Trial of Seven to begin December 19, 2008

The trial of seven supporters of Levon Ter-Petrossian, opposition candidate in the February 19, 2008 presidential election in Armenia, is set to begin on December 19. In this case, known as “the case of seven” or “the mother trial”, it is not just seven men who are on trial, but the democratic opposition as a whole. The trial represents one more step in the resurgence of a soviet-style dictatorship in Armenia and the obliteration of the principles of democracy, justice, and human rights. As such, it deserves the attention of all people who welcomed what they believed was the end of totalitarianism in this part of the world. The fact is, the struggle for democracy is still going on.

The February 2008 election was described by the US State Department as “significantly flawed,” and included such problems as “favorable treatment of the government's candidate, instances of ballot stuffing, vote-buying, multiple voting, voter intimidation, violence against opposition commission members and proxies, and suspiciously high turnout figures.” Indeed, electoral violations began long before voting day, in the fall of 2007, with a steady campaign of violence and intimidation against supporters of Levon Ter-Petrossian and misuse of administrative resources in favor of Serzh Sargsyan. (For a comprehensive analysis of the election and its aftermath, see Policy Forum Armenia’s Armenia’s 2008 Presidential Election: Select Issues and Analysis).

When Sargsyan was narrowly declared the winner, thus avoiding a second-round run-off, the opposition launched a peaceful, round-the-clock protest, with rallies and marches attended by hundreds of thousands of citizens who believed that their votes had been stolen. After ten days of joyful, non-violent protest, the tent camp that had been established in Freedom Square was violently broken up in the early morning of March 1. Many of the protesters, seeking safety, fled to an area near the French, Italian, and Russian Embassies, where they were joined by thousands of other concerned citizens. But the government crackdown only grew more violent, resulting in the deaths of at least ten, and most likely many more, people, and the arrests of hundreds of opposition supporters, many of whom remain in custody to this day.

To date, there are some 70 political prisoners or detainees held in connection with the fraudulent presidential election of February 2008 and the subsequent government crackdown on opposition protesters. Many more opposition supporters remain in hiding, in fear for their safety, and even their lives. The families and friends of those in prison and in hiding have been harassed, arrested, interrogated, and threatened; they have been fired from their jobs, forced to close down their businesses, and had their assets frozen or seized.

The trials of the opposition supporters have been characterized by an obvious lack of independence on the part of the judiciary and accompanied by false testimony, intimidation of witnesses, illegal surveillance, and other violations and instances of bias against the defendants. There is little doubt that these proceedings represent political persecution, rather than criminal prosecution. As the Monitoring Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated in its September 2008 report, “Serious questions remain regarding the nature of the charges brought against people arrested in relation to the events on 1 and 2 March, as well as regarding the court proceedings of several cases, including with regard to the principle of a fair trial. In addition, and contrary to Assembly demands, 19 persons have been convicted on the basis of police testimony only. The committee is therefore seriously concerned that people may have been detained, and even convicted, based on political beliefs and non-violent activities, which is unacceptable to the Assembly.” And as US Helsinki Commission’s Chairman Alcee Hastings said in a hearing shortly after the events of March 1-2, “If...you tell me there are no political prisoners [in Armenia], then I will tell you that you're out of your ever-loving mind, because there are.”

The cessation of this political persecution release of the political prisoners is of utmost importance to all of the citizens of Armenia who share a belief in justice and human rights. No less important is an impartial inquiry into the events of March 1-2. Unfortunately, the parliamentary commission and the fact-finding group that is subordinate to it have yet to release any results, and in place of any timely, credible investigation, the government has cynically attempted through their prosecution of more than a hundred opposition supporters to predetermine the outcome of the inquiry.

Of particular concern at the moment is the upcoming trial of seven men—Alexander Arzoumanian, Levon Ter-Petrossian’s campaign manager; Grigor Voskerchyan, head of the Abovyan regional campaign headquarters; Sasun Mikayelyan, Myasnik Malkhasyan, and Hakob Hakobyan, members of parliament; Suren Sirunyan, activist, and Shant Harutyunyan, politician—on the dubious charge of having organized the events of March 1.
Grave doubt has been cast by Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg and others on the legitimacy of the articles (225 and 300) that these men have been charged with violating. Furthermore, the grouping of these particular seven people, who had little working or personal contact with each other and no existence, formal or informal, as a group, is both artificial and inexplicable. Finally, the gathering that took place near the French Embassy following the government’s bloody dispersal of the demonstrators on March 1st was spontaneous, as has been well documented. It is true that the seven men were present at the scene at different times, but their purpose, in the absence of Levon Ter-Petrossian, who was under house arrest, was to calm the crowd, prevent further violations of human rights, and to keep the situation from growing more dangerous. If anyone is responsible for the events of March 1-2, it those who ordered the unlawful crackdown, and not the seven who are set to be tried.

In a November 22, 2008 press conference in Yerevan, Thomas Hammarberg characterized the prosecution of the opposition as “political vendetta” and told reporters, “I am critical about some of the trials that have already been concluded and about the preparation of the major case against the seven prisoners…I have not so far seen any strong evidence which would make it possible for an independent court to sentence these seven for attempting to change power in this country with violence.”

Indeed, the case filed against the seven contains no evidence of wrongdoing. Moreover, it has been compiled with numerous breaches of the law by investigators, prosecution, and judges. For example, Judge Zhora Vartanyan of the Kentron-Nork Marash Court, where the seven are to be tried, unconstitutionally issued permission to investigators to conduct phone-tapping and round-the-clock surveillance of at least one of the defendants, Alexander Arzoumanian, on February 19, while voting was still taking place. Rather than regretting these Watergate-style tactics, the authorities have released transcripts of this defendant’s personal conversations to the government-controlled press, which is now conducting a daily smear campaign against him, his family, and friends.

Yet these seven men have been in jail now for more than nine months. (One of them, Alexander Arzoumanian, has now spent more than thirteen months in pre-trial detention, in violation of Article 138 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). Their trial is likely to last many months, or even years, more, as there is no legal limit on how long a trial may go on. If convicted, they face decades in prison, and the show trials conducted against the opposition thus far suggest that they have little hope of acquittal. They will join scores of others who have been sentenced to years in prison purely for supporting the only true opposition candidate and lawfully protesting the rigging of the election.