VZCZCXRO7100
RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHYE #0771/01 3061059
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 021059Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9689
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 YEREVAN 000771 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM KJUS KTIP TU AM
SUBJECT: ADVANCING HR/ROL AGENDA WITH THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL 
 
REF: YEREVAN 664 
 
YEREVAN 00000771  001.3 OF 004 
 
 
Classified By: AMB Marie L. Yovanovitch, reasons 1.4 (b,d). 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) The Ambassador met with Prosecutor General (PG) Aghvan 
Hovsepian on October 28 in an attempt to advance Post's human 
rights and rule of law agenda.  The specific goals of the 
meeting were to acknowledge the PG's recent intervention in 
the release of two civil society activists--that Post had 
actively engaged him on--and to suggest other areas where the 
PG could use the power of his office to register more human 
rights and rule of law progress, which the Ambassador 
asserted was vital to improving bilateral relations with the 
United States, and which would complement the bold foreign 
steps Armenia has been taking on Turkey-Armenia 
normalization.  The Ambassador called upon the PG to be 
flexible in considering the release of the remaining 15 
political detainees from the March 2008 events, to 
aggressively prosecute attacks on journalists, and to use his 
office to the greatest extent possible to combat corruption. 
In this last regard, the Ambassador underscored the 
importance of criminal punishment for those officials 
involved in the 2006 Anush Zakharyants trafficking case. 
 
¶2. (C) SUMMARY CONTINUED:  While sticking to his guns on many 
of the issues the Ambassador raised, the PG appeared more 
open to Post's appeals than has been the case in the past, 
and he thanked the Ambassador for recognizing the positive 
steps Armenia had taken on anti-trafficking and the recent 
releases of the civil society activists.  Although he made no 
promises, the PG said he would review the non-paper list of 
detainees the Ambassador shared and would provide his 
feedback.  Additionally, he admitted that upon his review of 
one of the cases of the two detained civil society 
activists--that the Ambassador had asked him to undertake--it 
was clear to him that police had mishandled the investigation 
of the affair, which prompted him to approve the release.  He 
argued that the prosecution of attacks on journalists was 
harder than it appeared, due to inconsistent statements of, 
and overall lack of witnesses.  The PG gave no ground, 
however, on doling out punishment to corrupt anti-trafficking 
officials in the Zakharyants case, arguing that his former 
official had made an honest mistake that he more than made up 
for in his aggressive prosecution of other trafficking cases. 
 The PG did warm, however, to the Ambassador's offer to help 
spur cross-border law enforcement cooperation with Turkey on 
trafficking cases, and said general law enforcement 
cooperation with Turkey had long been a personal goal of his. 
 END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
RELEASES OF ACTIVISTS AN IMPORTANT STEP, HELPFUL TO RELATIONS 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Over lunch at her residence on October 27, the 
Ambassador thanked the PG for reviewing the cases of the two 
detained civil society activists--the youth activist Tigran 
Arakelian and the human rights activist Mr. Arshaluis 
Hakobian--and having his prosecutors successfully request 
their releases from detention while their legal cases 
proceed.  The Ambassador noted that Washington sought and 
welcomed such steps, and they helped create a better 
environment for broader US-Armenia bilateral ties; the 
Ambassador also noted that this message had formed a key 
theme of the recent October 20-21 visit of EUR DAS Tina 
Kaidanow, who lobbied President Sargsian and other senior 
leaders to complement their bold foreign policy steps on 
normalization with Turkey with similarly bold domestic steps 
on human rights, rule of law, and democratization.  The 
Ambassador also acknowledged the downgrading of charges 
against the female activist Mariam Sukhudian in late October, 
and told the PG that Washington hoped the legal outcomes of 
all three cases would reflect a just, transparent 
administration of justice. 
 
¶4. (C) PG Hovsepian thanked the Ambassador for recognizing 
"Armenia's" positive efforts on anti-trafficking and his role 
in the release of the two activists.  He said the presence of 
an Ambassador, after a long absence of one, was very 
important for the development of relations, and he 
complimented the Ambassador for her "concrete actions and 
concrete results" in this regard.  He noted that he was 
unable to review every case, but said "on the Hakobian case I 
had the feeling that police had overstepped their bounds," 
with Hovsepian opposed to the fact that the police, who had 
arrested Hakobian and reportedly beaten and physically 
mistreated him during and after the arrest, were now the ones 
carrying out the investigation of the case.  Interestingly, 
 
