APP SPOKESWOMAN DESCRIBES RAID ON PARTY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000901

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN; DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV AM
SUBJECT: APP SPOKESWOMAN DESCRIBES RAID ON PARTY
OFFICE, 36 HOUR DETENTION

REF: YEREVAN 880


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


2. (SBU) We met with Ruzanna Khachatryan, Spokeswoman
for the opposition Armenian People's Party (APP) to
discuss the April 13 police raid on APP Headquarters
and her 36-hour police detention. Khachatryan
described the police raid in detail, and depicted the
behavior of the police during her detention more as
"annoying" than abusive. She believes that the police
and procurator's office were trying to intimidate her
and send a message rather than pursue a criminal
investigation. End Summary.

--------------
POLICE STORM APP OFFICE
--------------


3. (SBU) Ruzanna Khachatryan, Spokeswoman and rally
organizer for the APP, was in the party offices
preparing a promotional videotape for the party in the
early morning of April 13. She told us she received a
call from a staff member at the National Accord Party
who told her that police had just broken up the
opposition demonstration in front of the National
Assembly, and had surrounded their party offices.
Recognizing that the police would probably raid their
headquarters as well, Khachatryan and several other APP
members locked themselves in Khachatryan's office and
barricaded the door with a table and some chairs. The
police arrived at approximately 2:30 a.m. Khachatryan
said she could hear them cursing loudly and breaking
things in the office. The police called on those in
Khachatryan's office to open the door, and that they
only intended to ask a few questions and not hurt
anyone. When Khachatryan refused to open the door, the
police quickly broke it down.

--------------
ARREST LIST ALLEGED
--------------


4. (SBU) According to Khachatryan, the police that
entered the room were both uniformed and plainclothes
and most carried batons. In total, she estimated that
approximately 20 police officers were in the APP
office. Khachatryan says she witnessed the police
singling out males present in the APP headquarters to
beat with the batons, claiming that Felix Khachatryan,
the APP member of the Central Election Commission, was
bleeding from a head wound he received from a
policeman's baton. Khachatryan told us that some of
the police sacked the offices, breaking furniture, and
taking videotapes and party documents. Khachatryan
said that the commander of the central Yerevan police
station led the operation, and he entered the
headquarters with a list of names of those to be
detained. Khachatryan estimates that the raid took 30
minutes and that she and other APP members were taken
into police custody at 3:00 a.m.

--------------
MOVING FROM THE INITIAL INTERROGATION...
--------------


5. (SBU) The police took Khachatryan to the central
police precinct. She said she was immediately taken
into an interrogation room, where a police investigator
informed she was being held as a witness in a criminal
investigation of the opposition Justice Bloc.
Khachatryan told us that the investigator had a typed
list of questions that he read: "Why did you call for
the violent overthrow of the government?" "Why did you
participate in an unsanctioned rally?" "Who are the
chief organizers of the illegal rallies?" "Who printed
the anti-government leaflets announcing the time and
location of rallies?" Khachatryan said she denied any
illegal activity for five hours as different
interrogators continuously repeated the questions.

--------------
...TO WITNESS, TO SUSPECT...
--------------


6. (SBU) At 8:00 a.m. Khachatryan said a policeman
escorted her to the office of the same police commander
who led the raid on APP headquarters. The commander
told her that she was no longer being held as a
witness, but was now formally charged with attempting
to overthrow the constitutional order. He told her
that several large file folders on his desk were filled
with police information on the senior leadership of the
Justice Bloc; Khachatryan described the whole episode
as an "act of intimidation." A procurator arrived and
also informed her that she had been charged.
Khachatryan requested a lawyer, and provided the name
of Tigran Ter-Yesayan, President of the International
Union of Advocates. She told us Ter-Yesayan never came
to the police station. (Note: Ter-Yesayan told a
representative of ABA/CEELI in Armenia that the police
had contacted him about representing Khachatryan. He
went to the central police station and was not allowed
to see Khachatryan. He waited two hours before
leaving. End Note.) Khachatryan said she refused to
answer any questions until she had a lawyer present.

--------------
...AND RELEASE
--------------


7. (SBU) Khachatryan told us she was transported to a
pre-detention facility at 7:00 p.m. April 13. The
police at the facility gave her a large cell for four
people to herself. She was not interrogated again, and
treated generally well by the police. Khachatryan said
she was given plenty of food, coffee and cigarettes.
She described the whole process as "annoying" but not
threatening. At 2:00 p.m. on April 14, a procurator
arrived and told her she would be released. He asked
her to sign a paper acknowledging she understood that
she was no longer considered a suspect and allowed to
leave the facility.

--------------
SOME ELEMENTS CONFIRMED
--------------


8. (SBU) While it is impossible to corroborate
Khachatryan's overall description of the raid and her
detention, we can confirm certain elements. We
observed the state of the APP headquarters at noon on
April 13, and the offices had certainly been ransacked
(reftel). Kentron television station broadcast images
of the interior of the APP offices that showed broken
doors and furniture. Other APP members have told us
that Felix Khachatryan was injured in the police raid,
and several newspapers carried photos of his bloodied
shirt that had been left at APP headquarters.
ORDWAY