ANNOUNCEMENT

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[07:15 pm] 28 May, 2007

On 28 May 2007, at around 02:30-03:00 in the morning, terror has been
carried out against Larisa Paremuzyan, a majoritarian candidate at
TEC31 for the parliamentary elections.

An attempt was made to burn her apartment by burning a vehicle tire
with a liquid fuel. The incident took place after L.Paremuzyan has
filed a complaint (see the article entitled "3807 + 2852 irregularities
only in one territory" published in "Aravot Daily" newspaper, on 18 May
2007) to the Lori Regional Prosecutor’s Office regarding the electoral
violations (as a results of elections Karen Saribekyan, nominated by
the Armenian Republican Party (HHK), was considered the winner).

Three days before the act of terror, L.Paremuzyan and V.Vanyan, the
Chairman of TEC31, gave explanations at the Lori Regional Prosecutor’s
Office concerning the complaint. L.Paremuzyan has re-insisted her
request stated in the complaint, i.e. to check the results of the
PECs and revise the election outcomes.

The Alaverdi Police Department has launched a criminal case according
to the 2nd part of the 2nd item of the article 185 of the RA Criminal
Code (to deliberately destroy or damage a property by the means of
firing, explosion or otherwise dangerous for the public).

Since L.Paremuzyan does not deal with anything else but social,
political activities and does not possess any other issues of personal
nature with other people, we merely qualify the incident as a terror
against the former majoritarian candidate’s actions directed towards
the identification of electoral violations.

The implemented terrorist act fits into the logic of the atmosphere of
fear and impunity established in the country and aims at strengthening
the formation of such an atmosphere towards the ones struggling
against electoral violations as well.

We believe that the law-enforcement bodies of RA bear full
responsibility not only for identifying the persons who implemented
the terror but also for the ones who organised and provoked the action.

We hereby demand from the law-enforcement bodies to take all measures
for guaranteeing not only the personal security of L.Paremuzyan but
also for preventing the atmosphere of fear and terror against the
freedom expression. Without real safeguards for the free expression
of opinion and the elimination of the atmosphere of fear by the
law-enforcement bodies, it is impossible to imagine the formation of
democracy and the sustaining of a constitutional state.