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ARMENIA: MASS ARRESTS BEFORE RUNOFF

Official

Mass detentions of opposition campaign officials threaten the integrity of Armenia’s March 5 presidential election runoff, Human Rights Watch said today.

Since Saturday, police have arrested at least 150 supporters of Stepan Demirchian, the challenger to incumbent President Robert Kocharian.

“These arrests appear to be a clumsy attempt to disable the opposition in the week before the runoff election,” said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division.

“Detainees should be released immediately,” said Andersen. “They’ve had no access to due process. What is worse, new reports suggest police are overstepping all legal boundaries in their hunt for opposition activists.”