THREE POLITICAL PRISONERS PARDONED IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000994 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM AM SUBJECT: THREE POLITICAL PRISONERS PARDONED IN CONTROVERSIAL MOVE Classified By: AMB Marie Yovanovitch, reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: The President signed a pardon decree December 3 for three men convicted of March 1-related crimes. The opposition cried foul, objecting that the men were essentially blackmailed into signing false confessions of guilt and to promise to abstain from future political activity in exchange for the pardons, as part of authorities' bid to legitimate the unjust criminal cases and escape international criticism. We are still working to gather facts. While releasing political prisoners seems a good thing on its face, resolving these deeply tainted criminal cases two or three at a time seems a slow road to solving the problem. The allegation that defendants are being required to sign away fundamental political rights, and perhaps to make false confessions, is also worrisome,and putting all the blame for the March 1 events on the defendants does not appear to be a sure path to political dialogue and reconciliation END SUMMARY AND COMMENT ¶2. (U) On December 3, the President pardoned three convicted defendents from the March 1 political clashes. The three men -- Eduard Ashugian, Arman Markarian, and Artur Nazanian -- had been convicted of resisting arrest and participating in mass disorder. To qualify for the pardons, the three men were required to admit guilt and petition the president for pardon. ¶3. (C) Opposition Armenian National Congress leaders, both in public statements and in a private conversation with emboffs December 9, decried the pardons as a misleading pressure tactic. They claim that authorities pressured defendants to admit false guilt in exchange for the pardons, and exploited prisoners' family situations to induce them to agree. The purpose, the ANC alleges, is to get as many defendants as possibly to make guilty pleas, which would serve the government's larger purpose of validating authorities' harsh actions against protesters March 1. ANC leaders also claimed to us that the authorities are requiring all those who accept the pardon deal not only to admit guilt, but also to sign a statement promising never again to be involved in political activity. We have thus far been unable to corroborate this claim from independent sources. The ANC representatives -- Levon Zurabian, David Shahnazarian, and Avetis Avakian -- said that only two of the three pardoned had been on the ANC's own "political prisoner" list, and they had been unfamiliar with the third man. The ANC now has 67 people on the list, after the pardons plus the one defendant recently released by the Cassation Court's order. ¶4. (U) Partially corroborating the ANC interpretation, Ashugian made a public statement after his release, disavowing his own admission of guilt and announcing he had taken the pardon deal only because his wife was sick, and he felt he needed to be out of prison to be with her. Ashugian also said that he had pleaded guilty at his initial trial only because the investigator had promised him if he confessed he would not be sent to prison, but that authorities had failed to keep this bargain. YOVANOVITCH