At the end of March, the two main opposition parties, the Artarutyun alliance and the National Unity Party, announced that they would stage a series of demonstrations in April, demanding that President Kocharian resigns or at least agrees to a confidence referendum.
In reaction, on March 31, the Armenian authorities warned that opposition party leaders could face arrest in the course of an investigation launched into their alleged plans to "seize state power by violence and change the constitutional order of the Republic of Armenia". The next day, the Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed that a criminal case will be opened against Artarutyun alliance leaders for having violated articles 301 and 318/2 of the Criminal Code by "publicly insulting representatives of the government" and threatening to "change the constitutional order of the Republic of Armenia". That led to the arrest on April 2nd of Suren Surenyants, a Artarutyun party member.
The first demonstration was conducted on April 5, 2004 followed by a series of daily demonstrations from April 9, 2004. All of them were followed by the excessive use of violence and arbitrary arrests.
After the April 9 demonstrations about 60 people were detained. On April 12, local policemen detained, for a few hours, 12 residents of the village of Jrashat, close to Yerevan, because they wanted to walk to Yerevan in order to attend the demonstration. In addition, the authorities prevented the access to the demonstrations. On April 5, they limited the access to Yerevan on all roads leading to the capital. On April 9, the public transport system between Yerevan and the rest of Armenia was brought to a virtual halt. Personal cars and commercial trucks were stopped for identity checks by traffic and military police. On April 12, the subway ceased to stop at the "Baghramyan" station, which is close to the Parliament building where one of the demonstrations was planned to take place.
On April 12, the two opposition parties, the Artarutyun alliance and the National Unity Party claimed, in a press conference, that over the two precedent weeks at least 254 of their activists and supporters across the country have been detained or forcibly taken to the police for questioning.
The April 13, 2004 demonstration, after a peaceful start, was violently repressed by the police with water canons, stun grenades and batons. A number of demonstrators were badly beaten and sixteen were hospitalised. President Kocharian justified the police action as necessary to combat "political extremism". These events were clearly condemned by the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), both institutions where Armenia is a participating State.
At the end of this demonstration at least 115 people were arrested, including three members of the Parliament who were subsequently released. Police say that 12 people were sentenced to up to 15 days’ detention (as prescribed by the controversial Administrative Code of the Republic of Armenia). On April 15, police charged former defence Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian, who was arrested on April 13, with calling for the violent overthrow of constitutional order and with publicly insulting officials.
The FIDH recalls that the Council of Europe ’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said in its resolution n°1361 "Honouring of obligation and commitments by Armenia", adopted on January 27, 2004 to be "shocked by the scandalous use that continues to be made of the arbitrary procedures concerning administrative detention".
Armenia’s opposition faced the worst ever government crackdown after the demonstration of April 13, 2004. The offices of the two leading opposition political parties, the Artarutyun alliance and the National Unity Party, were ransacked and dozens of their activists arrested. Then, the authorities closed the Artarutyun alliance and the National Unity Party offices, which President Kocharian said threatened the country’s "constitutional order".
On April 4, Aramayis Barseghian, a leading member of the Artarutyun alliance, was beaten up by unknown assailants outside his house.
On April 9, Artak Gabrielyan was arrested for disseminating leaflets announcing the next days demonstrations.
On April 22, Ashot Manucharian, a prominent member of the opposition, was beaten up in broad day light by three unknown men. He was hospitalised with broken jaws and underwent urgent surgery. Manucharian has been in opposition to President Robert Kocharian in recent years, but is not affiliated with any of the major opposition parties. He has indicated his support for their two-month campaign for regime change by reportedly helping to set up the Intellectual Forum, a group uniting several prominent Armenian intellectuals opposed to Kocharian
The freedom of the press is also a matter of concern. On April 5, several journalists, who tried to photograph 12 unknown men trying to disrupt the demonstration, were beaten by them in front of the police who didn’t intervene.
On April 6, the Russian TV station NTV stopped broadcasting, after it started to report on the demonstrations of the opposition in Armenia. The company claimed that this was due to a transmitter being out of order. It should be noted that the same relay station "broke down" last year after showing the rally of the Armenian opposition on the eve of presidential election.
Likewise, copies of the Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta which cover the demonstrations were stopped at the border. Moreover, on April 11, the private TV channel Kentron was stopped from broadcasting for some hours. On April 15, the Armenian TV Channel "Yerevan" was said to break down. The channel claims it’s irrelevant to its live reporting on the opposition rally on April 5, 2004.
On April 13, the press conference of the leader of the Artarutyun alliance, Stepan Demirdjian, was interrupted by the police.
The three parties aligned in the Armenian ruling coalition renewed on April 15, 2004 their offer to dialogue with the opposition, which was rejected and the opposition reaffirmed their intention to convene to further mass demonstrations. For the opposition a dialogue is not possible until the persons responsible for the police violence against opposition supporters early on April 13, 2004 are brought to justice. They impose three other preconditions to the dialogue, which the coalition rejected as "ludicrous": release of "political prisoners"; end to the government "repression" against the opposition and the dismissal of Defence Minister Serge Sarkissian and of Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian.
On April 28, 2004, the Council of Europe ’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) asked the Armenian authorities to allow peaceful demonstrations, to release those detained during recent demonstrations, to immediately investigate any reported human rights abuses that took place and to create fair conditions for the media. They also called on the opposition to achieve its goal within the constitutional framework. Both sides should engage in a peaceful dialogue without preconditions (resolution n°1374 "Honouring of obligation and commitments by Armenia").
The FIDH calls the Armenian authorities to respect the Constitution, which states in its article 24 that "Everyone is entitled to freedom of speech, including the freedom of seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas through any medium of information, regardless of State borders", and in article 26 that "Citizens are entitled to hold peaceful and unarmed meetings, rallies, demonstrations and processions". The Armenian authorities are also urged to conform to the European Convention for Human Rights, that they ratified on April 26, 2002, articles 10 and 11 of which provide freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association.
The FIDH calls the Armenian authorities to guarantee the security and integrity of all its citizens.
The FIDH calls both ruling and opposition forces to conduct a constructive dialogue for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
SIDIKI KABA
President