Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
5
Amnesty International September 2001
AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
organized on that day in Yerevan’s central square,
attended
by
several
thousand
people.
The
demonstration, held apparently with the permission of
the city authorities, was to protest at living conditions
and to call on President Robert Kocharian to resign.
After the three-hour rally a group of demonstrators
had left the area designated for the meeting and
marched towards to the Presidential Palace, President
Kocharian’s official residence. The marchers
submitted a letter calling for the president’s
resignation, and then dispersed. According to some
reports the march, which was not sanctioned by the
authorities, was led by Arkady Vartanian and Karo
Karapetian, his lawyer and associate.
Arkady Vartanian and Karo Karapetian were
detained later that evening, and taken to Yerevan’s
Arabkir District Department of the Interior Ministry.
The following day they were sentenced to 10 and
seven days’ administrative arrest respectively for
holding an unsanctioned demonstration. Fifteen other
people were also reported to have received terms of
administrative arrest, and another four were fined.
Arkady Vartanian was not released at the end of this
period, however, as a criminal case was opened
against him on a charge of calling for the violent
overthrow of the state system, under Article 65 part 2
of the Armenian Criminal Code (which carries up to
seven years’ imprisonment). On 9 November he was
transferred from the custody of the Yerevan
Department of Internal Affairs to the investigation-
isolation prison of the Ministry of National Security.
On 13 November the court of first instance of
Yerevan’s Tsentr and Nork-Marash communities
confirmed arrest for a period of two months as the
measure of restraint to be applied against Arkady
Vartanian. On 7 December the Court of Appeal for
Criminal and Military Cases turned down an appeal by
his defence lawyers to change this measure to a non-
custodial one. The prosecutor’s request for a one
month extension to this term was approved by a court
at the beginning of January this year. However, on 23
January, in the light of growing concerns about
Arkady Vartanian’s health, he was transferred from
the Ministry of National Security prison to the Health
Ministry’s Institute of Cardiology and was
subsequently released from detention on 22 February.
According to the Office of the General Procurator, the
investigation of the criminal case was halted on 1
March pending his recovery. He was reported to have
left Armenia on 21 May in order to be with his family
in Moscow.
In a letter to AI dated 20 March, the head of
section for supervision of implementation of
investigation and detective work at the Office of the
General Procurator, Samvel Manukian, confirmed the
fact of Arkady Vartanian’s arrest on 13 November and
subsequent release from detention on 22 February for
health reasons. He also stated that Arkady Vartanian
had been provided with lawyers who could see him
regularly. This was in answer to AI’s request for
clarification regarding access to a defence lawyer by
detainees detained and sentenced under the
administrative code. However, the letter did not
comment on allegations that the arrest had been
politically motivated, nor did it comment on the
current position relating to access for families to those
held in administrative or pre-trial detention. AI had
received reports that Arkady Vartanian’s family had
not been allowed to visit him during the period of
administrative arrest.
Allegations of ill-treatment
Arrests following parliamentary assassinations -
allegations of torture and violations of due process
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/01/00, EUR 03/01/00 and
EUR 01/001/2001)
The trial into the armed attack on the Armenian
parliament on 27 October 1999 opened on 15
February at the court of first instance of Yerevan’s
Tsentr and Nork-Marash communities. AI has
expressed concern about the numerous allegations of
torture, ill-treatment and violations of fair trial
standards in connection with the case. While giving
testimony during the trial on 17 April, one of the
defendants, Nairi Unanian, is reported to have
repeated his allegations that he was tortured during the
pre-trial investigation. He alleged that he was beaten
with rubber batons over an extended period of time by
four people, and that investigators and other officials
made various threats against him in an attempt to force
him to give testimony that they were seeking. He also
stated that he was forced, through physical pressure,
to give testimony against four men originally detained
- Alexan Harutyunian, Mushegh Movsissian,
Harutyun Harutyunian and Nairi Badalian. They were
all later released, and charges against them dropped.
According to Nairi Unanian, a formal statement he
had made on 8 June 2000, describing how he was
tortured during the pre-trial investigation, had not
been included in the material before the court. During
the court hearing the next day, the prosecution
reportedly submitted to the court Nairi Unanian’s
formal statement of 8 June. The prosecution
reportedly explained that on 1 June 2000, Nairi
Unanian had filed a complaint regarding the method
of investigation, in response to which an
intradepartmental investigation was opened. The
investigation reportedly concluded on 30 June with a
decision not to initiate criminal proceedings for lack
of sufficient evidence.
On 20 June, six of the defendants in the trial were
reported to have been cleared of criminal charges
under the amnesty to mark the 1700
th
anniversary of
Christianity (see above). Those amnestied included
two police officers who were on duty at the parliament
building on the day of the shooting and had been
charged with crimes of negligence in connection with
the events. Those amnestied also included three men
who had been charged with illegal possession of
firearms, and one man who had been charged with
failure to report a crime to the law-enforcement
agencies. Lawyers representing the families of the
victims said they would appeal the decision to
amnesty the six men.