TENSIONS ON EVE OF YEREVAN RALLY
By Karine Asatrian

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Feb 27 2009
UK

Armenia braces for protests commemorating violent break-up of
opposition demonstration.

Opposition activists will defy the authorities on March 1 to mark
the anniversary of a police crackdown on protesters last year that
left ten people dead.

Both sides of the political divide hope there will be no repeat of
last year’s violence, but observers say there has been no significant
easing of the tensions that caused the mass protests a year ago.

Last year’s protests were the result of opposition anger over the
results of February 19 presidential elections, which they say were
stolen by now-president Serzh Sargsian.

The then president imposed a state of emergency after the
demonstration, restricted the media, and sent in troops and armed
police – resulting in the deaths of eight opposition protesters and
two policemen.

"The political crisis in Armenia has still not been overcome," said
Alexander Iskandarian, director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan.

Indeed, opposition anger has been heightened by the police
investigation into the events. Prosecutors say they have opened 90
criminal cases against 110 people. Courts have already ruled on 97
cases involving 101 people, and five people remain on the run.

The most high-profile detainees, seven opposition leaders, remain
behind bars, awaiting trial. Their cases have been repeatedly
postponed. No police have been charged in relation to the deaths.

"The Armenian authorities’ response to the March 1 events has been
one-sided," said Human Rights Watch in a damning report published
earlier this month.

"While they have investigated, prosecuted, and convicted dozens of
opposition members, sometimes in flawed and politically motivated
trials, for organising the demonstration and participating in violent
disorder, they have not prosecuted a single representative of the
authorities for excessive use of force. The Office of the Public
Prosecutor has also dismissed all allegations of ill-treatment and
torture in detention as unfounded."

The opposition says its supporters were engaged in lawful protests
on March 1 and were subjected to an unprovoked attack, despite calls
from the international community for a peaceful resolution of the
political crisis.

The authorities, however, say they were forced to act after receiving
information that weapons had been distributed among the demonstrators
and that "mass riots" were planned.

The trouble began early on the morning, when police moved in on several
hundred protesters sleeping in tents pitched on Freedom Square in
central Yerevan. They cleared the square quickly, but subsequent
protests continued all day, culminating in the state of emergency
being proclaimed.

The government has promised a full probe into the events, and
prosecutors have occasionally reported on the results of their own
investigations, but have come no closer to announcing arrest warrants.

"I am not accusing anyone. I just want to know who killed my son. I
want to know the truth," said Aghasi Tadevosian, whose son Hamlet
was one of the policemen killed in the clashes.

His words were echoed by the bereaved parents of those on the other
side of the lines.

"Leaving political convictions aside, Armenians were killed by their
fellow-countrymen. I am sure that the time will come when all those to
blame for the crimes of March 1, as well as those before and after that
day, will be punished," said Robert Harutiunian, whose son Samvel died.

Under pressure from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe, the government has agreed to alter two controversial articles
in their criminal code under which the seven detained opposition
leaders are charged, but most opposition figures say nothing of
significance has changed in the last year to prevent protests bursting
out once more.

"Dialogue required actions, and not just promises. If the authorities
were genuinely prepared for this, then first of all they would
free the political prisoners, which must be their side of the
dialogue. Secondly, we must uncover the circumstances around the deaths
of ten innocent people, specifically the murderers and who gave the
orders," said Armen Martirosian, the leader of the Heritage Party’s
Parliamentary group, the only opposition presence in parliament.

"There are already experts who could be deployed quickly to uncover
the crime. But they have not done this, which means they do not want
to solve these murders."

City hall refused to give opposition parties permission to protest on
the anniversary of the crackdown. Artak Zeynalian, representative of
the opposition Armenian National Congress, said 58 political prisoners
remained in prison and that the Yerevan authorities had already turned
down 100 requests to hold protests about it.

He said that the opposition activists would gather at 3 pm in central
Yerevan on March 1 anyway, and that they had warned police of their
intentions.

Eduard Sharmazanov, a member of parliament from the ruling Republican
Party, said he expected the demonstration to pass peacefully, and
hoped the police would allow the protesters to express their views.

"I am far from the opinion that we must have an exclusive ruling
class. If we are a country without a strong opposition, we won’t have
a strong government," he said.