Armenian police detain 13 opposition members over Sevan rally

Regnum, Moscow
29 Apr 05

“Without any notification the Armenian law-enforcement bodies have
detained and are currently questioning 13 members of the opposition
New Times Party, which is not represented in parliament. In parallel
with questioning, the houses of the party activists are being searched
for illegal possession of weapons,” Edik Grigoryan, the political
secretary of the party, has told Regnum news agency.

Disturbances occurred in the town of Sevan in the course of a rally
staged by the New Times Party on 20 April 2005. As a result, a member
of the party, Garegin Petrosyan, was rushed to hospital with a bullet
wound in his head. A number of political parties of Armenia, including
those from the ruling coalition, have made statements condemning the
incident.

The party leader, Aram Karapetyan, and his deputy Aleksandr Minasyan
were questioned in the prosecutor’s office of Sevan at around 1200
[0700 gmt] today, Grigoryan said. He himself was questioned at night.

“The police purposefully try to discredit the rallies staged by the
party,” Grigoryan said. At the same time, he said that the party has
no grudges against the Sevan police “because they are only fulfilling
orders”. Grigoryan also said that only one person from the side which
shot during the meeting (the person who shot has not yet been
identified) has been questioned. “We are the ones who were shot at,
but they are searching for weapons among members of the party,” the
secretary of the New Times Party said.