Cablegate: Arson Against Opposition Parliamentary Candidate

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RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHYE #0692 1500832
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300832Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5678
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000692

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM KCRM AM
SUBJECT: ARSON AGAINST OPPOSITION PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE

(U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly.

1. (SBU) On May 28, Larisa Paremuzyan, regional chairwoman of Stepan
Demirchian's People's Party of Armenia (PPA), survived a late night
arson attack on her apartment in the northern town of Alaverdi
(Shirak Region). Paremuzyan blamed the attack on Karen Saribekian
from the governing Republican Party - who had defeated her for the
single mandate (majoritarian) parliamentary seat May 12. Paremuzyan
had earlier alleged serious vote irregularities in the vote, and on
May 25th the local prosecutor's office had summoned Paremuzyan and
the chairman of the local election commission, Vram Vanian, for
questioning.

2. (SBU) Local media quote Paremuzyan as saying that that she
believed that the attack was the work of Vanian and her rival
Saribekian. She said Vanian had seemed "terrified" by the prospect
of a recount potentially being ordered. Alaverdi Police have
started a criminal arson investigation.

3. (SBU) The Shirak-based human rights activist Artur Sakunts from
the Armenian Helsinki Citizens' Assembly has rushed to call the
incident a "terrorist act" and connected this with Paremuzyan's
political activities. The spokeswomen of the People's Party of
Armenia Ruzan Khachatryan also tied the arson attack with
Paremuzyan's political work and publicly blamed the Republican
Party. Karen Saribekyan and Vanyan have each denied any role in the
incident.

4. (SBU) COMMENT: Paremuzyan, in contrast to most PPA regional
representatives, is seen as a dynamic, energetic, and well-regarded
local politician. Perhaps uniquely among PPA candidates, she was
seen as having an actual shot at winning a majoritarian seat. We
await further information before we are prepared to accept
Paremuzyan's interpretation of the event, though some sort of
political motive seems all too likely.

GODFREY

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