US embassy cable - 04YEREVAN765

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000765 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, AM 
SUBJECT:  MARCH 30 BEATING OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST 
MIKAEL DANIELYAN 
 
REF:  Golos Armenii Article, 30 March 2004 
 
1. (U) Sensitive But Unclassified.  Please treat 
accordingly. 
 
2. (SBU) Well-known human rights activist Mikael 
Danielyan contacted the Embassy March 30 after 
reportedly being beaten by four unidentified men near 
the entrance of his home in central Yerevan.  Danielyan 
said the men attacked him from behind when he returned 
from shopping at a neighborhood store.  We met with 
Danielyan hours after the reported incident and 
observed several visible bruises, a large cut on his 
face and evidence of bleeding elsewhere.  Doctors 
placed Danielyan in the neurological unit of Yerevan\'s 
Republican hospital for observation after he sustained 
what was described as a \"possible mild concussion.\" 
Danielyan said the attackers did not take his money, 
jewelry or recently purchased groceries. 
 
3. (SBU) Danielyan said that GOAM authorities responded 
to his complaints and took his police report from the 
hospital.  In addition, representatives from the office 
of newly-appointed Human Rights Ombudsman Larissa 
Alaverdian met with Danielyan immediately following the 
incident.  According to Danielyan\'s wife, Armenia\'s 
\"Kentron\" television station interviewed neighbors and 
identified a handful of witnesses who agreed to make on- 
the-record statements about the incident in a 
television spot which would be aired the evening of 
March 30. 
 
4. (SBU) Danielyan claimed that his attackers did not 
speak to him during the incident but nonetheless he 
characterized the event as a \"definite warning.\" 
Danielyan told us that he believes that the incident 
was a reaction to his March 27 interview with 
Azerbaijan\'s \"Echo\" newspaper.  (Note:  During the 
interview in question, Danielyan postulated that local 
Armenian authorities were so threatened by the planned 
rallies of opposition leaders that they were willing to 
escalate military operations connected to the Nagorono- 
Karabakh conflict in order to divert public attention 
and transport significant numbers of young people away 
from the capital city.  End Note.) 
 
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COMMENT 
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5. (SBU) No stranger to controversy and frequently a 
figure at the center of a number of high-profile human 
rights cases, Danielyan\'s recent comments to 
Azerbaijan\'s \"Echo\" newspaper have attracted 
uncharateristically volatile attention from local 
Armenian media over the past three days.  The 
influential and widely-read Russian-language bi-weekly 
\"Golos Armenii\" (\"Voice of Armenia\") ran a front-page 
article March 30 saying his remarks were unpatriotic 
and that Danielyan\'s sympathies lay with the Azeris 
(ref).  While we have no information regarding what 
group or groups were behind his beating, there is no 
shortage of groups that might take offense at his 
comments as reported. 
 
WALKER