MORE TER-PETROSIAN ALLIES ARRESTED
Radio Liberty
March 3 2008
Czech Republic
At least five more prominent allies of former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian, among them two parliament deputies, have been arrested
on charges stemming from their active participation in Saturday’s
opposition demonstration marred by deadly violence, opposition lawyers
said on Monday.
The reported arrests raised to at least 30 the number of Ter-Petrosian
supporters jailed in the aftermath of Armenia’s disputed presidential
election.
Only one of them was officially confirmed by law-enforcement
authorities. Police said parliament deputy Miasnik Malkhasian was
detained while fleeing the scene of the protest early Sunday. A
police statement said he is facing prosecution under Article 300 of
the Armenian Criminal Code dealing with attempts to "usurp power."
It was not clear if state prosecutors have already asked the National
Assembly to lift Malkhasian’s immunity from prosecution. Under
Armenian law, they have to formally charge or free the lawmaker by
Wednesday. Malkhasian’s lawyer, Melanya Arustamian, told RFE/RL that
prosecutors allowed here to meet her client in custody and be present
at his first interrogation by on Sunday.
According to opposition sources, law-enforcement authorities also
detained another pro-Ter-Petrosian deputy, Hakob Hakobian, was part
of the same criminal investigation into what the Armenian authorities
call an opposition attempt at coup d’etat.
Malkhasian and Hakobian are leaders of Armenia’s two largest
organizations of veterans of the Nagorno-Karabakh war that supported,
both officially and unofficially, Ter-Petrosian’s candidacy in the
February 19 presidential election. The two men as well as Sasun
Mikaelian, another war hero, were affiliated with the parliament
faction of the governing Republican Party (HHK) before pledging
allegiance to Ter-Petrosian.
Also reportedly arrested were at least three other opposition
politicians who had held senior government and parliament positions
during Ter-Petrosian’s rule. According to opposition lawyers, those
are former deputy parliament speaker Karapet Rubinian, the former
chief of the Armenian customs, Yerjanik Abgarian, and the former
deputy head of the National Security Service, Gurgen Yeghiazarian.
"My client considers himself a political prisoner and has begun a
hunger strike," Rubinian’s lawyer, Hovik Arsenian, told RFE/RL.
Several other top Ter-Petrosian allies, including former Deputy
Prosecutor-General Gagik Jahangirian, were arrested before the bloody
crackdown on the opposition on a string of charges ranging from illegal
arms possession to assault. All of them reject the accusations as
baseless and politically motivated.
As part of the ongoing crackdown, investigators searched on Monday
the Yerevan home of Ter-Petrosian’s brother Petros. The latter said
they spent two and a half hours looking for weapons, ammunition and
incriminating documents. "During the search they did not find anything
of interest to the investigators," said Petros Ter-Petrosian.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General said on Monday that a total of
30 oppositionists have been arrested since the start of post-election
demonstrations in Yerevan.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s Human Rights Ombudsman Armen Harutiunian
expressed concern about reports of mass arrests and ill-treatment
of opposition supporters which he said his office is receiving
from citizens. Harutiunian said that he conveyed his concerns to
Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian and that the latter promised to
release the list of all detainees.
In a written statement, Harutiunian also said Saturday’s bloody clashes
between security forces and Ter-Petrosian supporters were made possible
by the break-up earlier in the day of the 11-day opposition sit-in
in Yerevan’s Liberty. Square. He questioned the official explanation
for the use of force against peaceful demonstrators camped there.