ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT DETAINING 97 PERSONS FOLLOWING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 000208 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/10/2018 TAGS: PGOV ASEC CASC PREL PHUM KDEM AM SUBJECT: ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT DETAINING 97 PERSONS FOLLOWING MARCH 1 CRACKDOWN YEREVAN 00000208 001.4 OF 003 //// Z D S - CORRECTED DUPLICATE PARA MARKING FROM 4 TO 3 - Z D S //// Classified By: CDA JOSEPH PENNINGTON. REASON 1.4 (B/D) SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) The GOAM began arresting political opponents even before the disputed February 19 Presidential election, though the pace accelerated during the ten days of demonstrations at Freedom Square and again following the March 1 crackdown. While many detainees were quickly released, as of March 10 there are approximately 100 persons imprisoned. Two more prominent LTP lieutenants, campaign manager Alexander Arzumanian and ANM party chairman Ararat Zurabian, were arrested March 10. President-Elect Serzh Sargsian and the Prosecutor General continue to blame demonstrators for the riots and casualties on March 1-2 and appear intent on holding them legally responsible for the events. End Summary. OVER 160 ARRESTED TO DATE -------------- ¶2. (C) Since January the GOAM has seemingly detained at least 160 persons on a variety of charges. The Prosecutor General announced on March 11 that to-date 73 persons had been arrested (which in Armenian jurisprudence means not merely detained, but actually charged) as a result of their activities between the election and the crackdown. The National Security Service is reportedly holding 18, with no charges yet filed against 17 of them. One has been charged with slander against high-ranking officials. The others are being held at a variety of local jails. Announced charges so far include "organization of mass disturbances accompanied with violence, mob actions, arson in malice, destruction of the state and private property, armed resistance to the representatives of the authorities with the use of firearms, explosives, different objects used as weapons and murder in Yerevan in the period between February 20 and March 2, 2008." We requested by diplomatic note March 5 a complete list of persons charged in relation to the election and related post-election crimes (including the riots of March 1-2),but so far have not received a comprehensive reply from the GOAM. Various GOAM agencies have reported news piecemeal of various arrests and investigations, but have not publicly confirmed the names of the majority of individuals which the opposition claims have been arrested. NOTEWORTHY ARRESTS -------------- ¶3. (C) In the days after the February 19 election, while demonstrations were being held in Freedom Square, GOAM authorities arrested/detained at least 45 persons, including the following: - Gagik Jangiryan - former deputy Prosecutor General (who had been the lead prosecutor involved in investigating the September 27, 1999 Parliament shootings). He resigned shortly after the election to protest its fraudulent conduct and then, together with his brother, was arrested February 23 and charged with illegal possession, use and distribution of firearms. They are still being held. - Aram Karapetyan, Chairman of the New Times party, arrested on February 24 and charged with "slander against high-ranking officials." - Smbat Ayvazyan, member of the Republic Party's political council, and former Minister of State Income, arrested February 24 and charged with "violence against an official." - Ten bodyguards of Khachatur Sukiasian, the only oligarch to have supported Levon Ter-Petrossian, were arrested on February 24. Eight were subsequently released, while two remain in custody, charged with "illegally carrying a weapon." - Suren Surenyants, a member of the opposition Republic Party's political council. He was arrested on February 25 after leaving Freedom Square, charged with "illegal organization and conduct of a rally." - Armenak Karagyozyan and Gagik Yeghyazaryan, two campaign managers for Levon Ter-Petrossian in the Malatia-Sebastia district of Yerevan, arrested and taken to the police headquarters on February 28 without explanation. Overall, there are 18 arrested between February 19 and February 28 who are still in custody. YEREVAN 00000208 002.4 OF 003 //// Z D S - CORRECTED DUPLICATE PARA MARKING FROM 4 TO 3 - Z D S //// FOLLOWING THE CRACKDOWN -------------- ¶4. (C) According to LTP campaign information, which has been partially verified by independent sources, over 110 persons have been detained since the March 1 crackdown, and approximately 73 remain in custody. These include the following: - Alexander Arzumanian, former Armenian Foreign Minister and current campaign manager for Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP),and Ararat Zurabian, chairman of the Armenian National Movement (ANM),were arrested March 10. According to their lawyer, both are likely to be charged with seeking to "usurp power" in the wake of the February 19 election. (NOTE: ANM was LTP's political party while he was president, and remains the party closest to him, but he is no longer formally an ANM member. END NOTE) - At least six board members of the Armenian National Movement, and five others involved in LTP's campaign. - Four members of Parliament, Hakob Hakobian, Myasnik Malkhasian, Khachatur Sukiasian and Sasun Mikaelian, had their parliamentary immunity stripped by Parliament last week to enable criminal cases to be initiated. Hakobian and Malkhasian are in police custody, while Sukiasian and Mikaelian are fugitives. - Petros Makeyan - Chair of the Democratic Fatherland party and Ashot Zakaryan, former chief of the Gyumri police, both arrested February 25 for interference with the work of the election commission (Note: these are the only two detainees charged with election-related violations, and both are associated with opposition parties, rather than with the Republican party that was responsible for the vast majority of electoral violations. End Note). ¶5. (C) Authorities have also indicated their intention to arrest Nicol Pashinian, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak, who helped lead the demonstrations at Freedom Square, for instigating public unrest on March 1 and calls for coup d'etat. We believe Pashinian to be in hiding. We have heard from several sources that last week police searched Pashinian's apartment (without a warrant). We have also heard (though from less reliable sources),that Pashinian's wife told a reporter that a police officer attempted to plant a pistol in the apartment. (Note: There is credible evidence that on March 1 Pashinian did in fact incite demonstrators to engage in violent confrontations with police. End note). THE RANGE OF CHARGES -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The most frequently-used charges leveled against the detainees have included the following Articles of the the Criminal Code: - 225: Massive disorder involving organization, implementation, or conduct of such disorders accompanied with murder; - 225-1: Organization and conduct of illegal massive events; - 235: Illegal possession, use, and distribution of guns, weapons, or explosives; - 258-3: Intentional delinquency; - 300: Usurpation of power; - 316: Violence or threat of violence against an official or his/her relative; - 325: Falsification, dissemination, or use of false documents, stamps, car plates, etc.; - 333: Slander against high-ranking officials. Each of these offenses carries a potential sentence of 5-10 years imprisonment. ¶7. (C) Access to detainees by attorneys and family members has reportedly been mixed. While some family members and lawyers have been allowed to visit detainees, NGOs and political parties have in other cases claimed that detainees have been abused and their relatives and lawyers YEREVAN 00000208 003.4 OF 003 //// Z D S - CORRECTED DUPLICATE PARA MARKING FROM 4 TO 3 - Z D S //// denied access. COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (C) Although some of the detainees may have been engaged in genuinely criminal activity, the large number of opposition party members and supporters suggests that this is largely a campaign to punish and intimidate current and potential opposition members -- especially key party management and organizers. We have expressed concerns to key government interlocutors that several of the Criminal Code articles cited above (particularly articles 300 and 333) are worryingly vague and must not be used to criminalize legitimate political speech, however obnoxious that speech may be. Our belief is that authorities intend to use expansive interpretations of these criminal code provisions to prosecute and imprison key members of LTP's inner circle and party organizers, in the hope that depriving LTP of his cadre of middle-management will knock down the opposition's ability to organize protest rallies. This strikes us as wrong on both principle and tactics, and an approach that will only increase public anger, rather than promote reconciliation with LTP's constituency. PENNINGTON