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Armenia probes into eavesdropped talk involving British diplomat

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  • Armenia probes into eavesdropped talk involving British diplomat

    Armenia probes into eavesdropped talk involving British diplomat

    Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
    26 Apr 07

    Excerpt from report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak on 26
    April headlined "Whom is the National Security Service going to
    investigate?" and subheaded "The leader of the New Times Party,
    Aram Karapetyan, was invited to the office of the National Security
    Service yesterday"

    Officers of the National Security Service [NSS] have questioned
    [Aram Karapetyan, leader of the New Times Party] about a CD, which
    contained a secretly recorded conversation between the leader of the
    Orinats Yerkir (Law-governed Country) Party [OYP], Artur Baghdasaryan,
    and a British diplomat.

    The CD appeared in the office of the Golos Armenii newspaper, which
    published the conversation. During the conversation, Baghdasaryan
    allegedly urged international observers to give very negative
    assessment of Armenia's parliamentary election.

    The NSS has decided to investigate the issue. NSS chief Gorik Hakobyan
    has sent his representative to the editorial office of the newspaper
    and wanted to receive the CD to launch an official investigation.

    The leader of the New Times Party, Aram Karapetyan, has said that he
    has also received a CD with the same content. He was invited to the
    NSS yesterday.

    Karapetyan explained how he had received the CD. He gave a copy of it
    to the NSS and said that unidentified people had left it by his door.

    It is very interesting how the NSS is gong to investigate the case.

    Only few people doubt that the conversation between Artur Baghdasaryan
    and the British diplomat was secretly recorded by the NSS itself.

    Karapetyan also believes that no-one but the NSS could have done
    the secret recording in Yerevan's Marco Polo restaurant. He says
    that the recording was publicized in order to discredit the people
    [involved in the conversation] and to threaten the international
    community. By making it public the authorities tried to create an
    atmosphere of fear in the republic. This means that now people have
    to realize that they could be eavesdropped everywhere and anytime,
    and its consequences could be very serious for them.

    Aram Karapetyan said in the NSS office that he did not doubt that the
    NSS listened in all members of the opposition. Everybody knows this.

    However, a foreign diplomat being eavesdropped and the recording
    being published in the media is something new.

    [Passage omitted]
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