Author: Felekian Ara

PROTESTERS CLASH WITH RIOT POLICE IN YEREVAN

Agence France Presse
March 1, 2008 Saturday

Protesters and riot police clashed Saturday in Yerevan with
demonstrators throwing Molotov cocktails and stones and police firing
tear gas and automatic weapons into the air, an AFP reporter saw.

Shortly after the clashes began, riot police charged into the crowd
of up to 8,000 protesters who had gathered in a central square in
the Armenian capital in defiance of a crackdown earlier in the day.

Several vehicles were destroyed in the violence and at least two cars
were set on fire.

Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian warned before the violence that
authorities were ready to declare a state of emergency if a political
crisis that flared following a presidential election last month
worsened.

"All orders are ready for the president to declare a state of
emergency if the situation continues to worsen," Oskanian told a
press conference.

The protesters had massed in Yerevan for an 11th consecutive day
protesting alleged rigging of a February 19 presidential election.

The opposition’s show of defiance came after riot police stormed
Yerevan’s Freedom Square to clear a hard core of some 1,500 protesters
who had been camping there around the clock since the election.

Police could be seen beating several protestors and the health
ministry reported that 31 people, including six police officers,
had been injured in the operation.

Opposition chief Levon Ter-Petrosian, the defeated presidential
candidate and former president of the mountainous country, said he
had been placed under house arrest following the crackdown.

Protesters claim the election was rigged to ensure victory for Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian, a close ally of outgoing President Robert
Kocharian.

But observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) have said that the election "mostly" met international
standards.

Official results gave 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarkisian and 21.5
percent to Ter-Petrosian.

ARMENIA IN STATE OF CRISIS
By Hasmik Lazarian

Boston Globe
Reuters
March 2 2008
MA

One dead, 30 hurt in clashes

YEREVAN, Armenia – President Robert Kocharyan declared a state of
emergency in the capital yesterday as he sought to end violent protests
over a presidential election that the opposition says was rigged.

A statement from the presidential press service said Kocharyan had
signed a decree declaring the state of emergency until March 20
"to prevent a threat to constitutional order."

Police fired in the air and used tear gas in a bid to disperse
yesterday’s rally in Yerevan, scene of street protests over a Feb. 19
presidential election that elected an ally of Kocharyan as president.

The crowd of at least 5,000 opposition supporters massed in a square
near the mayor’s office after a 10-day sit-in was broken up earlier
by police wielding batons.

A protester in the crowd, reached by cellphone, said: "They shot in
the air to scare us. They have fired tear gas. But people are standing
firm. There are thousands of people standing here with us."

Hundreds of police officers in full riot gear cordoned off the area,
which is near the Italian, French, and Russian embassies. Some
protesters near the mayor’s office held crowbars and metal rods.

Others siphoned fuel from the buses into bottles.

The opposition, led by former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, contends
that the election of Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan as president
was fraudulent.

Disputed presidential elections sparked mass unrest in two other
former Soviet republics, Georgia and Ukraine, that ultimately toppled
two long-serving leaders.

The unrest risks destabilizing Armenia, a former Soviet republic of
3.22 million people in the Caucasus Mountains that is now emerging
as a key transit route for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian Sea
to world markets.

Several thousand opposition supporters have been protesting daily in
the capital’s Freedom Square since Sarksyan was elected.

"Permission or no permission [from the authorities], we will all
the same press ahead with protests, because rallies and marches can
only be banned when there is a state of emergency," Ter-Petrosyan
told reporters.

Police said they had used force after protesters started throwing
stones and metal rods at them. "Calls for a violent coup were heard,"
the police statement said.

Armenia’s Health Ministry said 31 people, including six police
officers, had been admitted to hospital after the clashes.

