Javakheti Activist Deported From Armenia

4, December 2006
ArmeniaLiberty
By Satenik Vantsian in Gyumri

An Armenian nationalist activist from Georgia’s restive Javakheti region was deported from Armenia on Monday shortly after being controversially handed a suspended one-year prison sentence in a trial denounced as politically motivated by his supporters.

A court in Gyumri found Vahagn Chakhalian, a young leader of the United Javakhk organization campaigning for the Armenian-populated region’s greater autonomy, guilty of illegally entering Armenia, dismissing his protestations of innocence. It backed prosecutors’ claim that he crossed the Georgian-Armenian border without a valid Georgian passport.

The court ruled that Chakhalian must return to Yerevan, his temporary place of residence, and stay there until the verdict’s formal entry into force. But witnesses said that as Chakhalian left Gyumri for the Armenian capital in a car he was apprehended by police and escorted to the Georgian border. His defense lawyer, Tigran Hayrapetian, told RFE/RL that local police officers showed him a written deportation order signed by the chief of Armenia’s national Police Service, Lieutenant-General Hayk Harutiunian.

Chakhalian, 24, was arrested on October 11 just hours after he, his parents, brother and another United Javakhk activist arrived in Armenia in a car and were reportedly stopped and beaten up by unknown men outside Yerevan. The activist, Gurgen Shirinian, sustained severe injuries and required hospitalization.

Chakhalian was released from custody two weeks later amid an outcry from a number of Armenian non-governmental organizations and 16 members of Armenia’s parliament. In a joint statement, the mostly opposition lawmakers accused the authorities in Yerevan of using the case to please the Georgian government which has been at odds with United Javakhk.

The violence and the ensued arrest also infuriated the radical group’s supporters in Javakheti. Dozens of them marched to the Armenian border to demand his release.

“I repeat that I never illegally crossed the border of the Republic of Armenia,” Chakhalian said in his concluding court remarks.

His mother Gayane also testified at the trial, challenging the prosecutors to explain why they did not level the same accusations against herself and the three other persons that entered Armenia with Chakhalian. “Why is it that only one of us is guilty of breaking the law?” she said. “Why don’t you try me as well?”

Hayrapetian, for his part, argued that they had no trouble passing through the Armenian border and customs checkpoints.

Chakhalian’s sympathizers link the case with United Javakhk’s rejection of the official results of the October 5 local elections in Javakheti that gave victory to Georgia’s governing National Movement Party. Alleging massive fraud, United Javakhk rallied hundreds of supporters in the regional town of Akhalkalaki. The demonstration turned violent, with the protesters seizing the local government building before being dispersed by police.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Will Javakheti repeat the fate of Karabakh?

11/02/2006
Regnum News agency

Leader of the United Javakh Alliance Vahagn Chakhalian does not rule out a possibility of an armed clash in the Armenian-populated area in Georgia, Samtskhe-Javakheti, taking into consideration similarity of the situation in the area with the one in Nagorno Karabakh in the Soviet time. Chakhalian made the announcement at a news conference in Yerevan on November 2. At the same time he noted that up to date the question is not vital.

As for cooperation with the Georgian authorities concerning realization of projects, as Chakhalian noted, “such cooperation is equal to cooperation with Turks in the beginning of the last century.” He outlined priority issues for United Javakh: inadmissibility of construction of theKars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi, status of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia, teaching Armenian and history in schools, foundation of the Georgian-Armenian University. Chakhalian denied statements that the events in Javakh are related to the exacerbation of the Russian-Georgian relations. “It is rather weird that everything that happens in the area, Armenian media connect with the crisis in the Russian-Georgian relations,” Vahagn Chakhalian said.

In his turn, MP Hamayak Hovhannissyan also noted that not the discord in the Georgian-Russian relations, but construction of the “monstrous” Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway caused the high interest of Armenia in Javakh. According to him, despite the fact that European community and the USA are negative in their assessments of the construction, Turkey and Azerbaijan under Georgia’s consent have been implementing the project; so, it is a question of months. Besides, he expressed indignation at the intention to populate the traditionally Armenian territory alongside the railway: 12 villages with a population of 1,000 people. He also reminded that Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan speaking at a session of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization leaders also raised the issue of inadmissibility of constructing the railway and called for Georgia to abandon the project.


Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.