This situation follows the violent conflict between police forces and supporters of the opposition presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian, which resulted in eight people dead (according to the Armenian Health Ministry) and at least 130 people wounded, including both protesters and law enforcement agents. Clashes started in the Armenian capital Yerevan after 10 days of peaceful demonstrations in the city center, namely at the Freedom Square where some protesters initiated a tent camp, following the February 19 presidential elections.
According to the Central election Commission, Serzh Sarkisian won the elections with 53 % of the vote, while Levon Ter-Petrossian got 21,5 %. Protesters demanded the reexamination of the results. Addressing some 10,000 supporters in Yerevan on February 26, Serzh Sarkisian appealed to his rival candidates and their supporters to cooperate, and possibly form a coalition government. Levon Ter-Petrossian responded by demanding Sarkisian and outgoing President Robert Kocharian to resign and claimed that he won 65 percent of the vote. On February 25, Mr. Ter-Petrossian lodged a complaint to the Constitutional Court to invalidate the outcome of the February 19 election and for new elections to be scheduled. The court has 10 days to rule on this appeal.
The OSCE and EU election-observation missions noted irregularities during the voting, including intimidation, attempted vote-buying, and ballot-box stuffing, and also during the vote count, but nonetheless concluded that the election was "conducted mostly in line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards".
However, FIDH and the Civil Society Institute, FIDH member organization in Armenia, received reports of frauds and violations before, during and after elections. Civil Society Institute participated in the "Legal Initiative: Elections 2008" hotline aiming at providing citizens with free legal advice and protection. This free hotline has been set from January 15 to March 15, and 40 legal assistance ambulances were operating throughout the country on the day of the election. Each rapid response groups’ car included a lawyer, a civic activist, an observer and a journalist tenting to provide protection and coverage directly on the sites. On February 19, the hotline received around 475 alerts on different transgressions, and almost 70 calls were followed by an intervention by the Hotline Ambulances.
Freedom of peaceful protest was regularly violated. For example, on February 22, the highway Artashat (Ararat region)-Yerevan was closed and people were not allowed to participate in the rally of Mr. Ter-Petrossian in Yerevan. Furthemore, State authorities allegedly compelled people to participate in the rally supporting Serzh Sarkisian: such cases were reported by teachers and students from the schools No. 21, 43, 119, 114, 44, 9, 71, 194 and 68.
According to the information received from the Yerevan Press Club and "TEAM" research center on monitoring of the coverage of presidential elections, an extremely one-sided coverage was observed in the TV programmes, particularly on public channels.
A number of political opponents were arrested under different criminal charges. On February 25, Suren Sureniants, a member of the political board of the party "Republic", was detained under Article 225.1 of the Penal Code (organization and conduct of public events violating the order). On February 22, Mr. Gagik Jhangiryan, former Deputy Prosecutor General of Armenia, affirmed his support to Levon Ter-Petrossian’s ongoing protest. On February 23, he was detained with his brother Vartan and their driver, and charged with illegal possession of arms found during a search of his vehicle under Article 235 (illegal possession, transportation or carrying of weapons) and Article 316 (violence against a representative of authorities) of the Penal Code.
The city mayor of Yerevan considered the rally of Ter-Petrossian’ supporters as non-authorised and urged its participants to end the protest as they "disrupted" order in the city. At 6.30 am on March 1st, the police violently attacked the rally, without a warning. The security forces used truncheons, shields, tear gas, and electric stun guns to disperse opposition supporters. Mr. Ter-Petrossian was placed under house arrest after being taken away from the square by the state security service representatives. Two hours later, the police started to beat people gathered near the Freedom Square. Many were arrested, most often without any legal grounds.
In the afternoon people started to gather near the French Embassy. Additional armed forces were brought on the spot, armed with guns, Armored Personal Carriers (AMC) and water cannons. At around 9 pm, the police and armed forces started shooting in the air. In the panic, some people tried to flee and others responded by throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. The clash lasted about 3 hours and resulted in 8 people dead and many wounded. Dozen of vehicles were burnt; windows of the neighboring shops were broken. During the riots, tens of people were arrested, beaten and ill treated by the police. The exact number of detainees remains unknown.
The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva, condemned the use of force against peaceful demonstrators in Yerevan. "I urge the authorities to use maximum restraint. I am troubled that there are reports of casualties. I urge the authorities to release those detained, and I again call on the government and the opposition to engage in dialogue," the Minister said. On March 2, OSCE sent a special envoy to Yerevan to offer help in mediating the crisis and the EU special envoy Peter Semneby has arrived in Yerevan to try and solve the crisis.
FIDH calls for an immediate end to the state of emergency, for a full respect of the rights to freedom of movement, of expression, of peaceful assembly and for the release of all people arbitrarily detained. FIDH calls both parties not to appeal to violence and to engage in an effective dialogue.
FIDH calls upon the Armenian authorities to launch an immediate and impartial investigation in the disproportionate use of force on March 1st and 2nd, and to bring all perpetrators to justice.