REQUIEM SERVICE FOR KILLED IN 1 MARCH DISORDERS IN YEREVAN AT MOTHER CATHEDRAL OF HOLY ETCHMIADZIN

arminfo
2008-03-03 11:55:00

ArmInfo. A solemn Repose of Souls service was offered under
the presidency of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, in memory of the killed in the violent
clashes which took place in Yerevan on March 1, Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin Information Services reports. The source reports that His
Holiness Karekin II instructed leaders of the Dioceses of the Armenian
Apostolic Church to visit and assist the families of the killed.

8 people died as a result of unrest in the capital city of Armenia

March 2, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. 8 people died as a result of the unrest, initiated
last evening and night in Yerevan by the supporters of the former
presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian.

The press-service of the Police states this referring the Healthcare
Ministry.

"The facts of their deaths are being clarified by the General
Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia", the Police stated.

Identities of five victims established

armradio.am
02.03.2008 16:00

Eight people died during the clash caused by the resistance to police
by participants of the demonstration organized by RA presidential
candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan and his supporters and disobedience to
the requirements of the state of emergency declared by presidential
decree of March 1st.

Press Secretary of RA Prosecutor General Sona Truzyan informed
"Radiolur" that as a result of the measures undertaken by the joint
task force of RA Special Investigatory Service, the National Security
Service, the Police and the Tax Service revealed the identities of
the five killed: Gor Kloyan, Hamlet Tadevosyan, David Petrosyan,
Zakar Hovhannisyan and Ruben Torosyan.

The personalities of other victims are being identified. The
circumstances of the disorders in the capital are being clarified.

More than twenty personal and real assets were destroyed during the
mass disorders.

Ter-Petrosian Defiant As Supporters Clash With Police
By Ruzanna Stepanian and Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
March 1 2008

Thousands of angry opposition supporters again gathered in Yerevan
and clashed with police on Saturday as their leader, former President
Levon Ter-Petrosian, pledged to continue to challenge the official
results of Armenia’s presidential election.

The rally broke out spontaneously on a street in downtown Yerevan
just hours after security forces broke up a non-stop vigil kept
by Ter-Petrosian supporters in the city’s Liberty Square. Hundreds
of riot police and interior troops, backed by water cannons, were
rushed to the street outside the French Embassy to try to disperse
the crowd. The protesters chanting "Freedom!" and "Levon!" confronted
them with sticks and stones.

Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Armen Harutiunian, and an
opposition parliamentarian, Anahit Bakhshian, were at the scene,
trying unsuccessfully to prevent the clash. Despite police warnings
about "unpredictable" consequences, the number of protesters grew
rapidly early in the afternoon. Law-enforcement bodies cordoned off
the entire area to keep the crowd from moving to Liberty Square and
key government buildings.

Many of the protesters appeared to have participated in the overnight
vigil in the square. Some bore traces of violence on their heads and
faces. Ter-Petrosian aides hundreds of people were injured during
the break-up of the non-stop protest.

Ter-Petrosian, meanwhile, held a news conference in his house outside
the city center where he claimed to have been forcibly taken from
Liberty Square by security officers led by the chief of President
Robert Kocharian’s security service. He said they banned him from
leaving the house and receiving visitors. However, security officers
deployed outside Ter-Petrosian’s home insisted that he is not under
house arrest.

"I don’t understand how the international community could tolerate
what happened last night," Ter-Petrosian told journalists. "I have
no doubts that the people won’t come to terms with this reality. We
have a new people who have ridden themselves of fear. In the past
five months we have created a new society, civil society"

"Even if Serzh Sarkisian miraculously becomes president, I can’t
imagine how that president will rule these people," he said.

Ter-Petrosian said he and his allies, some of whom arrested by the
police, will continue to stage street protests despite the crackdown.

He argued that such protests will be lawful because the authorities
have not declared a state of emergency.

"We will use all means stemming from law," said the ex-president. "We
will demand permissions for rallies, marches, pickets. Regardless of
whether they give [such permission] we have the right to organize our
events as we have done before because there is no state of emergency.

"We will come out. Let them beat us again. Let them arrest us again."

"Rallies may erupt spontaneously," added Ter-Petrosian. "We must
control and manage them. If I am allowed to get out of here, I will
naturally be with the people."

