OPPOSITION JOURNALIST TRIAL REOPENS OLD WOUNDS IN ARMENIA

Hurriyet Daily News
Oct 23 2009
Turkey

Former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian addresses a rally.

Pashinian, one of Ter-Petrosian’s most influential supporters, is
standing trial. AFP photo

A freedom-of-expression controversy in Armenia is intensifying amid the
opening of the trial of one of former president Levon Ter-Petrosian’s
most influential supporters, opposition journalist Nikol Pashinian.

Thirty-four-year-old Pashinian, editor-in-chief of the daily Haykakan
Zhamanak, is facing criminal charges for allegedly "organizing mass
disorder" and sparking violence against the government during the
March 2008 clashes between police and opposition protesters that left
10 dead, reported EurasiaNet on its Web site.

After over a year in hiding, Pashinian turned himself into police in
July under the terms of a presidential amnesty that led to the release
of scores of imprisoned opposition activists. Concern that Pashinian
would dodge his trial was the official reason given for his arrest.

The trial began Oct. 20. Opposition activists outside the court in
Yerevan’s Shengavit district carried posters that said, "Armenian
justice is on trial today," and, "Nikol’s trial is our common trial."

A large police contingent was deployed to prevent protesters from
entering the building.

The trial’s judge and setting are the same as for the so-called Case
of Seven, the controversial trial of seven opposition leaders that
international monitors argue exposed gaping inadequacies in Armenia’s
judicial system. A defense petition that the presiding judge, Mnatsakan
Martorisian, be dismissed for presumed bias against Pashinian was
denied. "I have no expectations for justice," defense attorney Lusine
Sahakian told EurasiaNet. Sahakian said the defense’s strategy was
"to show what has happened." She did not elaborate.

The World Press Freedom Committee – an organization representing 44
press freedom groups from around the world – sent a protest letter
on Oct. 2 to President Serge Sarkisian concerning Pashinian’s case,
seeking the trial’s adjournment. Government supporters dispute the
defense’s contention that authorities put Pashinian on trial to muzzle
his journalistic voice. "I don’t think these charges are much linked
to freedom of speech and his work as a journalist," said parliament
member Razmik Zohrabian, deputy head of the governing Republican
Party of Armenia.

In an Oct. 19 statement the Armenian National Congress, the political
movement headed by Ter-Petrosian, echoed those sentiments, saying
that the charges against Pashinian are "absolutely groundless" and
are an attempt by the government "to conceal the crime organized on
March 1, 2008."