May 29, 2006

Heritage Party Headquarters Reopened?

Yerevan—After a delay of months, the central office of the Heritage Party was finally reopened by officials from the Service for Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts (SMEJA) of the Ministry of Justice at 1:00pm today. The premises had been forcibly closed on March 4, 2006, when party representatives had witnessed the unlawful replacement, without prior notice, of the already-smashed lock of the outside door to the party’s headquarters. This directive had been given by the management of the Paronian Theater and carried out by its staff under the watchful supervision of two unidentified men sitting in a nearby vehicle.

In a quick about-face, the SMEJA officials returned to Heritage’s office at 7:00pm the same day, demanding that the staff vacate the premises in order that the outside door be resealed. Deeming this reversal in demeanor as illegal, a mockery of civil rights, contrary to judicial order, and outside the domain of justice, Raffi Hovannisian refused to leave the office which had been unlocked by the very same officials just six hours before and in compliance with the ruling of the court.

On April 14, the Court of First Instance of Yerevan’s Central and Nork-Marash communities prohibited the defendant theater from taking any restrictive action in respect of the office in question and the usage of the property thereof. This ruling, which for unknown reasons was not enforced for a full month and a half, is in force until the full and final examination of the case and pending an ultimate verdict by the court. In the presence of several media representatives, the premises were inspected by Raffi Hovannisian, attorney Vahagn Grigorian, and officials from SMEJA and the Heritage Party; the defendant was absent. Promising he would return in thirty minutes, director Karapet Shahbazian of the Paronian Theater left immediately after the arrival of the SMEJA officers, but never came back. The inspection made it clear that the window of the office of Gevorg Kalenchian, director of the party headquarters, had been opened even though he had closed it on the evening of March 3. Moreover, one television set and two computers were turned on and working. The office staff confirmed that they had not left any electrical equipment in operational mode when leaving their place of work on March 3.

The officers from SMEJA prepared a report in connection with the inspection, but did not wait until the computer expert invited by the party had checked the data stored in the computers. This examination demonstrated that on March 8, exactly four days after the main office was put under lock and further access to it was blocked, someone had gained entry to the main computer where all information regarding the party, its membership and activities is maintained.

It now becomes evident as to how the “national security” bodies and the local lackeys of the incumbent presidency were able to obtain relevant information about the party’s support base nationwide. As is widely known, the persecution and pressure upon the local divisions of the Heritage Party have increased since the middle of March, with party members being threatened and ordered to leave the party. An example of this took place just recently in the town of Armavir, where the party’s local office manager Levon Margarian had been taken into custody on May 20. Before being released he was told that the region’s law enforcement agency knew about the forthcoming visit of Raffi Hovannisian and other senior party members. The police demanded that Margarian make sure the meeting did not take place; otherwise they would use force to disrupt it.

“The sitting administration of the country has proved yet again that it will not stop at any unlawful measure to prolong its rule for a few more days, and the security bodies actually uphold not the rights of law-abiding citizens and the imperative of national security, but rather the personal well-being of a select few and their maintenance of power,” Kalenchian stated.

“We are not afraid,” concluded Raffi Hovannisian, “and we will continue our national citizens’ initiative until we strike justice.”