Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2003 - Armenia

Interference with the freedom of association and demonstration¹⁵

On 13th March 2003, following the second ballot of the presidential elections of 5th March 2003, Mr. Arthur Sakunts, local coordinator of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly (HCA) in Vanadzor, and editor of the newspaper Civil Initiative, announced his intention to organize a public information meeting about the election proceedings. This meeting was forbidden on March 14th by decree of the mayor, claiming security reasons. Such decrees however, had already been invalidated on several occasions by the Court of Appeal, considering that they constituted an infringement on the freedom of speech and diffusion of information.

On 14th March, HCA premises in Vanadzor were broken into and the office set on fire. The fire was rapidly confined.

Mr. Arthur Sakunts was arrested by local authorities on 15th March . He was arraigned immediately without the presence of his lawyer. Mr. Sakunts was sentenced by the Court of First Instance to 10 days of imprisonment on the basis of article 182 of the Code of Administrative Offences (disobeying the orders of police authorities) in relation to the organisation of the 14th March meeting. However, as this meeting did not take place, the reference to article 182 is groundless.

Between the months of February and March 2003, nearly 200 people were arrested on the basis of this same administrative code. This occurred during peaceful demonstrations organized by the political opposition to protest against the way elections were being conducted. Although most of these people were quickly released upon payment of a fine, about fifty others received detention sentences.

Mr. Sakunts, who is the first human rights defender to be sentenced in Armenia since 1998, was released on 25th March after serving his time. Thanks to international pressure, he was treated in accordance with the law and suffered no ill treatment. He introduced an appeal against the decision of the Tribunal of First Instance. The Court of Appeal having rejected the procedure and confirmed the decision of 25th March, Mr. Sakunts appealed before the Supreme Court of Appeals on 18th April 2003. The court rejected this appeal on 23rd May.

The HCA premises, in the middle of reconstruction after the events of April 2003, were once again vandalized during the night of 4th May 2003 by a group of individuals who forced the front door and broke the windows.

The police had concluded that the 14th March fire in the HCA offices was due to an electrical short-circuit. On 31st March, Mr. Sakunts requested that the public prosecutor open an in-depth investigation. Ministry of Justice experts noticed traces of gasoline in the offices and concluded that the fire was set with criminal intent.

A first complaint against person or persons unknown was lodged on 16th May in relation to this fire, and a second one on 19th May, concerning the 4th May attack. The two dossiers were closed on 16th and 19th June respectively, for lack of information.

Finally, as of March 2003, HCA was cut off from the help of the media in diffusing its information. Until then, not only regional journalists, but also the national radio and television stations allowed HCA members to participate in their programs, broadcast reportages, or organize debates to keep the population informed of their activities. No official explanation was provided to HCA concerning these restrictions, which began just after the release of Mr. Sakunts, at the height of the election campaign. For several months, HCA had to carry out a public sensitisation and information campaign. By early January 2004, this campaign seemed to have borne fruit, and the HCA regained access to the media.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

15. See Open Letter of 28th March 2003.