ARMENIAN OPPOSITION COLLECTS 100,000 SIGNATURES TO SUE EX-PRESIDENT

Assa-Irada Weekly
July 28 2008
Azerbaijan

The Armenian opposition led by former president Levon Ter-Petrosian has
collected over 100,000 signatures to take ex-president Robert Kocharian
to the International Court of Justice at the Hague, Ter-Petrosians
spokesman said. Arman Musinian told journalists that the Armenian
public was very actively involved in the signature campaign. We are
expecting even greater results in the next two months. Signatures
are coming from regions throughout the republic but the capital citys
residents are the most active, he said. Musinian said the opposition
had encountered some challenges during its campaign. At times, citizens
sent by the authorities come to put down their signatures with others
passports to make it possible to prove that the signatures were forged
in the future, in a bid to stage a provocation, the spokesman said. We
recall that the Ter-Petrosian-backed Nationwide Movement announced
July 14 that the Armenian opposition had launched the collection
of required signatures to sue Kocharian. Opposition representatives
believe that the ex-president had personally ordered to ruthlessly
put down mass protests by demonstrators who challenged the results
of the February 19 presidential election on March 1. During 10 says
of post-election protests staged by Ter-Petrosians supporters, 10
people were killed, 265 injured and over 100 arrested.