More than two opposition leaders and activists arrested in the wake of Armenia’s
disputed presidential election reportedly said on Tuesday that they are
beginning a collective hunger strike to demand their release and an end to the
ongoing government crackdown on the opposition.

In a joint statement circulated by the office of former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian, 19 of them said they will refuse food on Wednesday and will do so
“indefinitely” if the authorities fail to meet their demands by April 9. The
statement’s signatories include parliament deputy Miasnik Malkhasian, Aleksandr
Arzumanian, a former foreign minister and Ter-Petrosian’s election campaign
manager, Ararat Zurabian, chairman of the opposition Armenian Pan-National
Movement (HHSh), and Gurgen Yeghiazarian, a former deputy head of the National
Security Service (NSS).

In a separate statement issued by Ter-Petrosian’s office, six other detainees
said they are already on hunger strike and will not end the protest until the
authorities not only release all “political prisoners” but annul the official
results of the February 19 presidential election that gave victory to Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

But according to the Armenian Justice Ministry, only 12 oppositionists formally
informed prison administrations on Tuesday about their decision to begin a
hunger strike in protest against what they see as baseless and politically
motivated charges. A spokesman for the ministry department managing Armenia’s
prisons told RFE/RL that all of them will be separated from other inmates on
Wednesday.

The hunger strikers are among at least 102 Ter-Petrosian loyalists arrested and
prosecuted on a string of charges carrying lengthy prison sentences. Most of the
accusations stem from the March 1 clashes in Yerevan between security forces and
thousands of opposition supporters demanding a re-run of the February 19
presidential election. The Armenian authorities say the post-election street
protests were part of an attempted coup d’etat plotted by Ter-Petrosian, a claim
dismissed by the ex-president and his allies.

One of the jailed oppositionists, Suren Sureniants of the radical opposition
Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party, had already declared a hunger strike with the
same demands late last month and, according to his lawyer, was refusing food for
the eighth consecutive day on Tuesday. The lawyer, Hovik Arsenian, said he
visited his client in Yerevan’s Nubarashen prison on Monday and urged him to end
the protest. But Sureniants pledged to continue the hunger strike despite his
worsening health condition.

Like many of the detainees, Sureniants stands accused of attempting to seize
power and organizing “mass riots,” even though he was arrested five days before
the March 1 unrest. He was initially charged only with helping organize
Ter-Petrosian’s unauthorized rallies in Yerevan.

Two of the hunger strikers, Husik Baghdasarian and Hovannes Harutiunian, have
already been tried and handed prison sentences by Armenian courts on the same
charge. Both men are prominent veterans of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh who
worked as Ter-Petrosian proxies on election day.

Baghdasarian, who is also a senior member of Hanrapetutyun, was sentenced to 3
years in prison on Monday for illegally possessing 16 gun cartridges. A court in
southern Armenia dismissed his arguments that he had purchased the ammunition
for his legally owned hunting rifle.

His lawyer, Vartan Zurnachian, laughed off the guilty verdict and said he will
appeal it. “There was no precedent in Armenia of anyone getting three years in
prison for possessing that many bullets,” Zurnachian told RFE/RL. “This is a
vivid example of political persecution.”

Zurnachian also represents the interests of Harutiunian. The latter was
sentenced last week to 18 months’ imprisonment for keeping more than 30
cartridges. He too claimed to have planned to use them for his Russian-made
hunting rifle registered with the Armenian police.

In both court cases, prosecutors said that the ammunition was designed for other
types of weapons.

By Ruzanna Stepanian