The Kentron Marash court in Yerevan ordered prosecutors on Friday to investigate allegations by opposition leader Raffi Hovhannisian that government agents illegally entered the sealed headquarters of his Heritage party last year and stole confidential information from its main computer. The allegations stem from Heritage’s dispute with a state theater from which Hovhannisian had for years leased office space. The theater management controversially terminated the lease in March 2006, locking the opposition party out of its offices in downtown Yerevan. Heritage condemned the decision as illegal and politically motivated, linking it to Hovhannisian’s open letter of December 2005 to President Robert Kocharyan, which effectively implicated the latter in high-profile political murders and electoral fraud. They had to look for a new office after losing a lengthy court battle with the theater.
