KOCHARIAN FIXED COURT RULING AGAINST TER-PETROSSIAN: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT JUSTICE TO US OFFICIALS
09.02.2011 17:10 epress.am
In yet another US cable (this one dated Mar. 7, 2008) released by
whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks on Aug. 30, 2011, then US Deputy
Chief of Mission (DCM) to Armenia Joseph Pennington notes embassy
officials were approached by Valery Poghossian (pictured), one of
Armenia’s nine Constitutional Court justices, on Mar. 6, 2008, for
a secret meeting in which he declared that then president of Armenia
Robert Kocharian fixed the court’s upcoming Mar. 8 decision to decide
against the complaint by ex-president Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP)
alleging vote fraud in the disputed February 19 presidential election.
“Poghossian said he personally had been pressured by the Presidency,
and alleged some of his colleagues had as well. The justice said
‘absolute tyranny’ now prevailed in Armenia, and fretted the fixed
decision could have ‘unpredictable consequences’ for the country. He
warned that if the international community allowed the authorities
off the hook after the fixed decision, it would do irreversible
damage to Armenia, and doom any fading hopes the country still has
for democracy,” Pennington wrote.
Poghossian approached US embassy staff and, according to the cable,
alleged that Kocharian fixed the upcoming Mar. 8 decision of the
Constitutional Court that will rule against LTP’s election result
complaint.
“Late on Mar. 4, on the eve of the court’s hearing of LTP’s
complaint, Poghossian said he was contacted by phone and summoned
to the Presidency by someone speaking on behalf of the president’s
chief of staff. Initially taken back by the call, he said he laughed
at the caller before refusing the summoning. He then ignored repeated
calls placed to his office that evening.
“Poghossian alleged that at least three of his colleagues answered
similar summons to the presidency earlier on Mar. 4, though he cannot
prove it. He said he obtained this information from reliable sources
who saw the justices inside presidential offices that day. He also
told Emboffs [embassy officials] that the presidency threatened to
fire his brother who works there if he could not convince Poghossian
to answer the summoning. Poghossian, who has been absent from the
court’s hearing of the complaint the last three days, and as a result
cannot participate in the final decision, said illness prevented him
from being present. But he confided that even if he were healthy,
he would not appear at the hearings.
“When Poghossian said he raised the issue of presidential pressure with
his justice colleagues, his concerns were ‘rejected.’ He also alleged
that one of the judges, Justice Kim Balayan, has been co-opted by the
authorities via the recent appointment of his son Tigran Balayan as
the new spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
(Note: The former spokesman, Vladimir Karapetian, was fired with
five other diplomats in late February after publicly criticizing the
authorities’ handling of the election. End note.) Poghossian said his
stance on the case, and absence from the hearing, could have personal
consequences for him after the hearing, though he did not specify what
those were. He confided, however, that he had ‘grounds to be scared.’
He also noted that if not for the pressure they were being subjected
to, almost all of the justices would decide in LTP’s favor.
“Poghossian averred that the court’s fixed decision could be
‘catalytic’ in escalating existing tensions and fomenting new
violence. He said ‘absolute tyranny’ now prevailed in Armenia, where
it was impossible to solve issues by legal means. He said the current
‘moral and psychological’ atmosphere created by the ruling regime,
in addition to the declaration of the state of emergency and its
very harsh restrictions, placed the Constitutional Court under great
pressure to hew the directives of the authorities.
[…]
“Despite the climate of fear the authorities seek to create,
Poghossian said it was conceivable that LTP could attract hundreds
of thousands of supporters in the street after the lifting of the
state of emergency. In this case, Poghossian said he did not rule out
a scenario where the authorities would extend, or reimpose emergency
control if they felt their grip on power was being challenged. He also
said the authorities were brazen enough to follow through on their
threat to arrest LTP, even though they had no legal right to do so.
But ‘they can do anything they want to’ lamented Poghossian.
[…]
“During the meeting, Poghossian shared that at various points in
the 1990s he headed the KGB and national police in Armenia. Emboffs
proceeded to quiz him on post-violence reports of unreported dead,
and allegations that army units from Nagorno-Karabakh were brought
in to quell the violence. He said information made available to him
‘by virtue of who I used to be’ suggests the reports are not entirely
baseless.
“He said he had information that the death toll had been reduced
by the authorities, and that some families had been forced to sign
fabricated death certificates before they were allowed to recover
relatives’ remains. He said he ruled nothing out, given the nature
of the regime,” reads the cable.
In his commentary at the end of the cable, Pennington writes:
“We have no way of confirming Justice Poghossian’s allegations, but
the fact that one of Armenia’s highest-ranking public servants reached
out the way he did is revealing in itself. Poghossian was appointed
Justice during the LTP administration, and while he didn’t hide his
political sympathies, it’s possible that recent political events have
jaundiced his views. That said, his apprehension appeared bona fide,
and Emboffs had the sense he was acting out of a feeling of patriotism
for his country.”