on a bicycle ride
through Yerevan’s streets to express opposition to the clear-cutting.
Fitting In Her Family
As a deputy, Postanjian dresses casually, and without embarrassment.
It’s not unusual for her to turn up for a parliament session wearing
jeans tucked into cowboy boots, dressed more for a night out than for a
daytime debate. It’s the same insouciance she displayed as a teenager
when, as the Soviet Union was crumbling, Postanjian renounced her
membership in Komsomol, the communist youth organization, and began
attending demonstrations and public rallies in the city.
Postanjian often dresses in jeans and cowboy boots while she’s in the
National Assembly in Yerevan.
Born in Yerevan, Postanjian attended Russian School No. 132 and
graduated from Yerevan’s MYUD Law Institute in 1994. She received her
lawyer’s license in 1999, and subsequently pursued advanced work in
criminal law through the American Bar Association in Florida. Her
personal passions sent her to Lund University in Sweden in 2003 to study
human rights law, and to the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in
Warsaw in 2004-05.
Today, Postanjian says, she’s too busy for friends, and sometimes even
for family.
"My parents have done and are doing everything for all my intentions to
be realized, but I can spare very little time to spend with them. I
don’t see them often," she confesses. "When I myself became a mother, I
was very young, only 20, and at that time it was purely an obligation
for me. I didn’t feel the pleasure. Now, with the 5-year-old daughter, I
am starting to understand what motherhood is."
She married Suren Drampian, a dentist, in 1993. He says he understands
his wife’s passion in pursuit of human rights, but admits that sometimes
he tells her: "You’ve had enough. Stay at home. You know what predators
are out there. Who are you fighting against? We have children, don’t
we?"
Recently, Postanjian told faction head Raffi Hovannisian that she wants
to have a fourth child.
"Only Zara can do both things at one time," Hovannisian said, "carrying
out the highest and most sacred mission of giving birth to a child and
providing mothering and being peopleâ’s elected representative and an
active parliament deputy."
Says Postanjian: "I want every Armenian to be willing to live in
Armenia, to have children here and to see their children’s future only
in Armenia."
Postanjian with her daughters Lusine, Lilit, and Greta. Her husband,
Suren Drampian, watches over.
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