On Saturday afternoon, members of the political party received a warning that there were three people trying to change the locks of the party’s central headquarters, located in the Hakob Paronyan’s musical comedy theatre building. When the members came to the office, they saw one of the people breaking the lock (general engineer for the theatre Levon Zohrabyan). Zohrabyan claimed that he was just doing what his boss told him to do.
“The office is usually closed on weekends. They broke the locks and went in. We don’t know how long they were in there, what they took. The only thing we know is that they set a new lock on the door. Raffi Hovhannisyan’s personal items are inside that office, as well as the party’s documents,” said secretary of the political party Vartan Khachatryan. He says that the party had rented that part of the building and the contract ends in June of this year. So, nobody can kick them out of there until June 1. According to Khachatryan, the director of the theatre had asked the party members to vacate the premises 10 days ago, but the party members had refused and brought up the contract. As for the break-in, they refer to that as politics and as a means of “pressure”.
In general, the “Inheritance” party has been going through some rough times recently. First off, the party’s branches are under investigation, especially the accounts. Investigators are trying to blame the “Inheritance” party for the attack on secretary of the Armenian Progressive Party Nune Ghumashyan. It is worth mentioning that the “Inheritance” party started experiencing hardships way back in November, after the constitutional amendments referendum. Perhaps Raffi Hovhannisyan is the one to blame for all this because he was the one who got active two days before the referendum by organizing a demonstration at Freedom Square. He stayed there for two days as a protest; at least this is what the party members think.
“We are certain that this has to do with politics and it fits in with the hardships that the party has been facing these past couple of months. The authorities are simply trying to get back at us for being oppositional and active,” says member of the “Inheritance” political party Hovsep Khurshudyan. He claims that since Hovhannisyan is currently out of the country, the authorities have taken advantage of that and closed the doors.
“168 hours” wasn’t able to meet with director of the Hakobyan musical comedy theatre Karapet Shahbazyan. According to the workers, he had gone to the funeral of one of his relatives. However, he told the “Azatutyun” radio station during an interview a couple of days ago that he had specifically ordered the workers of the theatre to change the locks (but the party members are certain that the special services were the ones that closed the doors). Based on the government resolution, the theatre’s right to own property belongs to the government’s state property department. The department has ordered the theatre administration not to have any offices in the building before turning it in.
“Let them go and sign a contract with the department of state property. I have nothing to do with it,” said the director of the theatre and said that there is nothing political about this.
“The contract with Raffik Hovhannisyan has not been validated by the notary or registered at the real estate cadastre; thus, according to the 302nd article of the civil code, that office doesn’t really exist and I have demanded that they vacate the building,” said Mr. Shahbazyan.
As for entering the headquarters without permission, Karapet Shahbazyan said that they had not entered the office.
“We haven’t opened the door. We simply put another lock on it. That way I can’t open the door and neither can they without me,” said the theatre director to the “Azatutyun” reporter. The State Property department informed “168 Hours” that currently, the government is passing a resolution, according to which all theatres are to be investigated by the state department.
Meanwhile, the members of the “Inheritance” political party have appealed to the Prime Minister of Armenia Andranik Markaryan for help.
“Since the building is state-run, we have appealed to the state and are waiting for the reply. We will decide what to do based on the reply,” said member of “Inheritance” H. Khurshudyan. Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan has already given orders to the corresponding bodies. According to the government’s press department, the Prime Minister has assigned the Minister of Culture and head of the State Property Department to do some research and “inform him about the situation at hand” within ten days.