Opposition Party Still Under Lock and Key

Armenia's opposition Heritage Party has been blocked from entering its rented offices as part of an ongoing property dispute that party sympathizers say is politically motivated.

Party representatives were blocked on July 21 from reentering their office in Yerevan's Paronian Theater of Musical Comedy after a three-and-a-half month court battle that had appeared to end in their favor. The theater's management had sealed the door in early March as allegedly part of the transfer of the theater to state ownership. Since then, the party's documents, seal, all computer equipment, and telephones have remained under lock and key.

A June 26 court ruling that found the closure illegal prompted Party members to believe they could return to their office. But marshals from the Ministry of Justice's Service for Execution of Mandatory Acts (SEMA) resealed the office last week after saying that the ruling did not specify that the party could begin work again in the space. The officials stated that they planned to take the office contents to SEMA in the meantime.

Party lawyers are disputing the interpretation of the ruling, while party members and political analysts consider that what happened is more than a property dispute.

The Heritage Party was founded in 2003 by Raffi Hovannisian, foreign minister from 1991 to 1992, and the only Diaspora figure in the Armenian opposition. (Hovannisian was born in Fresno, California.) The party claims to have more than 5,000 members.

In an earlier interview with EurasiaNet this year, Hovannisian said that he is convinced that Armenian President Robert Kocharian had ordered that his party's office be shut. The offices of Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian and Police Chief Hayk Harutiunian have affirmed that no crime was committed by closing Heritage's office, although an investigation is ongoing into the confiscation of the party's computer databases.

Some analysts say that Hovannisian's popularity rating is high enough to pose a real threat to the authorities in the next parliamentary and presidential elections.

"In recent years, there have been many cases when the authorities interfered with opposition parties, confiscated their property, created numerous problems for them [by] disorganizing their activities," said parliamentarian and National Democratic Party Chairman Arshak Sadoyan. "The authorities' handwriting . . . is well known to everyone. This way, the authorities are trying either to subdue the opposition or clear the way, or to frighten others so that they stop making active efforts."

According to Suren Sureniants, a political analyst and board member of the opposition Hanrapetutiun (Republic) Party, the government began to view Heritage's activities with concern after Hovannisian "publicly caused certain unpleasant things for Kocharian and his entourage."

Before the November 2005 constitutional referendum, Hovannisian called on voters to protest the vote in Yerevan's Freedom Square. Upon leaving the country later that month, he was reportedly searched by national security service workers who explained that they were looking for documents that contained state secrets.

Associates contend that the pressure on Hoyannisian increased considerably after the party leader read out 21 questions for President Kocharian at a November 9, 2005 opposition rally. The document, titled "A Civil Request for a Public Account" quizzed "acting" President Kocharian on whether he had killed a man during the 1988-1994 war with Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, and on the details of his relatives' property holdings, among other topics.

The presidential administration responded that the questionnaire was not worth a response, but in the months following, pro-government media outlets began to circulate discrediting reports that accused Hovannisian of espionage. Public television also took aim at Hovannisian's wife, alleging that that funds raised in the United States for a local chapter of the non-profit youth education organization Junior Achievement, run by his wife, had been used to fund the political activities of her husband and the organization of public rallies.

Sympathizers maintain that the tussle over the Heritage Party's office space is just the latest installment in the government's campaign against Hovannisian.

Theater Director Karapet Shahbazian, however, has ruled out any political motives for closing the Party's office. "I told them I must hand over the property to the state, but they refused to leave, and I put on the second lock," Shahbazian said. Hovannisian had a five-year lease with the theater, signed in 2002.

Meanwhile, the party leader maintains that he will fight on. "All I need in this country is a small tent," he commented to EurasiaNet. "But recent experience shows that even a tent causes fear."