Armenia: Push for Kocharian trial - a push for PR?

Marianna Grigoryan: 8/06/08

In a move that could very well hamper rather than promote political reconciliation in Armenia, the country's leading opposition politician, Levon Ter-Petrosian, is mounting a campaign to have former president Robert Kocharian tried for "heavy crimes" against the Armenian people.

The allegation is connected with the March 1 events in Yerevan, when at least 10 fatalities resulted from a clash between security forces and opposition protesters. Since then, the political healing process has made scant progress. President Serzh Sargsyan, who was declared the winner of the controversial presidential election in February, has made reform promises, but his administration has been slow to implement reconciliation measures. Ter-Petrosian loyalists have likewise no let go of hard feelings.

Ter-Petrosian's new campaign re-airs longstanding opposition grievances against Kocharian, accusing the former president of an "autocratic" and "despotic" rule that led to "bloodshed" – allegedly, in 1999, when gunmen killed eight senior officials in parliament, and, again, on March 1. The petition demands "an independent, international inquiry" into the events of March 1 and that Kocharian be turned "over to the international court in The Hague."

Neither of the two international courts based in The Hague – the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court – appears to have jurisdiction over any potential case against Kocharian, however. The International Court of Justice only hears cases brought against states. While the International Criminal Court can try individuals for broad-based crimes such as genocide, war crimes or systematic political persecution (committed after 2002), it cannot try individuals who are citizens of non-signatory states. Armenia has not yet signed the 1998 Rome Statute establishing the court.

But while the legal intent may be fuzzy, opposition leaders nonetheless maintain that that the campaign can possibly trigger enough attention to secure a hearing. Opposition activists, however, refrain from providing details.

Ter-Petrosian spokesperson Arman Musinian claims that the campaign has so far collected more than 100,000 signatures from Yerevan and various provinces for Kocharian to stand trial. "The signature collection is continuing. The process is ongoing," Musinian said.

That fact alone is what worries one politician. Azerbaijan, claims Shavarsh Kocharian, leader of the National Democratic Party, could use Ter-Petrosian's drive to bolster its own claims that Armenian officials were guilty of ethnic cleansing, genocide and war crimes against Azerbaijanis in the ongoing dispute over the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. "This step ... is simply a treachery and a trump card in the hands of Azerbaijan," Kocharian, no relation to the former Armenian president, told EurasiaNet.

Meanwhile, Kocharian supporters have reacted scornfully to the campaign. "Legally, the initiative is crass ignorance. Politically, it is an absurdity," said parliamentarian Armen Ashotian, a senior member of the governing Republican Party of Armenia.

One political analyst believes the campaign is intended mainly for domestic PR purposes. "This is to put pressure on authorities," noted independent political analyst Yervand Bozoyan. "There is an opinion that some power still remains in Robert Kocharian's hands, and that the collection of signatures is a sort of event for domestic consumption.... I don't think [it] will acquire any serious scale."

Pro-government analyst Eduard Mamikonian agrees. "[W]ith methods like these, an attempt is made to restore 1988 when, with his influence, Levon Ter-Petrosian managed to unite the people," Mamikonian said in reference to the Soviet-era campaign for an independent Armenia, a drive led by Ter-Petrosian among others. "This time, the opposition simply tries to keep the ‘tension' alive. It is a game. The carnival goes on."

Ter-Petrosian has far from faded from public view since the March 1 events. Opposition rallies and so-called "political walks" continue in Yerevan; the latest rally, on August 1, drew a crowd in the thousands. Ter-Petrosian has announced the creation of an Armenian National Congress, made up of 16 political parties, and continues to call for Sargsyan's resignation and fresh elections. The next rally is scheduled for September 5. While attendance appears to be holding steady, no noticeable increase in numbers has occurred.

Kocharian, meanwhile, has kept a discreet profile. His activities since leaving office earlier this year remain unknown, although speculation runs rife. The recent appearance of an unauthorized, limited-edition hagiographic survey of Kocharian's presidency indicates that, for all appearances, Armenia's establishment will preserve the ex-president's official image as the leader who brought stability after the economic and political upheavals of Ter-Petrosian's 1991-1998 term.

Editor's Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a reporter for the ArmeniaNow.com weekly in Yerevan.

Posted August 6, 2008 © Eurasianet