The amnesty granted recently to release a part of the political prisoners arrested as a result of the presidential election 2008 became a reason to speak of politicians who have been persecuted in the past as well. Specifically, it concerns writer, publicist and ex minister of the inner affairs Vano Siradeghyan, who has been under search and exiled from Armenia for 9 years.
Certainly it would be naive to hope that the authorities would enlarge the scope of law provisions subject to amnesty so that Vano Siradeghyan’s persecution could be stopped as well. The first reason is that this is a political issue and subject to a political decision. It has the same motives as the decision to launch criminal proceedings against Vano Siradeghyan. On the other hand the issue concerns relations between certain people as well. Currently in the government there are people who were promoted due to Vano Siradeghyan, used to be his friends and colleagues but later their behavior changed as soon as Vano Siradeghyan was persecuted. It means that in the Armenian government there are a lot of people who would not like Siradeghyan to be back. Due to objective reasons it generated complex among a lot of people and it was the reason why they received an order issued by the president to make them honorable citizens of Vano Siradeghyan’s native village Koti. Definitely this is the reason why in answer to our questions concerning this issue they have to remember for example how they helped Siradeghyan when he was a student in need. Furthermore, many intelligentsia representatives and politicians even refused to answer to our questions. Many of them did not say anything and only said that they did not know anything about the criminal case launched against Siradeghyan (although our question did not concern the law or the criminal case). Especially it was surprising to see the behavior of people, who used to be writers and friends of Siradeghyan and now are politicians. Definitely they could not manage to speak, even to criticize. Generally all they were surprised to hear Siradeghyan’s name.
In 1999 when Vano Siradeghyan was nominated in his native region of Noyemberyan to run for parliamentary elections, the incumbent head of the house of writers Levon Ananyan, who was the chief editor of Garun monthly edition, had been nominated in the same place too. A lot of candidates had been registered in the mentioned electoral district but as soon as Vano Siradeghyan decided to be nominated there too most of them resigned. However Levon Ananyan did not withdraw his candidacy. He did the same thing as he did in 2007 as well, the purpose of which was to grab the votes of the other candidates and support businessman Hrant Vardanyan’s son Michael Vardanyan to be elected. “When Vano Siradeghyan was a student and was not in a good social stance, I was the editor of Mankavarzh newspaper. And we worked for two years together. Even during the soviet times it was illegal and prohibited because students did not have the right to get permission to get such jobs. Plus, Vano Siradeghyan has made his way and I have made my own way. If we don’t trust that the government is doing everything legally and in a good manner we should pack our things and go abroad. As I am not going to leave from this country and I am doing my best for the sake of this country and statehood, I would like such issues be solved not by persons or intelligentsia representatives but according to the law.”
Writer, ARF member Aghvan Vardanyan refused to speak. “I am far from Yerevan, I’m in the mountains and I don’t want to answer your questions,” he said. “He was one of the owners of the country, the term persecuted does not fit with the reality so much, I don’t want to speak like a judge. Generally I don’t understand the meaning of amnesty but I understand the meaning of forgiving. I don’t like this theatre. Vano is not subject to amnesty but is subject to forgiving. I don’t want them to make Martiros from Vano Siradeghyan because he is a talented man. If it is possible I would like to see them forgiving. I am not saying this as a politician but as an ordinary person, thus I think that the authorities should forgive Vano as a talented writer. If Vano has even committed 1 per cent of the crimes he is accused in, and if he manages to forgive himself, then everything is true,” said another ARF representative and writer Alvard Petrosyan.
Pro-government people refused to speak of Siradeghyan either. PA member Naira Zohrabyan and RPA member Edward Sharmazanov said that they did not know the details and did not want to comment. All the other people, who agreed to express their opinions, said almost the same things concerning Vano Siradeghyan. Lawyer Vardan Harutyunyan openly said that Vano Siradeghyan is politically persecuted: “I wish there were no persecuted people in Armenia, neither old nor new. In fact when we speak of amnesty today we mean the people arrested or persecuted as a result of the electoral procedures. However it does not mean that we do not remember the ones who have been persecuted or pressed in the past. Examples are Arman Babajanyan, Murad Bojolyan, etc. From this point of view Vano Siradeghyan is politically persecuted. From this point of view I wish all politically persecuted people could return to their democratic state now. I can say that when writing the text of this amnesty they did their best to leave as more people in prisons as they can. If the politically persecuted politicians return, they may be arrested, that is why they continue to hide.”
“This amnesty does not concern Vano Siradeghyan at all,” says writer and publicist Tigran Paskevichyan. “I believe Vano Siradeghyan is politically persecuted and is one of our best writers, and I deeply respect his writings,” says famous writer Levon Khechoyan.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to speak of Vano within the context of this amnesty because I wander whether during this respected absence he has forgiven certain people or no; I wander who has been forgiven, which of his colleagues, friends, opponents and writer colleagues have been forgiven. Vano is a writer due to his nature and he became a politician as well, and he was a powerful and influential personality. As I know Vano very well I understand how bad he feels for being a politically exiled and being far from his relatives and family, I don’t know whether his return will be good or bad,” says writer Armen Shikoyan.
“I can’t speak so short about Vano, I can write a story or give an interview about him,” said former foreign minister, political prisoner Alexander Arzumanyan.
Why doesn’t the opposition include Vano Siradeghyan’s name in its demand to release the political prisoners? “I asked the same question to myself two days ago too,” said ANC coordinator Levon Zurabyan. “Till now we have been speaking of the political prisoners because it was the most sensitive issue. Now in consideration of the fact that the problem of the political prisoners is being solved slowly, now we have to think of the ones who are persecuted on political motives. In the beginning we had some conflicts too and many people alleged that the ones who are politically persecuted should be considered political prisoners as well. However we came to the conclusion that this specific term concerns the people who have been arrested and are in cells because of political motives. Now of course we should think of the others too. I was thinking of raising Vano Siradeghyan’s issue as well and now we are going to do this very seriously,” he said.
Deputy chief of the ANM’s board Khachatur Kokobelyan believes that it is funny to discuss whether Vano Siradeghyan should be included in the list of political prisoners or no. “Everyone knows that Vano Siradeghyan has been exiled because of political reasons, Everyone knows that there hasn’t been any bigger revenge in the new history of Armenia, besides the October 27 one, than this one that was done against Siradeghyan. It was clear that there was enmity against him, which was out of any political processes and was at a level of relationships. Definitely certain people could not bear the presence of a politician such as vano Siradeghyan. It was difficult for Vano to ignore many issues as well because he was able to face them and overcome. I believe Vano’s presence would be a new impulse to the movement. Sometimes they say that processes are not about persons, but I don’t agree with that point. Siradeghyan could bring a new quality to processes,” said Kokobelyan. However Kokobelyan thinks that it is not only about the opposition to demand the return of Siradeghyan. “It would be very good if this issue was solved only according to the opinion of the opposition. However, this problem should be solved by the authorities generally and the society. This problem concerns the society generally. This issue cannot be compared to the other ones. This is a separate unprecedented case. Especially the opposition people should understand that the political terror in Armenia started with the actions against Siradeghyan,” said Khachatur Kokobelyan.