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ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SANCTIONS ARREST OF OPPOSITION MPS
Radio Liberty
March 4 2008
Czech Republic
Armenia's parliament on Tuesday gave a green light for the arrest and
prosecution on coup charges of four of its members loyal to former
President Levon Ter-Petrosian.
Miasnik Malkhasian, Hakob Hakobian, Sasun Mikaelian and Khachatur
Sukiasian will be formally charged under articles of the Criminal
Code relating to attempts to seize power and provoke riots for that
purpose. The charges stem from Saturday's deadly clashes between
Ter-Petrosian supporters and security forces that followed the forcible
break-up of an opposition sit-in in Yerevan's Liberty Square.
Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to lift their colleagues' immunity from
prosecution after a speech by Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian. He
reiterated government allegations that the clashes had been planned
by the Ter-Petrosian-led opposition in advance.
Hakobian and Malkhasian were detained on Sunday and brought to the
parliament session by masked security officers. Both men were allowed
to address the National Assembly and deny the accusations. The two
other accused deputies appear to have gone into hiding.
Hovsepian told journalists later in the day that law-enforcement
authorities are also hunting for several other unspecified
Ter-Petrosian allies and trying to make sure that none of them flees
the country. He did not exclude that the former president may also
be arrested and put on trial. "The investigation is underway and we
will make a decision based on its results," he said.
The coup case was described as baseless and politically motivated by
Zharangutyun Party of Raffi Hovannisian, the only opposition group
represented in the 131-member National Assembly. Addressing the
legislature, Hovannisian said it will only deepen the post-election
unrest in the country.
In a written statement, Hovannisian and the six other Zharangutyun
parliamentarians condemned the use of lethal force against opposition
demonstrators and expressed serious concern about the ensued arrests of
opposition activists. "The reports received from the legal defenders of
several arrestees allow us to assert that all of Yerevan's detention
halls are full of people who have become the patent victims of police
brutality," they said.
"This situation confirms the public fear that the country's law
enforcement bodies actually do not intend to carry out a fair and
unbiased investigation into this and all other tragic events which
have taken the lives of Armenian citizens," added the statement.
Radio Liberty
March 4 2008
Czech Republic
Armenia's parliament on Tuesday gave a green light for the arrest and
prosecution on coup charges of four of its members loyal to former
President Levon Ter-Petrosian.
Miasnik Malkhasian, Hakob Hakobian, Sasun Mikaelian and Khachatur
Sukiasian will be formally charged under articles of the Criminal
Code relating to attempts to seize power and provoke riots for that
purpose. The charges stem from Saturday's deadly clashes between
Ter-Petrosian supporters and security forces that followed the forcible
break-up of an opposition sit-in in Yerevan's Liberty Square.
Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to lift their colleagues' immunity from
prosecution after a speech by Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian. He
reiterated government allegations that the clashes had been planned
by the Ter-Petrosian-led opposition in advance.
Hakobian and Malkhasian were detained on Sunday and brought to the
parliament session by masked security officers. Both men were allowed
to address the National Assembly and deny the accusations. The two
other accused deputies appear to have gone into hiding.
Hovsepian told journalists later in the day that law-enforcement
authorities are also hunting for several other unspecified
Ter-Petrosian allies and trying to make sure that none of them flees
the country. He did not exclude that the former president may also
be arrested and put on trial. "The investigation is underway and we
will make a decision based on its results," he said.
The coup case was described as baseless and politically motivated by
Zharangutyun Party of Raffi Hovannisian, the only opposition group
represented in the 131-member National Assembly. Addressing the
legislature, Hovannisian said it will only deepen the post-election
unrest in the country.
In a written statement, Hovannisian and the six other Zharangutyun
parliamentarians condemned the use of lethal force against opposition
demonstrators and expressed serious concern about the ensued arrests of
opposition activists. "The reports received from the legal defenders of
several arrestees allow us to assert that all of Yerevan's detention
halls are full of people who have become the patent victims of police
brutality," they said.
"This situation confirms the public fear that the country's law
enforcement bodies actually do not intend to carry out a fair and
unbiased investigation into this and all other tragic events which
have taken the lives of Armenian citizens," added the statement.