“GROUNDLESS CHARGES”: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST CALLS CASES AGAINST FOUNDING PARLIAMENT MEMBERS “FABRICATED”
NEWS | 10.04.15 | 14:32
GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
A number of opposition figures and human rights activists have spoken
against what they describe as illegal prosecution of Founding
Parliament members, calling the cases against them “fabricated”.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee on Thursday pressed criminal charges
against several arrested leaders of the Founding Parliament, a radical
opposition group that plans to hold an anti-government protest in
Yerevan on April 24 – the day marking the centenary of the Armenian
Genocide.
It said Jirair Sefilian, Garegin Chukaszyan and Varuzhan Avetisyan,
all of whom are leading members of the movement, are accused of
“preparing mass disturbances”, which is punishable by between four and
10 years in prison under Armenia’s Criminal Code.
The three men, as well as two other activists, Pavel Manukyan and
Gevorg Safaryan, who were charged under similar counts, were placed
under two-month pretrial detention by courts later that day.
In a statement the Investigative Committee said that objects “designed
to inflict corporal injuries” had been found and confiscated during
searches carried out at Founding Parliament offices and the suspects’
apartments.
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office head Artur Sakunts,
meanwhile, believes such evidence is insufficient to press such
serious criminal charges.
“Those objects and items that were found and confiscated and were said
[by the Investigative Committee] to be designed for inciting riots can
be found at the home of any citizen of Armenia, beginning from knives,
sticks, and various other household items,” he told ArmeniaNow. “If we
are guided by this logic, then one should institute total control over
how many knives people have at their homes and they should submit
reports about the use of these knives on a daily basis.”
The human rights activist also said that police actions were also
unclear to him, as earlier the Yerevan Mayor’s Office authorized the
holding of the Founding Parliament’s rally on April 24 in the
territory near the Erebuni Museum on the outskirts of the city.
“The municipality has approved it and if there was new information on
mass disturbances it could serve as a basis for not accepting the
notification. But since the municipality took that decision and even
offered territory for holding the rally, it means that they did not
have any concerns in connection with the rally,” said Sakunts, arguing
that the Investigative Committee’s decision was “spontaneous” and
“guided”.
“These are false and fabricated charges with all possible and
impossible means, including illegal ones,” he added. “They are doing
everything to keep these people in jail.”
Sakunts said he expected more arrests to follow as, he noted, despite
the prosecution of the Founding Parliament’s leaders the activities of
the group have not been disorganized.
Spokesman for the opposition Heritage party David Sanasaryan also
thinks that the cases against the Founding Parliament members are
“fabricated” and that what was found at their homes are not “serious
weapons” for keeping these people in jail.
“This is another shameful process for Armenia. But I am more
embarrassed by the lack of strong public reaction,” he said. “It is
normal that many may not share the approaches [of the Founding
Parliament], I do not share them either, but what is happening now
shows that the regime can eliminate anyone and at any moment.”
At least one Armenian advocacy group based outside Armenia has reacted
to the actions of Armenian authorities against the Founding
Parliament.
Policy Forum Armenia, a Washington-based group of Armenian scholars,
has condemned the arrests of several Founding Parliament members and
expressed its support to the civil society in Armenia, calling upon
Armenians in the Diaspora “to put all possible pressure on the regime
in Yerevan to stop persecutions of civil and political activists.”
Meanwhile, parliamentary leader of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation Armen Rustamyan said that Sefilian and others “directly
spoke about actions unacceptable for the public” and that the Armenian
authorities had no alternative to arresting them.
Representatives of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) also
consider the actions of the law-enforcement agencies to be justified.
They say the arrests are not politically motivated.
The RPA, as well as other leading political forces in the country,
including many in the opposition camp, have criticized the Founding
Parliament for its intention to launch nonstop anti-government
protests on April 24 – the day when large-scale public events
commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide are due
to be held in Yerevan.