The wife of the political prisoner, Alexander Arzumanyan, Melissa Brown

Melissa is 45 years old and she lives in Armenia for 12 years now (since 1996). She was living in New York, and she met her husband Alik, at that time a United Nations ambassador, in 1991. They moved to Armenia when their first son was born. She teaches English and pedagogy at the American University in Yerevan.

Alexander Arzumanyan is a mathematician. He was deeply involved in the 1991 Movement for Independence and he was the first spokesman for Levon Ter-Petrosian. He then became UN ambassador, and he resigned in 1998 together with Levon Ter-Petrosian. He continued to be involved in politics ever since, he is member of the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission (founded in 2002) and president of the Armeninan National Movement. As a member of this commission, my husband was harshly criticized. In 2007, he founded the Civil Movement and he was arrested in the same year for his political activities, the official indictment being money laundering. He spent five years in prison. He was released and Levon Ter-Petrosian announced his candidacy for the presidential elections thus Alexander participated in his electoral campaign.

“I have been on the streets in each of the ten days, I saw what happened”, says Melissa. There were ten days of peaceful demonstrations that had a bloody outcome. I was unable to keep in touch with my husband but I was on the streets all the time and I lived the events that took place in front of the French Embassy. The Government literally ended these demonstrations in a brutal manner and threw our husbands in jail.

When was Alik arrested?

On March 10th. He began to hide on March 1st, at first in an apartment in Yerevan, not even I knew exactly where he was. All those arrested are respectable in society. They were apprehended in a humiliating way, they were hurtled down, their hands were tied, they were beaten up, just to serve as example. At that moment my husband was together with Ararat Zurabyan (board chairman of the Armenian National Movement), and the police or the KGB had the order to humiliate them and to photograph them in undignified postures.

How was it for you to live in that situation?

Terrible, of course. I had given America up. I have lived in the 1970s, the Soviet years, under the communist threat with the feeling that we would annihilate each other, that we would go through a nuclear war and I was listening to the stories told by those who escaped from the communist countries. As a drama school student I had Liviu Ciulei as a professor (romanian film director) , and he used to tell us about how life used to be there. It was wonderful when the Soviet regime caved in and the borders started to open. We began to travel and learn about these countries, from people who lived in ex-Soviet regime. This is how we began to understand something about what it used to be there. I met my husband later, and he told me in detail how life in the Soviet society was.

After the independence was gained in Armenia there were a lot of promises we believed in, the atmosphere was extraordinary. Now this country has become a dictatorial state. Last year I saw and felt all that was good and bad in people. I saw much hope and confidence and at the same time much deceit and misery. All the trials of our husbands are fabricated, the witnesses lie, the judges are corrupted, the prosecutors follow the orders coming from above, and when I say <> I don’t just mean the presidency but also the oligarchic groups and the murderers who rule this country. In this sense, it’s horrible to be part of all of this.

However, the movement of the people, the fact that they gather to protest and demand the discharge of the political prisoners is extraordinary and gives us hope. The people in the Diaspora have no idea what is happening and they need to find out. The number of people that are still hiding is unknown. 74 political prisoners are still incarcerated. People have lost their jobs because of their political beliefs, others have lost their businesses, many professors have been fired from the State University and many students have been expelled.

I work in an American university. I do not talk politics with my students but I do encourage them to have their own opinions.

How much time do you believe your husband will spend in prison?

Seven persons are indicted. My husband has not been convicted yet. The charges he faces are ridiculous. They are accused of orchestrating the 1st of March events, of organizing mass disorder and of usurping state power. The phones of all those who were arrested have been taped, and the transcripts have been published in the press in a literal campaign against us. My husband managed to get in possession of his file and said that the prosecutors cannot win based on the charges brought so far, if the trial is fair. If they accuse him of money laundering and bring false evidence he can spend up to 30 or 40 years in prison. But I hope it won’t come to this. This kind of trial can take years and it’s not normal that he is kept in prison before all the documents are examined.

It’s strange that although everyone in Armenia knows that these people are “good guys”, that they fight for democracy they still act like in Stalin’s era.

Alexander Arzumanyan, Grigor Voskerchyan, Suren Sirunyan, Shant Harutiunyan and NA MPs Hakob Hakobyan, Miasnik Malkhasyan and Sasun Mikaielyan are charged with calls for mass disorder and power usurpation / instigation and organization of mass disturbances. Miasnik Malkhasyan is also indicted for resistance against policemen and Sasun Mikaielyan, for carrying illegal weapons. Their trial is very controversial and there are reactions from the Diaspora and from the population that supports them through demonstrations. Mass-media had no access at the beginning in the courtroom and the hearings are adjourned based on ridiculous motives.

Are you allowed to visit Alik?

Yes I am, twice a month. Alek is well, as well as a person can be in prison. There were times he had looked better, but he is fine.

What kind of activities do you organize together with the wives of the other political prisoners?

First of all, there is the daily protest march on the North Boulevard. Then there are a press articles, meetings with representatives of the European Commission and human rights organizations during which there are talks about political issues but in a humanistic tone. We did not expect the trial to take so long and this is why having understood that it is a long term procedure we started to organize, to form some sort of structure to raise funds in order to continue our activities. It would be wonderful if we could travel, if we could be present whenever there are hearings at the European Council or at the International Parliamentary Assembly. We have a problem with visas. I am an American citizen, therefore I don’t confront with this issue but it’s not the same in the case of the wives of the other detainees. I’ve recently been to Washington DC to visit my family and there I have met with Congress representatives and I told them about the situation in Armenia. We are trying to tell people what is happening through any means possible.

Human rights are severely broken in Armenia, and President Serj Sarksian is trying to distract the world’s attention from this and to hide the fact that there are political prisoners.

Why haven’t you left Armenia?

When I first came here, I was missing my parents and friends very much but then I understood that this is the home of my husband and he wants to live here. In the meantime, I made friends; I have my students that I have watched evolve and kept in touch with. I realized that my influence upon them is great because of my teaching methods, much different from the soviet one still practiced in schools. This brings me great joy. I have found my place here and if I left I would fell that I was betraying those who are close to me. I do not want to leave. I like it here.

My oldest son is 12 and he is very much into life in Armenia. He compares the life he has here with life in Tibet, Darfur or Myanmar. He thinks in a very simplistic way that the good are in prison and the bad are ruling, but he understands everything that is happening around him.

I joined Melissa and the other wives of political prisoners at the 25th protest of the wives of political prisoners that took place in front of the General Prosecutor’s Office. Melissa, getting angry after handing in the petition:

According to the law when you file a petition to the Prosecutor’s Office, you are to receive an answer within a month. It is the 25th petition we have filed so far and we have not received any answer yet. We filed the first one in on the 7th of April, six months ago and we rally weekly in front of the General Prosecutor’s Office ever since. The woman in charge with receiving the petitions always says the same thing: that she is not the one entitled to give an answer but the

investigating authorities.