Hürriyet, Turkey
Dec 20 2008

Opposition figures on trial in Armenia

ISTANBUL – A former Armenian foreign minister and six other opposition
figures went on trial in Yerevan on Friday on charges of seeking to
overthrow the government during protests in March. Ten people died
when protests against the results of presidential elections in the
former Soviet republic turned violent.

Cries from supporters of "We are with you!" greeted the defendants as
they entered a courtroom in the capital Yerevan where they will face
charges of seeking to "usurp state power" when they organized mass
protests in February.

The opposition said the trial of former Foreign Minister Alexander
Arzumanian and his co-accused is politically motivated, and complained
the government has done little to investigate allegations of police
culpability. Rights groups and the Council of Europe voiced concern
after the government imposed a state of emergency and arrested over
100 people after the protests. The opposition said the vote, won by
Serge Sarkisian, was rigged.

Outside the courtroom, dozens of protesters chanted "Free political
prisoners!" and held pictures of the seven accused, reported Agence
France-Presse. Arzumanian, a foreign minister in the late 1990s, was
campaign chief for opposition presidential challenger Levon
Ter-Petrosian.

‘False case’
"The case is sufficiently proven by the evidence of 500 witnesses,
civilians as well as police officers," chief investigator Vahagn
Harutyunian told Reuters. "We have records of telephone conversations,
private video recordings and television footage, and public speeches
by opposition representatives." Ter-Petrosian has not been officially
charged with any connection to the unrest. Arzumanyan’s lawyer said
the case was "false".

"No one among those charged did anything to violate public order,"
Hovik Arsenyan told Reuters.

Armenia — a mountainous country of about three million people wedged
between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Turkey — has seen repeated
political violence and post-election protests since gaining
independence with the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.