YEREVAN 00000771  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
the PG stated that in approving his prosecutors' request of 
Hakobian's release, "I gave separate instructions that this 
(ie, that a police unit not be allowed to investigate the 
actions of its own officers) serve as a precedent in future 
cases." 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
FLEXIBILITY IN RELEASE OF REMAINING 15 DETAINEES 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5. (C) The Ambassador noted to the PG that a key message of 
EUR DAS Kaidanow's visit was a request to Armenia's leaders 
to free the remaining 15 political detainees still in prison 
in connection with the disputed 2008 presidential election. 
The Ambassador stated to the PG that the price of keeping the 
detainees in prison far outweighed the cost involved in their 
release, and that the benefits of the release would prove 
significant to improving Armenia's international image as 
well as the trust of its citizens.  The PG stuck to his guns, 
however, and upon his perusal of the non-paper list of 
detainees the Ambassador gave him, began to comment on he 
particulars of several of the cases, arguing that some were 
involved in violent acts and could not be released.  He also 
criticized the overall politicization of the issue, 
complaining that there were numerous lists circulating that 
various elements of the opposition--including wives of the 
detained who demonstrated outside his building every 
Friday--bandied about to exaggerate the innocence of the 
detained for their own political ends. 
 
¶6. (C) The PG additionally asserted that after the March 2008 
events "we prosecuted oppositionists as well as 
pro-govermental forces."  The Ambassador replied that 
approximately 120 oppositionists had been jailed and tried, 
in contrast with only a handful of pro-government 
individuals, and that this was the core problem with the 
issue of the detainees--their arrests appeared politically 
motivated, as does the continuing incarceration of the 
remaining 15.  The Ambassador requested that the PG look into 
the cases of the remaining detainees once again (reftel), and 
that Armenia demonstrate as much flexibility as it can within 
the confines of the law in considering further releases.  The 
PG said he would look at the list in detail and provide his 
feedback in the near future. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
NEED TO PUT END TO ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS, IMPUNITY 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶7. (C) The Ambassador also urged the PG and his office to 
aggressively prosecute the string of heinous and chilling 
attacks on journalists, noting that as long as these attacks 
went unresolved and the perpetrators unpunished, an 
atmosphere of impunity would reign, and journalists would 
continue to feel intimidated for trying to carry out their 
jobs. The Ambassador raised in particular the attacks on Edik 
Baghdassarian (November 2008), Argishti Kivirian (April 
2009), and Nver Mnatsakanian (May 2009), and how they had 
either been unresolved or resolved in such a way as to call 
into question the authorities' commitment to truly punishing 
the real perpetrators.  The PG responded that there was much 
more than meets the eye on such cases, and that these attacks 
were rarely black-and-white cases that allowed prosecutors to 
go full bore on them. 
 
¶8. (C)  On the Baghdassarian attack, he took the Ambassador's 
point that to date only one of the several attackers had been 
apprehended and prosecuted; that said, he shared that he is 
"hopeful" that the convicted attacker will "be helpful" in 
bringing to justice his accomplices.  On the Kivirian attack, 
which reportedly involved gunshots directed at Kivirian, the 
PG said "no one in Kivirian's apartment building, except his 
wife, told investigators that they heard gun shots," and as a 
result he had problems believing the reported chain of 
events.  (COMMENT:  We take the PG's claim with a grain of 
salt, for two reasons: a) a relative of one of our FSNs who 
lives in Kivirian's apartment building where the attack took 
place said she heard the gunshots; and b) most Armenians are 
afraid to get involved as witnesses in such cases out of fear 
that they will be subject to coercion or even worse for 
speaking up.  END COMMENT.)   He also said that in general, 
in many of these cases, there were no witnesses to the 
attacks.  He added that he had doubts in Kivirian's case due 
to the delay of Kivirian and his wife--a prominent lawyer who 
was the defense lawyer for the ex-Deputy Prosecutor General 
also arrested after the disputed election once he publicly 
contested the results--in providing their testimony after the 
attack.  Calling into question alleged political motivations 
behind the attack, the PG cautioned in general about the 
politicization of such attacks, and accused the opposition of 
using them to sell more newspapers.  The Ambassador said that 
in this case the best way to depoliticize such attacks was to 
 
YEREVAN 00000771  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
do just that--investigate and prosecute them to clearly 
demonstrate that other, non-political motives were 
responsible for the attacks. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
COMBATING CORRUPTION KEY TO DEVELOPMENT 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) The Ambassador raised the issue of corruption and the 
lack of transparency as core rule of law issues that strike 
right at the heart of Armenia's ability to be able to develop 
economically and politically.  In soliciting the PG's views 
on corruption, the Ambassador noted America's long, arduous 
struggle with corruption, and that the only way to combat it 
are for the highest levels in the land to set good examples 
with their own behavior and for punishment of corruption to 
be applied equally--to average citizens and powerful people 
alike.  The PG agreed with the Ambassador, and said while 
Armenia has just adopted an anti-corruption strategy for 
2009-12, "nothing will change until 'somebody' is punished." 
The PG confided that he meets with President Sargsian once a 
week and that the president often slams his fists on the 
table demanding that offenders be punished.  The PG told the 
Ambassador that "I want people to trust me," and "I want you 
to believe I seek an Armenia without corruption," but "I want 
our fight to be real, and not just for show." 
 