Ter-Petrosian’s campaign office said at least 11 opposition activists,
including former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratian, were detained in
outside Liberty Square earlier in the day. It said six other activists
remain unaccounted for.

SERGE SARGSIAN NOT AWARE OF ACTS OF VIOLENCE USED TOWARDS MPS DURING ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 28, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Serge Sargsian, the Prime Minister
of the Republic of Armenia, was not aware of the fact that acts of
violence have been used towards the MPs of the National Assembly
on the day of the elections. This statement was made by the Prime
Minister in the parliament on February 27. After Armen Martirosian,
a member of the Zharangutiun (Heritage) faction mentioned that he is
one of the above-mentioned MPs and that the prosecutor’s office has
filed a criminal case on the given fact, the Prime Minister promised
to get acquainted with the case and quicken its investigation as much
as possible.

Touching upon the question of a journalist of why the very supporters
of Levon Ter-Petrosian among the numerous citizens having arms are
detained and why political figures are detained after displaying an
active position, the Prime Minister mentioned that illegal arms and
ammunition have always been confiscated, it is just its volume that
has increased. As regards the detentions of political figures, in the
words of Serge Sargsian, Gagik Jhangirian (former Deputy Prosecutor
General) is not a political figure for him. He advised the young MP
not to follow the example of such political figures, in response to
which Armen Martirosian mentioned that Raffi Hovhannisian, the leader
of the Zharangutiun party, is an example of a political figure for him.

At the end of the question and answer, Serge Sargsian refused to
answer the questions of journalists mentioning that he has referred
to all the questions at the mass meeting of his supporters held on
the Republic square on the eve.

PASHINYAN WANTED BY NSS BUT NOT POLICE

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.02.2008 15:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Haykakan Zhamanak editor and Impeachment opposition
bloc leader Nikol Pashinyan is wanted by the RA National Security
Service.

"If Police denies being after Pashinyan, it doesn’t mean that he is
not wanted," a source in the NSS told a PanARMENIAN.Net

Nikol Pashinyan is accused in compliance of article 258.3 of the RA
Penal Code (Hooliganism committed by a group of persons or organized
group; by offering resistance to a representative of authorities, or
a person carrying out a duty of public order protection or a person
preventing breach of public order, combined with medium gravity damage
to the health of the person) and article 316.1 (violence or threat of
violence, not dangerous for life or health, against a representative
of authorities or close relatives, concerned with performance of
his official duties, as well as hindrance to the representative of
authorities in the execution of duties under law).

Earlier, some Armenian media circulated information that RA Police
refuted that Pahisnyan is wanted.

SPEAKER OF THE ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT DOES NOT CONSIDER IT APPROPRIATE TO DESCRIBE THE NEW CABINET AS "A GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL CONSENT"

Mediamax
February 28, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Tigran
Torosian stated today that after the elected President Serzh Sarkisian
takes up the office, certain redistribution of political forces will
probably take place in the country.

Mediamax reports that the Speaker noted that after the formation of the
new government the political field will get a more distinct outline,
"it will become obvious who the authority and who the opposition are".

"The political developments cannot remain secret, but discussions
require certain time, after which their results will become
publicized", Tigran Torosian stated.

At that he refrained from describing the next Cabinet of Ministers
"a government of national consent", noting that "politics does not
accept emotional manifestations".

ARMENIAN NATIONAL SECURITY SERVICE NOT PROVED INFORMATION ABOUT DETAINING OF EX-INTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER VANO SIRADEGYAN’S BROTHER

arminfo
2008-02-27 13:09:00

ArmInfo. Press-centre of Armenian National Security Service has not
yet proved or disproved the information about detaining of ex-internal
affairs minister Vano Siradegyan’s brother Serezha Siradegyan and
advised to apply in the second half of the day.

But according to trustworthy source from the law-enforcement agencies,
S.Siradegyan was really detained by employees of NSS. He was detained
yesterday evening in his native village Koti. A sporting gun without
pistols was found over search.