Cher President Daul,

It is with great regret that I report that three of Heritage’s senior members (vice president Armen Martirosyan, spokesman Davit Sanasaryan, and civil-society liaison Hovsep Khurhsudyan), and rights activist Andrias Ghukasyan, all of them model, law-abiding citizens, have just been arrested, without the possibility of bail, for guiding a peaceful demonstration and standing as buffer between citizens and policemen and thus ruling out any violence between the two.

Sadly, these last two weeks have seen their share of violence, with two policeman dead, several civilians wounded and brutal, excessive violence against citizens carried out largely by both red berets and plain-clothed officers, and now the targeted arrest of opposition leaders in advance of an election period. This will have a chilling effect on the political process, in which fewer and fewer people have faith—and will only foster further frustration and alienation.

We trust that, in addition to weighing in with the ruling party and its leadership which essentially runs the law enforcement operations, at the next Political Assembly we can have a clear resolution condemning the violence, police brutality, and the unwarranted incarceration and targeted exclusion from political life of local EPP leaders with high moral standing and public support. That the ruling party is also an EPP member should not serve to exempt it from the higher, controlling values and precepts of the EPP; au contraire, its association must compel it to live up to those standards and thus to release all political prisoners.

Similar resolutions have been issued regarding Georgia and other situations, and we expect such support in this matter as well. Thank you for your kind attention.