Controversial Prosecutor, MPs Side with Ter-Petrossian

RFE/RL reports that a senior prosecutor believed to be at odds with the government has publicly backed former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, at an opposition protest demonstration in Yerevan. Gagik Jahangirian has long been critical of the handling of the investigation into the 27 October 1999 assassinations in the Armenian National Assembly as well as considered instrumental in falsifying the 1996 presidential election which secured Ter-Petrossian a second and disputed term in office.

Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian was quick to ask President Robert Kocharian to dismiss Jahangirian, citing an Armenian law that bars law-enforcement officials from engaging in political activities.

“I have seen and dealt with many elections,” Jahangirian told the massive crowd in the city’s Liberty Square. “But the scale of fraud, violence, beatings, intimidations perpetrated in these elections is unprecedented.”

“Each of you must reclaim your votes,” he said. “We must at last establish the rule of law in this country.”

Jahangirian also joined Ter-Petrosian in implicating Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, the official election winner, in the deadly October 1999 attack on the Armenian parliament. Jahangirian accused the two men of obstructing led the criminal investigation into the parliament shootings led by himself. “I promise you that if you help the elected president, if you help me, we will solve the case,” he said.

RFE/RL also says that rumors of two senior military commanders backing Ter-Petrossian continue to circulate. However, it is unclear whether they support Ter-Petrossian or simply promise to abide by the constitutional restriction on the military involving itself in the internal affairs of the country as one of them, Deputy Defense Minister Manvel Grigorian also promised in 2003. To date, the one time the military was used during the disputed 1996 presidential election in support of Ter-Petrossian.

Nevertheless, ArmInfo reports that one MP who has also come out in support of Ter-Petrossian claims that two controversial figures who treat much of the area around Etchmiadzin as their own fiefdoms have also switched sides. One appears to be Grigorian’s nephew, Hrant, and controversial former military General Seyran Saroyan who was known for using violence and intimidation in order to enter parliament last year.

Ironically, perhaps now united in their support of Ter-Petrossian, the two controversial figures last made headlines in September in a dispute over control of bus routes to and from Etchmiadzin. Once again, with a number of thugs now reported to be switching sides, one has to again wonder what kind of change is being offered by the radical opposition under the guise of a “democratic revolution.”

Still, regardless of the number of notorious figures that Ter-Petrossian’s own people used to label as “criminals” even as recently as last month, open support from opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian might yet represent some hope for the better. Otherwise, just changing the name of the president while the rest of the pyramid of corruption remains intact seems pretty pointless and something that can only lead to greater despair in the future.

Then again, this is the post-Soviet space. Perhaps that’s always what happens.