International Helsinki Federation urges to protect Armenian rights defenders

We call your attention the open letter addressed by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee to President of Armenia Robert Kocharian and Armenian Prosecutor General Aghvan Ovsepian in connection with the brutal physical attack on human rights defender Mikael Danielian.

To:

Aghvan Ovsepyan
Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia

Robert Kocharyan
President of the Republic of Armenia

Cc:

Hina Jilani, UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders
Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General, Council of Europe
Bruno Haller, Secretary General, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Mr. Solomon Passy, Chairman-in-Office, OSCE
OSCE Delegations, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

OPEN LETTER

Dear Mr. President, dear Prosecutor General,

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) are writing this letter to you in order to ensure that a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation will be conducted into the brutal physical attack on Mikael Danielyan, Chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Association, and the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Mr. Danielyan was attacked and beaten by four assailants, who cornered him in a passageway between two buildings at 09.00 am on 30 March 2004. He was knocked to the ground and beaten for about ten minutes after which the perpetrators fled. Mr. Danielyan was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

As there are indications that the attackers might be connected to state structures, it is important that a prompt and thorough investigation into the case is carried out under the control of the Prosecutor General, who is in a privileged position to conduct all necessary questioning of representatives of the power structures.

We are calling on you to ensure that the principles of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders are adhered to in Armenia, and that proper measures to prevent further attacks on human rights defenders will be taken.

We note already that there has not been a thorough forensic examination of Mr. Danielyan. Such an examination should have been conducted as soon as possible. During the first two days after the attack, the doctors informed the relatives of Mr. Danielyan that he most likely suffered from a brain concussion. Later on they changed their diagnosis and stated that he only suffers from dangerously high blood pressure. This change of diagnosis could be seen as a way of downplaying the seriousness of the case.

If investigations do not lead to criminal charges against those responsible for this crime, a negative signal will be sent to Europe that in Armenia attacks on dissident voices go unpunished. Suspicion will remain that state structures were involved in the violent attack.

We would like to remind you of two other cases of violence against critical voices. In one case the journalist Mark Grigoryan fell victim to a pipe bomb attack against him in October 2002. The investigation was suspended, "because no suspects could be found". In another case, the human rights correspondent Mher Ghalechyan was brutally beaten in the editorial office of an oppositional newspaper in April 2003. A criminal investigation of the incident was launched but while the perpetrators are publicly known, the Prosecutor General's Office closed the case in December 2003, claiming the absence of a corpus delicti.

We hope that these failures are not repeated in the case of Mr. Danielyan.

Sincerely,

Dr. Aaron Rhodes
(Executive Director, IHF)

Gunnar M. Karlsen
(Deputy Secretary General, NHC)

Vienna, 07 April 2004

Editors note: See also the article "Law-enforcement agencies' inactivity indicates their involvement in attack on Mikael Danielian, his wife says".