Armenia probes into eavesdropped talk involving British diplomat
Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
26 Apr 07
Excerpt from report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak on 26
April headlined "Whom is the National Security Service going to
investigate?" and subheaded "The leader of the New Times Party,
Aram Karapetyan, was invited to the office of the National Security
Service yesterday"
Officers of the National Security Service [NSS] have questioned
[Aram Karapetyan, leader of the New Times Party] about a CD, which
contained a secretly recorded conversation between the leader of the
Orinats Yerkir (Law-governed Country) Party [OYP], Artur Baghdasaryan,
and a British diplomat.
The CD appeared in the office of the Golos Armenii newspaper, which
published the conversation. During the conversation, Baghdasaryan
allegedly urged international observers to give very negative
assessment of Armenia’s parliamentary election.
The NSS has decided to investigate the issue. NSS chief Gorik Hakobyan
has sent his representative to the editorial office of the newspaper
and wanted to receive the CD to launch an official investigation.
The leader of the New Times Party, Aram Karapetyan, has said that he
has also received a CD with the same content. He was invited to the
NSS yesterday.
Karapetyan explained how he had received the CD. He gave a copy of it
to the NSS and said that unidentified people had left it by his door.
It is very interesting how the NSS is gong to investigate the case.
Only few people doubt that the conversation between Artur Baghdasaryan
and the British diplomat was secretly recorded by the NSS itself.
Karapetyan also believes that no-one but the NSS could have done
the secret recording in Yerevan’s Marco Polo restaurant. He says
that the recording was publicized in order to discredit the people
[involved in the conversation] and to threaten the international
community. By making it public the authorities tried to create an
atmosphere of fear in the republic. This means that now people have
to realize that they could be eavesdropped everywhere and anytime,
and its consequences could be very serious for them.
Aram Karapetyan said in the NSS office that he did not doubt that the
NSS listened in all members of the opposition. Everybody knows this.
However, a foreign diplomat being eavesdropped and the recording
being published in the media is something new.
[Passage omitted]