OPPOSITIONISTS' "COUP" TRIAL OFF TO CHAOTIC START

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 001038

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KJUS AM
SUBJECT: OPPOSITIONISTS' "COUP" TRIAL OFF TO CHAOTIC START

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Classified By: DCM Joseph Pennington, reasons 1.4 (b,d).

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) The controversial trial of seven prominent opposition
figures charged with an attempted coup d'etat during
Armenia's post-election unrest has gotten off to a chaotic
start. After a relatively peaceful first hearing on December
19, the second hearing on December 22 nearly erupted into
fisticuffs between relatives of the defendants and dozens of
plainclothes law enforcement personnel who infiltrated the
audience, thereby preventing defendants' relatives and
supporters from entering the courtroom. There were also
allegations that one of the seven defendants had been beaten
in his prison cell before the hearing. At one point the
judge abruptly adjourned the session because the defendants
refused to stand when he entered the courtroom. The
Ambassador registered our concerns with the Presidency on
December 24, and will meet with the Prosecutor General on
December 28. Embassy has also requested access by post's
human rights officer to the detainees who were allegedly
beaten. The next hearing is scheduled for December 27. END
SUMMARY.

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"THE CASE OF SEVEN" FINALLY UNDERWAY
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2. (C) Amid growing international pressure, the controversial
"Case of Seven" finally got underway on December 19 in a
Yerevan criminal court. The seven accused include the most
prominent members of the opposition that backed the
presidential election bid of opposition leader and former
president Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP) in February. The seven
have been accused of provoking deadly street clashes in an
alleged attempt to organize a coup d,etat following the
February 19 presidential elections.


3. (C) The seven defendants include former Foreign Minister
Alexander Arzumanian, who managed LTP,s election campaign,
and three influential opposition parliamentarians who were
stripped of their parliamentary immunity during the State of
Emergency decreed by ex-President Robert Kocharian on March

1. They have all been charged with organizing "mass riots
accompanied by murders" (punishable up to 12 years of
imprisonment) and attempting to "usurp state authority by
force" (punishable up to 15 years).

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CHAOS, ALLEGATIONS, & ADJOURNMENT
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4. (C) After the first hearing in which the court gallery was
filled with relatives of the defendants cheering them on, at
the second hearing Emboffs spotted at least twenty police and
security forces in civilian clothing who had joined the
audience, crowding out relatives who wanted to be seated.
Even before the hearing began, heated arguments broke out
between the two groups, with some nearly coming to blows.
The chaotic atmosphere resulted in a 40-minute delay of the
opening of the hearing. One heavyset policeman sitting near
Emboffs claimed he was a victim of crowd violence on March 1,
and was attending the trial in that capacity.


5. (C) When the hearing finally started, it lasted less than
ten minutes. The judge read through guidelines for the trial,
including the requirement that all stand when the judge
enters the courtroom. He then noted that defendant Grigor
Voskerchian was ill, and therefore not present, at which
point several defendants shouted that he had been assaulted
in jail earlier that morning. The judge immediately called
another 30-minute recess. According to RFE/RL and opposition
representatives, Voskerchian's lawyer said after the hearing
that his client had been assaulted in his prison cell by the
commander of a special security force. The lawyer claimed
that the officer repeatedly hit his client in the face after
finding out Voskerchian was one of the oppositionists charged
with attempting to seize power by force.


6. (C) David Shahnazarian and Levon Zurabian, senior
representatives of the opposition Armenian National Congress
(ANC) led by LTP, called on Ambassador December 24 to
register their concern about the beating. Shahnazarian
claimed that two other oppositionists (not in the "trial of
seven") had been beaten at the same time, but in different
cells at at the same prison, by the same special forces unit.
The special forces allegedly cleared other inmates from the
cells before attacking the oppositionists. Shahnazarian and
Zurabian called such attacks "unprecedented" in Armenia, and
interpreted the move as an attempt "to break the spirits" of

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the detainees, as well as an indicator that the authorities
felt vulnerable after the first hearing, which Zurabian
described as "a triumph for the defense." Shahnazarian and
Zurabian expressed concernt that the authorities could resort
to more beatings over the holidays, when most of Yerevan's
diplomatic community is on vacation.


7. (C) Shahnazarian left a letter with the Ambassador noting
the opposition's concerns, and said the ANC had sent the same
letter to senior officials in the OSCE and Council of Europe,
as well as to the co-rapporteurs from PACE who are monitoring
the situation in Armenia. As they left the Embassy,
Shahnazarian and Zurabian asked that the embassy send a
message to the authorities that such conduct is unacceptable.
(NOTE: The Ambassador subsequently phoned the Presidency to
register concerns about the alleged beatings, scheduled a
December 29 meeting with Armenia's Prosecutor-General to
discuss the issue, and sent a diplomatic note requesting
access for post's Human Rights Officer to meet with the three
detainees who were allegedly beaten. END NOTE.)


