IMPLAUSIBLE TRIAL OF FORMER DEPUTY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000059

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KJUS AM
SUBJECT: IMPLAUSIBLE TRIAL OF FORMER DEPUTY
PROSECUTOR-GENERAL

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Classified By: Ambassador Marie Yovanovtich, reasons 1.4 (b,d).

SUMMARY
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1. (C) At the latest court hearing in the trial of Armenia's
former Deputy Prosecutor-General, a senior police officer
acknowledged that the high-ranking law enforcement official
did not put up any resistance during his arrest. The
admission contradicts the charge leveled against Gagik
Jhangirian, who was arrested in a swat-style operation one
day after he had delivered a fiery pro-opposition speech
disputing the February presidential election result. The
revelation bolsters Jhangirian's claims that his arrest was
politically motivated, and that the charge against him --
violence against police officers -- has no merit. The former
Deputy Prosecutor-General called upon the judge to
immediately order his release, but the judge's response was
to schedule the next hearing for January 30. END SUMMARY.

POLICE OFFICIAL: FORMER DPG "DID NOT RESIST" ARREST
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2. (SBU) In the latest session in the court case of Gagik
Jhangirian, Armenia's former Deputy Prosecutor-General (DPG),
a senior police officer admitted during two hours of
questioning on January 20 that the DPG "did not resist"
police officers during his February 23, 2008 arrest. The
admission by the senior police official contradicts the
charge against Jhangirian, who potentially faces five years'
imprisonment for "violence against a representative of (the)
authorities."


3. (SBU) When asked by Jhangirian's lawyer why the ex-DPG was
taken into custody, the senior police officer, who is deputy
chief of the Sixth Directorate of the Armenian police which
is responsible for combating organized crime said, "Mr.
Jhangirian was held after his brother put up resistance and
he stepped in, yelling at officers and saying that his
brother has back problems. And that's how a scuffle began."
It was this same police official who ordered the arrest of
the DPG and his brother Vartan Jhangirian back in February.
(NOTE: The brother reportedly suffers from spinal
tuberculosis, which leaves him barely able to walk. END
NOTE.)


4. (SBU) Jhangirian seized upon the police official's
admission to once again declare that his arrest was illegal
and the charges against him groundless. He demanded during
the hearing that the judge order his release. The ex-DPG's
lawyer, Lusine Sahakian, told RFE/RL that the police official
during the hearing "admitted today that he was not guided by
any law. They (the authorities) just wanted to detain Gagik
Jhangirian and they did it."

BACKGROUND ON JHANGIRIAN CASE
--------------


5. (SBU) After breaking ranks to openly support the
opposition in its bid to overturn the presidential election
result last February, the then-DPG gave a fiery speech
February 22 in Freedom Square in support of opposition
presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian. In the same
speech, he had also hinted that he would soon reveal who was
"really" behind the October 1999 parliament assassinations,
implying that Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sargsian were
complicit. (NOTE: Jhangirian was the lead prosecutor who
ran the investigation into the 1999 parliament shootings.
END NOTE.) Jhangirian was quickly dismissed by then-President
Kocharian February 23, and arrested around eleven o'clock the
same night in a SWAT-style operation by balaclava-wearing
special police units of the 6th Department. These units, who
were wearing black clothing rather than their regular police
uniforms, lay in waiting for the DPG and three of his
associates at a Yerevan intersection while the latter were
making their way back to the capital from a nearby Yerevan
suburb.


6. (SBU) Police at the time said that Jhangirian and his
disabled brother, as well as the two associates following
them in a second car, were armed and planned to "destabilize
the situation in the capital." During the arrest, the DPG
peacefully surrendered his weapons and supporting paperwork
showing his handguns to be registered. According to the
police, the DPG was subsequently taken to police headquarters
where he is then alleged to have resisted arrest. (NOTE:
The brother, Vartan Jhangirian, was shot by one of the police
units during the arrest, apparently as a result of his slow
exit from his car. He was not seriously injured. He was
also arrested and charged with a more serious degree of
resisting arrest. He was initially kept in custody for

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several months, but then released due to deteriorating
health. His trial was suspended due to his health condition.
END NOTE.)

A FAIR ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE?
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7. (C) The sequence of events in Jhangirian's arrest and
court case has bolstered critics' claims that the arrest was
politically motivated. Initially detained for possession of
illegal weapons, the DPG was then charged with resisting
arrest, apparently after police determined that all of his
guns were legally possessed. What police have now conceded
in court, for the first time, is that the DPG did not resist
arrest at the scene, and peacefully handed ovQthe guns in
his possession. He iQlleged to have resisted only later
when taken to locQpolice headquarters.


8. (C) Moreover, the police maintain that they "had no idea"
that the two cars they were waiting for contained the DPG.
Yet, the special police units had set up a carefully-prepared
stakeout. Furthermore, even though the DPG was a very high
ranking law enforcement official, the police took him into
custody for further investigation, in apparent contravention
of Armenian law. (NOTE: The decree that announced his
dismissal on February 23 only came into effect 24 hours after
its issuance, so technically Jhangirian was still the DPG
when arrested. The DPG can only be apprehended if permission
is given by the Prosecutor General, which was not the case,
according to police testimony. END NOTE.)


9. (C) Although the punishment -- up to 5 years jail -- is
statutorily authorized, observers have remarked that it is
greatly disproportionate to the crime alleged, even if all of
the accusations against the defendant were true. There is no
allegation that the DPG used any weapons or caused any
physical injury to any police officer. While the statute
does not require any of these elements, its application in
this case seems unusual. That the charge of resisting arrest
was leveled some time after the DPG peacefully surrendered
his weapons also has bolstered critics' assertions that
Jhangirian's arrest was politically motivated.

COMMENT
--------------


10. (C) The assertion that the police were unaware of the
DPG's identity strains credulity. Jhangirian has been a
nationally famous (or infamous) top-ranking law enforcement
figure for many years, and it is inconceivable that his
personal vehicle was not known even to average traffic
police. This, along with the timing of his arrest and other
indicators, leave little doubt that the case against him is
political.


11. (C) That said, Jhangirian himself is no innocent. During
the former LTP Administration, Jhangirian was among the most
feared public officials in Armenia; a dominating power-broker
atop the criminal justice hierarchy. The fact that he was
able to remain in office so long after Ter-Petrossian's
ouster -- with much-diminishedQy-to-day responsibility --
probably rQesented a carefully negotiated accommodationQetween Jhangirian and President Kocharian. This
accommodation would have been exploded by Jhangirian's highly
provocative speech last February. There was a brief moment
around February 22-23, 2008 when the ruling authorities might
have genuinely feared being unseated by a heady mix of
popular protest and insider intrigues, and Jhangirian would
have represented just the kind of figure who might have been
most dangerous: a powerful figure in the law enforcement
apparatus who would know where many skeletons are buried and
potentially capable of rallying a fifth column of
sympathizers within the security forces. Faced with such a
concern, it seems clear that the authorities acted first to
contain the perceived threat, and only after the fact applied
the patina of law to the proceedings. It is unsurprising
that that cover by now looks rather thin.
YOVANOVITCH