¶10. (C) The PG then said he will launch a new campaign 
against corruption "by starting with my own office."  "We 
have to start with ourselves," he said, "and clean our own 
ranks," and that "all of my prosecutors know my thinking on 
this."  He told the Ambassador that "I will fire anyone even 
allegedly involved in corruption from my office."  The PG 
then defended his office's anti-corruption efforts, arguing 
that the number of persons prosecuted for corruption has 
increased "to several hundred" in recent years.  (COMMENT: 
In a somewhat ominous reference which continued to confirm 
Post's long-held suspicions that the PG metes out justice on 
a personally-tinged basis, the PG boasted of his college 
schoolmate being arrested for corruption the day before, 
"after I had warned him many times to be careful."  The PG 
added that "I'm not losing any sleep over it, though, since I 
warned him to stop."  END COMMENT.)  The Ambassador 
encouraged the PG to ensure the upcoming campaign is a 
successful and credible one, and cautioned that it not be 
perceived as an anti-opposition campaign.  The PG smiled and 
said it cannot be so, since corruption is a problem that 
comes from within the ranks of those in or holding public 
positions. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
ZAKHARYANTS CASE AND ANTI-TRAFFICKING COOPERATION WITH TURKEY 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
 
¶11. (C) When thanking the Ambassador for her recognition of 
Armenia's stepped-up efforts to combat trafficking at the 
outset of the meeting, the PG mentioned the difficulty he had 
had in deciding not to criminally punish "an investigator" in 
the PG's office who was leading Armenia's anti-trafficking 
drive at the time of the 2006 case of the escaped Uzbek 
trafficker Anush Zakharyants.  The PG said, "what was I 
do--fire my best investigator who was personally responsible 
for improving our anti-trafficking track record?  How would 
others have viewed his removal?  Thank God we're now over 
this."  The Ambassador revisited the Zakharyants case twice 
during the meeting, saying that while Armenia has indeed made 
progress in anti-trafficking, as reflected by its improved 
annual anti-TIP ranking, the United States still needs to see 
an investigation into the case that results in a 
conviction(s) of officials for criminal conduct.  (NOTE:  In 
response to Embassy pressure, the GOAM launched a new 
criminal investigation of the case in December 2008; on June 
2, at a meeting with the PG, an official from the Special 
Investigative Service presented the Ambassador with extensive 
documentation about the case whose purpose, as Post found out 
upon reading them, was to justify that GOAM actions taken to 
place on the case were sufficient in and of themselves.  END 
NOTE.) 
 
¶12. (C) The PG visibly warmed to the Ambassador's offer to 
attempt to foster anti-trafficking cooperation between 
Armenia's and Turkey's law enforcement agencies.  The 
Ambassador noted that this kind of cooperation could 
potentially serve as a confidence-building measure between 
Turkey and Armenia at an historic.  The PG said he had in the 
past personally favored and sought broader law enforcement 
cooperation, but was unsuccessful, not because of lack of 
interest by his Turkish colleagues, whom he said had been 
receptive to the idea, but by "political developments outside 
our mutual control."  The Ambassador noted that Armenia's 
police and the MFA had recently contacted the Embassy to see 
if it could help with the investigation of Gohar (Kilinc) 
 
YEREVAN 00000771  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
Kirakosyan, an ethnic Armenian trafficker residing as a 
naturalized Turkish citizen in Trabzon, Turkey, and that the 
Embassy in Yerevan was willing to contact the U.S. Embassy in 
Ankara to initiate law enforcement cooperation on the case. 
But the Ambassador cautioned that she was willing to pursue 
this avenue only if Armenian law enforcement were serious 
about cooperating on this case, and willing to share all case 
materials with Turkish law enforcement when the time comes. 
The PG replied that "Armenia is willing to cooperate with 
Turkey--even with Satan--to punish traffickers."  The 
Ambassador said the Embassy would share the information from 
the police and MFA, so the PG could familiarize himself with 
the case, and would wait for his response before proceeding. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶13. (C) This latest meeting with the PG went better than 
expected, and was more cordial than many of the numerous 
meetings the Ambassador has had with Hovsepian.  With the 
releases of the civil society activists, Post has begun to 
detect some new receptivity by the PG to the human rights and 
rule of law issues on which we engage.  While the releases 
were just a first step, we hope that with  deliberate and 
careful prodding, we may be able to persuade the PG to take 
additional positive steps.  We found his enthusiasm regarding 
law enforcement cooperation with Turkey interesting and hope 
that we will be able to pursue this.  Unfortunately, 
Hovsepian's response on his anti-corruption efforts--with all 
its dramatic detail--did not strike us as sincere; however, 
we will continue to pursue this issue with the PG. 
 
 
PENNINGTON