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ARMENIAN-AMERICAN VOTE MONITOR 'BLACKMAILED' IN ELECTION FRAUD PROBE
http://asbarez.com/109182/armenian-american-vote-monitor-%E2%80%98blackmailed%E2%80%99-in-election-fraud-probe/
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013
Narine Esmaeli
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-An Armenian-American observer who claims to have
witnessed serious fraud in Armenia's recent presidential election on
Tuesday accused law-enforcement authorities in Yerevan of blackmailing
her with intimate photographs that were taken secretly.
Narine Esmaeli, who works for the Armenian branch of Transparency
International, monitored the February 18 election together with a
local observer at a polling station in Artashat, a town notorious for
electoral fraud and violence. They were part of a vote-monitoring group
set up by the Europe Union of Law, a Yerevan-based non-governmental
organization.
They say they were assaulted by a large group of government loyalists
that stuffed hundreds of ballots. Esmaeli has also accused local
police officers of bullying her after the incident.
The allegations picked up by Armenian opposition and civic groups
resulted in the launch of a criminal investigation by the Special
Investigative Service (SIS), a law-enforcement agency subordinate to
state prosecutors. They also led Armenia's Constitutional Court to
invalidate the official vote results in the troubled Artashat precinct.
Esmaeli claimed that the chief SIS investigator in the case, Gorik
Hovakimian, told her in a phone call on March 19 that the Transparency
International office in Yerevan has sent him intimate pictures of her
along with purported evidence of vote rigging in Artashat. "He said
that he wants to kindly return them to me," the 21-year-old woman
told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
"I didn't go to pick up the photos because I don't care about them. It
was obvious that they will use them for blackmail," she said.
The SIS offered a different version of events, saying that it got hold
of a more than 5-hour-long footage taken in the bathroom of Esmaeli's
Yerevan apartment. In a written reply to RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am), the law-enforcement body claimed that the video was
sent to the Central Election Commission by the Europe Union of Law.
Sona Ayvazian, deputy director of Transparency International's
Armenian branch, laughed off the SIS claims, saying that neither
her group nor the Europe Union of Law could have secretly filmed or
photographed Esmaeli.
"Either there is no such private material or the police themselves
secretly filmed it," Ayvazian said. "Narine's apartment is right next
to a police station and they could have filmed it. Such methods are
simply ridiculous in the modern world."
The allegations of blackmail appear to have been taken seriously by
the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan. U.S. Ambassador John Heffern met with
Esmaeli on March 21, two days after the alleged phone call from the
SIS investigator.
An embassy statement issued after the meeting said that Heffern
"will continue to monitor the case very closely." "The welfare of
United States citizens abroad remains the highest priority for the
United States government," added the statement.
Esmaeli and the SIS traded other accusations earlier in March. The
Armenian-American activist's lawyer, Tigran Yegorian, attempted to
record her interrogations by investigators after she accused them
of distorting her testimony written down by them. The SIS denounced
Yegorian's actions as illegal before asking Armenia's Chamber of
Advocates to take disciplinary action against the lawyer.
http://asbarez.com/109182/armenian-american-vote-monitor-%E2%80%98blackmailed%E2%80%99-in-election-fraud-probe/
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013
Narine Esmaeli
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-An Armenian-American observer who claims to have
witnessed serious fraud in Armenia's recent presidential election on
Tuesday accused law-enforcement authorities in Yerevan of blackmailing
her with intimate photographs that were taken secretly.
Narine Esmaeli, who works for the Armenian branch of Transparency
International, monitored the February 18 election together with a
local observer at a polling station in Artashat, a town notorious for
electoral fraud and violence. They were part of a vote-monitoring group
set up by the Europe Union of Law, a Yerevan-based non-governmental
organization.
They say they were assaulted by a large group of government loyalists
that stuffed hundreds of ballots. Esmaeli has also accused local
police officers of bullying her after the incident.
The allegations picked up by Armenian opposition and civic groups
resulted in the launch of a criminal investigation by the Special
Investigative Service (SIS), a law-enforcement agency subordinate to
state prosecutors. They also led Armenia's Constitutional Court to
invalidate the official vote results in the troubled Artashat precinct.
Esmaeli claimed that the chief SIS investigator in the case, Gorik
Hovakimian, told her in a phone call on March 19 that the Transparency
International office in Yerevan has sent him intimate pictures of her
along with purported evidence of vote rigging in Artashat. "He said
that he wants to kindly return them to me," the 21-year-old woman
told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
"I didn't go to pick up the photos because I don't care about them. It
was obvious that they will use them for blackmail," she said.
The SIS offered a different version of events, saying that it got hold
of a more than 5-hour-long footage taken in the bathroom of Esmaeli's
Yerevan apartment. In a written reply to RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am), the law-enforcement body claimed that the video was
sent to the Central Election Commission by the Europe Union of Law.
Sona Ayvazian, deputy director of Transparency International's
Armenian branch, laughed off the SIS claims, saying that neither
her group nor the Europe Union of Law could have secretly filmed or
photographed Esmaeli.
"Either there is no such private material or the police themselves
secretly filmed it," Ayvazian said. "Narine's apartment is right next
to a police station and they could have filmed it. Such methods are
simply ridiculous in the modern world."
The allegations of blackmail appear to have been taken seriously by
the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan. U.S. Ambassador John Heffern met with
Esmaeli on March 21, two days after the alleged phone call from the
SIS investigator.
An embassy statement issued after the meeting said that Heffern
"will continue to monitor the case very closely." "The welfare of
United States citizens abroad remains the highest priority for the
United States government," added the statement.
Esmaeli and the SIS traded other accusations earlier in March. The
Armenian-American activist's lawyer, Tigran Yegorian, attempted to
record her interrogations by investigators after she accused them
of distorting her testimony written down by them. The SIS denounced
Yegorian's actions as illegal before asking Armenia's Chamber of
Advocates to take disciplinary action against the lawyer.