Opposition Party Insists it’s Being Persecuted Because of Serzh Sargsyan’s Brother

The conflict between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and the Social Democrat Hunchukian Party (SDHP) began when in 2007, SDHP representative Gurgen Yeghiazaryan, SDHP leader Lyudmila Sargsyan and Armenian National Congress (of which SDHP is a part) member Garnik Margaryan wrote a letter to RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan which referred to Serzh Sargsyan’s brother, MP Sashik Sargsyan (pictured), said Gurgen Yeghiazaryan at a press conference in the capital today.

“What was the motive? An article in [opposition daily] Haykakan Jamanak [“Armenian Times”] that Serzh Sargsyan’s brother, Sashik Sargsyan, at some burial ceremony said, ‘What’s the problem, just as on [Oct.] 27 [1999] they shot eight people, we too will shoot ten people — everything will be water under the bridge.’ We wrote a letter, signed it and sent it to Aghvan Hovsepyan, asking him to launch a criminal case based on this report and to check the facts, since there was a statement about killings. Of course, our letter went unanswered, but on Mar. 1, 2008, they really did shoot 10 people. That is, the statement proved to be true. From that moment on, the plan to eliminate SDHP began,” he said.

Recall, SDHR said it yesterday received a letter from a Gevorg Perkuperkyan claiming to be the real party leader and giving party officials three days’ time to return all party-affiliated materials (registration certificate, seal, flag and so on).

According to Yeghiazaryan, now, ahead of the elections, the country’s ruling authorities are trying to pursue misunderstanding so that “tomorrow during the registration of lists they’ll say we were machinating.”

“The hostility and persecution toward us, even that they wrongly kept me in prison for half a year, is directly tied to this letter [to the prosecutor general]. The brother said, we’ll kill 10 people and they killed 10 people on Mar. 1, and Aghvan Hovsepyan till today hasn’t replied to us. By the way, after sending the letter we called and confirmed that they received it, and that letter was a statement of a crime,” he said.

Photo: Hraparak