8. (C) Although the judge finally reconvened the
proceedings, he then abruptly adjourned the trial until
December 27 when the defendants defiantly failed to stand
when he entered the courtroom. The judge also removed the
media from the court gallery for the second hearing, placing
them in an adjacent room equipped with TV monitors. (NOTE:
The judge had granted the defense's motion to allow
unfettered media access to the courtroom for the duration of
the trial during the first hearing on December 19. END
NOTE.) Shahnazarian and Zurabian interpreted this as a
negative development, and feared it was the first step toward
a possible decition to hold the trial behind closed doors,
which authorized by law if the judge rules that the
proceedings are being unduly hindered by disruptions.

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1ST HEARING: OVATIONS, OUTBURSTS, AND DEFECTIONS
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9. (C) The trial began on December 19 amid heavy security in
and around the courthouse. Hundreds of opposition supporters
gathered outside, chanting opposition slogans and carrying
photos of the defendants. Inside the court room a wall of
bullet-proof glass separated the trial participants from the
audience. In the audience gallery, relatives of the
defendants were joined by the media, prominent opposition
leaders, OSCE/ODIHR observers, human rights activists and
Armenia's Ombudsman. The audience greeted the defendants with
standing ovations and cheered every time they made a
statement. The defendants, who have been in pre-trial
detention for nine months, appeared to be healthy and in good
spirits, with the exception of MP Hakob Hakobian and Grigor
Voskerchian, who clearly showed the effects of their
incarceration. (NOTE: MP Hakobian was hospitalized before
the trial due to a serious health condition, and according to
Voskerchian,s wife, her husband's health has deteriorated in
prison. END NOTE.)


10. (C) The first hearing quickly bogged down amid calls by
the defense for Judge Mnatsakan Martirosian to recuse
himself. The defense argued that he could not be impartial
given that he had ruled for the prosecution in four previous
March 1-related cases. They also argued that he could not
have adequately familiarized himself with the 12,000 pages of
case materials in the 9 days he had to prepare for the case.
Martirosian twice refused to abandon the case, and adjourned
the trial until December 22 to rule on a third recusal
request.


11. (C) In a development used by the opposition to support
its claims that the trial is a sham, several of the "victims"
identified by the Prosecution declared their support for the
defense at the first hearing. These were family members of
the eight civilians who lost their lives on March 1-2, whose
death the Prosecution has pinned on the defendants. The
relatives, and the human rights activists representing them,
also supported the appeals for recusal made by the defense.
MP Armen Martirosian from the opposition Heritage party told
Emboffs afterwards that he also planned to make an appeal to
remove himself as a victim from the case. (NOTE:
Martirosian was stabbed in the back on March 1 while
shielding a police officer from an as yet unidentified
assailant. END NOTE.)

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VIEWS ON THE TRIAL
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12. (C) Views of the trial by opposition activists and
defense attorneys were predictably negative. Aram Sargsian,
head of the opposition Republic Party, told Emboffs that he

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expects the authorities to hold a speedy trial out of fear of
the weakness of their case. Former judge Pargev Ohanian, who
was dismissed by ex-President Kocharian in late 2007 for what
many pundits viewed as political retaliation for Ohanian
ruling the wrong way on a sensitive case, described the trial
was a "comedy," and predicted that the authorities would not
prolong it. ANC Coordinator Levon Zurabian told Emboff that
the trial would quickly become a trial of the regime, and not
of the charged oppositionists. He argued that the
authorities would seek to avoid being embarrassed by keeping
the trial short.


13. (C) Stepan Safarian, another Heritage MP, said that in
spite of the weakness of their case, the authorities are
afraid to release the three MPs because of what they fear the
MPs will do when they return to Parliament. Safarian added
that the recent PACE draft resolution from the organization's
Monitoring Committee had compounded the authorities'
predicament. The Ombudsman confided to Emboffs that he
feared the authorities planned to use any pretext,
particularly baited outbursts by the defendants, to control
the course of the trial.


14. (C) Hovik Arsenian, lead counsel for the defense, told
Emboffs that he had offered prosecutors during one of the
recesses a face-saving means for releasing his defendants and
avoiding possible sanctions from PACE. Arsenian proposed that
the authorities replace the judge, allow the new judge to
drop the charges of usurping power, release the defendants on
bail, and then continue the trial focusing on the charges of
mass disturbances. Arsenian said the prosecutors did not
respond to his proposal.

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COMMENT
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15. (C) One of the most controversial court trials since
Armenia's independence, the "Case of Seven" risks aggravating
the long-festering wounds from February's presidential
election and fatal March 1-2 violence. While it is clear
that the opposition yearns for this scenario, it is the
authorities who hold the decisive hand, and who will likely
leave nothing to chance. Judging by the second hearing,
developments could turn sour fast. We will continue to press
at the highest levels of the GOAM for a credible, open,
transparent process that will begin to restore the reputation
of Armenia's judiciary, which has taken a tremendous beating
in the aftermath of March 1. End Comment.
YOVANOVITCH