PRESS RELEASE

"YERKIR", UNION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
FOR REPATRIATION AND SETTLEMENT
Contact: Robert Tatoyan
Mobile: +(374 94) 36 17 93
E-mail: rob@yerkir.org

July 30, 2008
Yerevan, Armenia

`YERKIR’ UNION’s APPEAL TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WITH RESPECT TO THE
RECENT EVENTS IN AKHALKALAKI

On July 17, 2008 a blast took place in the town of Akhalkalaki, regional
center of the Akhalkalaki district of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of
Georgia, near the house of the Chief of Police Samvel Petrosyan. There were
no casualties.

Immediately after the blast, the local police forces initiated an
unprecedented wave of arrests within the ranks of the activists of the
`United Javakhk Democratic Alliance’ the local political movement. Thus, up
to 15 activists were brutally arrested, some were fiercely beaten. The
police also entered the building of the Youth radio station which belonged
to the same political movement. For this purpose, the entrance door was
crushed and internal doors and windows were damaged. No arms were found
however on the premises.

On July 17, around 8:00 p.m., some 40 persons regrouping both police forces
and civilians, stormed into the house of the local activist, Gurgen
Shirinyan. During this operation, Gurgen’s father was fiercely beaten and
one local policeman, Arthur Berudjanyan, was shot dead. Police sources
declared that Gurgen Shirinyan fled, while his father and aunt were
arrested.

On July 18, `United Javakhk Democratic Alliance’ issued a statement
describing both the blast and the incidents that followed as provocations
aiming the destruction of their organization. The statement required from
the authorities the holding of an impartial investigation.

In the afternoon Of July 20, another policeman – Armen Gabrielyan was shot
dead. According to a declaration on behalf of the authorities, the dead
policeman had… committed suicide.

At 4:00 am on July 21, armed and masked Georgian special forces intruded the
house of the `United Javakhk Democratic Alliance’ political movements’
leader, Vahagn Chakhalyan, and arrested all the members of his family. At
5:00 am, Vahagn Chakhalyan’s mother was set free, but he, his father and his
adolescent brother were detained in Akhaltsikhe, the center of the province.
Later on they were taken to Tbilisi, where they continue to remain in
custody up to now. Chakhalyan’s, his father’s and brother’s preliminary
detention was immediately extended to two months.

Parallel to these events, the police stormed once again the building of the
Youth radio station, but this time… arms and ammunition were `found’ and
confiscated.

Currently, authorities keep under arrest Gurgen Shirinyan’s father (Harutyun
Shirinyan), Gurgen Shirinyan’s aunt (Karine Shirinyan), as well as Vahagn
Chakhalyan, Vahagn Chakhalyan’s father (Rouben Chakhalyan) and Vahagn
Chakhalyan’s brother (Armen Chakhalyan). The building of the `Youth Radio’
is closed and sealed, all computers and other furniture are confiscated.

On July 23, `Yerkir’ Union of NGOs for Repatriation and Settlement, in
collaboration with its Georgian chapter `Yerkir-Georgia’, has sent a fact
finding mission to Akhalkalaki; including a cameraman, a lawyer and members
of the UNGO. The delegation interviewed relatives and neighbors of the
detained persons, as well as policemen. The Main places where the incidents
occurred were also visited and filmed.

The following facts were noted:

1. All arrests were conducted with flagrant violations. None of the
arrested persons was informed of his legal rights, his legal status, or of
his possibilities for self- protection.
2. Many of the arrested were beaten both at the time of the arrest and
during the detention period.
3. Detained persons were interrogated, (some, for several hours) however
written reports on the interrogations were not kept.
4. During the search of Gurgen Shirinyan’s house, the police has
`discovered’ ammunition, however no external witnesses were present to
verify and register the facts.
5. An official search warrant was not presented to the father of Gurgen
Shirinyan.
6. The police officers used degrading treatment toward Gurgen Shirinyan’s
relatives, and in particular, Gurgen Shirinyan’s father was slapped and then
brutally beaten.
7. Under the pretext that an investigation has to ascertain as to whom
the discovered ammunitions belong, Gurgen Shirinyan’s father and aunt were
arrested and detained without any warrant.
8. During Chakhalyan’s house search, arms and ammunitions were `found’
and caused the arrest of Chakhalyan and his relatives. However no external
witnesses participated to the search or noted the results of the search.
9. Neither Vahagn Chakhalyan, nor any of the members of his family were
shown a search warrant.
10. The arrest of the members of Chakhalyan’s family was accompanied with
violence, Rouben, Vahagn and Armen Chakhalyan were beaten and threatened.
11. Chakhalyan’s mother (Gayane Chakhalyan) was also arrested. She was
questioned for more than a hour, but no written record was kept of her
interrogation. She was threatened and freed without any explanation.
12. Armen Chakhalyan, who is a minor, was interrogated without the presence
of his parents or of any impartial adult.
13. In addition to the above mentioned persons who continue to still remain
in police custody, numerous other persons were arrested and interrogated,
they were all threatened, many were beaten, but all were released without
any explanation and with no written record of the on-going interrogations
which concerned them personally.

The `United Javakhk’ Democratic Alliance’ political movement participated in
the local elections in October 2006, in which they got about 30% of the
Akhalkalaki district votes and took 3 seats in Akhalkalaki sakreboulo (local
self-governing body). Yet, the movement rejected the election results as far
as it was concerned, dubbing those results as a flagrant fraud. The leaders
of this political movement, and especially Chakhalyan, struggles for a long
time now for the fulfillment of the Armenian minority rights. Based on this
fact, `Yerkir’ Union strongly believes that Chakhalyan’s arrest and
subsequent detention were purely motivated by political reasons.

`Yerkir’ Union considers the recent incidents in Akhalkalaki to be the
Georgian government’s unwillingness to solve minority issues, preferring
instead to resort to brutal force to suppress expressions of legitimate
complaint.

`Yerkir’ Union therefore calls upon the Georgian government:
– to guarantee a fair and unbiased investigation of the recent
incidents in Akhalkalaki,
– to immediately release from detention all relatives of Vahagn
Chakhalyan and Gurgen Shirinyan,
– to immediately investigate all human rights’ abuses which took
place during the recent incidents in Akhalkalaki, and in particular, the
human rights’ abuses which occurred during the arrests, the interrogations
and the detentions,
– to hold a fair and impartial investigation of the assassination of
the two ethnic Armenian policemen,
– to guarantee Vahagn Chakhalyan’s rights for a fair and impartial
trial.

`Yerkir’ Union also calls upon foreign missions in Georgia, international
organizations and institutions, international and local human rights
organizations and Georgia’s human rights public defender, Mr. Subari
– to recognize Vahagn Chakhalyan and all his detained relatives, as
well as Gurgen Shirinyan’s detained relatives as political prisoners
– to take appropriate steps for monitoring the conditions of
detention of all the political prisoners, to secure their right not to be
subjected to torture and ill-treatment any more, and to assure their right
to be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the
human person.

`Yerkir’ Union urges the Georgian mass-media to respect the right of the
Georgian and international communities to be informed and to break the
information blockade around this case by providing objective and full-length
coverage.

`Yerkir’ Union also expresses its concern about the alarming socio-political
and psychological impact which will have the recent incidents on the
Armenian minority of Javakheti. We call upon the Georgian government, as
well as upon the international and local organizations and institutions to
take appropriate and efficient steps for eliminating the possible negative
impacts of these recent critical developments.