European Forum

Armenian oppositionists released under a Presidential amnesty

On June 22nd a former Armenian foreign minister and three other senior opposition figures were released under an amnesty for those charged over deadly post-election clashes in March 2008. Armenia’s parliament passed an amnesty bill proposed by the President on June 19, after accusations by European rights bodies of politically motivated arrests.

In separate trials, former Foreign Minister Aleksandr Arzumanian and three MPs were found guilty of organizing mass disorder, arson, and pogroms, and sentenced to four to five years in jail. However, they walked free under the terms of the amnesty. A fifth man, MP Sasun Mikaelyan did not qualify for the amnesty and was sentenced to eight years in jail. He will be appealing the court’s decision.

Aleksandr Arzumanian was campaign chief for opposition presidential challenger Levon Ter-Petrossian, whose supporters took to the streets in March 2008 to dispute the results of a presidential election won by current head of state Serzh Sarkisian. The ensuing clashes between the opposition activists and security forces resulted in 10 deaths. Some 100 people were arrested during a state of emergency after the 2008 violence, and more than 50 received jail terms.

"From tomorrow I renew my fight," one of the freed men, Suren Sirunian said. "We are against the amnesty, in so much as we did not commit any crime for which they have forgiven us," local media quoted him as saying. The other three also commented that they were fighting for an acquittal, and some expressed the intention to appeal to a higher court.

Directly after being released in the court room the oppositionists met at the same venue of the protests where they had last seen each other a year ago, to thank their supporters and reiterate their intention to continue the struggle.

The amnesty was previously the opposition's pre-condition to any dialogue with the authorities. It also comes at a crucial time, with the Council of Europe expected to debate the issue of the Armenian authorities imprisoning people for ‘political reasons’ this week .



Sources: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, A1+ ; Source photo: A1+