November 14, 2006

Prosecutor General Orders Further Inquiry Into Heritage Break-in Case

Yerevan—Heritage founder Raffi K. Hovannisian, the party’s executive board members, and fellow citizens gathered today in front of the Armenian prosecutor general’s office. They demanded an official response from the prosecutor general with respect to bringing criminal charges for the unlawful March break-in to the party’s central headquarters and the ensuing theft of information from its computer system.

Two hours into the assembly, held under the banner of “Truth and Right,” Heritage board chairman Vardan Khachatrian and attorney Zaruhi Postanjian received a formal letter from prosecutor Karapet Karapetyan of the Department for the Protection of State Interests. The letter confirmed that all decisions of the Yerevan city police department and prosecutor’s office, which had previously refused to institute a criminal case against the “mysterious” computer bandits, have now been revoked, and an additional inquiry has been launched by the prosecutor general’s office.

“All the details of this ‘presidential’ parade of criminal acts, which together form a single web among the White House, the Service for Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts, the management of the Paronian State Theater and the nation’s judicial system, must be revealed through a courageous determination to file criminal charges and to carry out a full investigation,” Raffi Hovannisian said.

“Notwithstanding the ‘instructions from above’ to cover up this scandalous reproduction of the Watergate precedent in Armenia, we expect that the Republic’s prosecutor general will finally step in to defend the constitutional rights of its citizens.”