Samvel Babayan Released From Jail

[Armen]

RFE/RL Armenia Report - 09/17/2004

Friday, 17 September, 2004

 

Former Artsax Army Chief Released From Jail

 

By Emil Danielyan

 

Samvel Babayan, the controversial former commander of Nagorno-Artsax's

army, was pardoned and set free on Friday more than four years after

being imprisoned on charges of plotting to assassinate the president of

the Armenian-populated unrecognized republic, Arkady Ghukasian.

 

An official in the Artsax government told RFE/RL that Babayan, 39, was

in a group of local convicts who were given an amnesty by a presidential

decree. The official added that the amnesty granted to the once powerful

general is a `partial' one, meaning that he will be on a one-year

probation.

 

Other sources said that Babayan arrived at his apartment in Yerevan

later in the day, suggesting that he will now spend most of his time

there. He is legally barred from holding a senior government post in

Artsax for the next five years.

 

A former car mechanic, Babayan became the commander of the Artsax

Armenian army at the height of its victorious 1991-1994 secessionist war

with Azerbaijan. He later emerged as the disputed region's most powerful

man, concentrating sweeping political and economic powers in his hands

at a time when Artsax was led by Robert Kocharian, the current

president of Armenia.

 

Known for his hard line on Azerbaijan, Babayan lost power in late 1999

after his defeat in a bitter power struggle with Ghukasian. He was

arrested in March 2000 just hours after an attempt on the life of the

Artsax president and was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment a year

for allegedly masterminding the plot. Also sentenced were the two men

who confessed to seriously wounding Ghukasian in a late-night ambush in

Stepanakert.

 

Babayan denied any involvement in the assassination bid throughout the

trial, accusing the Ghukasian of waging a political vendetta against his

most formidable opponent. His protestations of innocence were strongly

backed by his supporters in both Artsax and Armenia. The most

prominent of them is opposition leader Artashes Geghamian.

 

It is not yet clear who initiated Babayan's sudden release from a

fortress jail in the Artsax town of Shusha. Kocharian public hinted at

the possibility of a pardon in November 2001. But Ghukasian has until

now argued that the former war hero does not qualify for an amnesty

because he has not admitted his guilt.

 

(Photolur photo: Babayan, left, and Ghukasian attending an official

ceremony in 1998.)

[Armen]

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg94607.html

 

THE RISE AND FALL OF SAMVEL BABAYAN

 

Armenian News Network / Groong

October 6, 2004

 

 

SUMMARY

 

On September 18, 2004, former Defense Minister of Nagorno Artsax

Samvel Babayan was released from maximum-security prison in Shushi

after being pardoned by the person whom he had been convicted of

trying to assassinate in March 2000, Nagorno Artsax President Arkady

Ghukasyan. Samvel Babayan had spent a total of 55 months in detention,

having been sentenced to 14 years during a trial in Stepanakert in

February 2001. The release of the former military leader and acclaimed

hero of the Artsakh war Samvel Babayan was not given an official

explanation. Unofficial sources, however, report that Mr. Babayan

suffers from a variety of serious illnesses difficult to treat in

prison conditions. While coming against the backdrop of politically

sensitive developments in Artsakh, his amnesty does appear to have

been an act of clemency.

 

Despite the deliberately routine manner of the announcement of the

former general's release, - which came in the form of a regular notice

of a list of pardoned convicts by the Office of the President of the

Nagorno Artsax Republic on September 17, - the enormity of the news

ensured its rapid delivery through the Armenian media and political

world, as well as equally rapid appearance of several conspiracy

theories connecting the timing of the release to either internal or

external political factors in Armenia and Artsakh. Despite his fall

from grace and term in prison, Samvel Babayan's past achievements and

notoriety succeeded in keeping his memory alive all these years. The

pardon granted to the former general reminded the Armenians of both

the heroism of the liberation movement in Artsakh and the ignominy of

abuse of power and corruption in Armenia and Artsakh.

 

 

BACKGROUND ON SAMVEL BABAYAN

 

The 38-year old former holder of such titles as Commander of

Self-Defense Forces of Nagorno Artsax, Minister of Defense,

Lieutenant General Samvel Babayan rose to prominence during the

military phase of the Nagorno Artsax conflict, in 1991-1994. The

struggle for self-government of Artsakh, which rekindled a national

revival in Armenia in 1988 totally uprooted the political environment,

leading to a complete change of regime and elites in Armenia, and by

extension, Artsakh. Among the former Soviet states, only the Baltic

States, Armenia and Artsakh, and since 2004, Georgia can boast of

having completely rid themselves of Communist apparatchiks in

power. The anti-Communist change of elites has injected new blood and

a new set of characters into the political systems of these countries,

some good, some bad, and some worse. Instability of the governments in

Latvia and Estonia, the recent impeachment of the Lithuanian

President, the deep-rooted corruption in Armenia and Georgia are all

at least partial functions of the inexperience and arrogance of the

new rulers. It is in this context that Babayan's meteoric rise and

fall should be considered.

 

 

WARTIME LEADERSHIP

 

The challenges facing Artsakh in 1991 - 1994, as the Soviet Union

collapsed and Azerbaijan decided to solve the Nagorno Artsax

conflict militarily, were momentous: forging a unified army and chain

of command out of dozens of military units to repulse the Azeri

attacks; securing a land link to Armenia which, due to difficulties of

terrain and lack of air force and transport resources, was vitally

needed to break the blockade; and establishing a stable administration.

That Artsakh Armenians accomplished all of the above and captured six

Azeri regions in the vicinity of Artsax by the time the cease-fire

was signed in May 1994 is testimony to their perseverance and the good

fortunes of having a military opponent that had incompetent commanders,

unmotivated soldiers, and an inadequate and unprepared political

leadership.

 

Leadership was one area in which Artsax Armenians did well in the

time of war. Samvel Babayan, whose civilian occupation before 1988 had

been as a car mechanic barely out of high school and military service

in the Soviet Army, did particularly well. Having joined a

paramilitary unit before the full-scale war broke out in 1991, he

quickly gained in stature, rising to command his own unit and leading

it ably and valiantly. Babayan was one of the commanders participating

in the capture of the fortress town of Shushi in May 1992, which was a

benchmark in the conflict. As unified military command began to be

established in Nagorno Artsax in 1992 - 1993, Babayan rose to the

top, becoming the Commander of Self-Defense Forces in 1993, after his

predecessor Serge Sargsian left to become Armenia's Defense Minister.

In May 1994, Babayan in his capacity as Commander of Self-Defense

Forces co-signed the Moscow cease-fire agreement between Armenia,

Azerbaijan, and Nagorno Artsax. Incidentally, his signature on that

agreement marks an implicit recognition of Artsax's independent

status and came to be regretted and conveniently forgotten by

Azerbaijan.

 

 

FROM WARLORD TO STRONGMAN

 

After the ceasefire, Artsax moved slowly towards demilitarization.

In December 1994, Robert Kocharian was elected President of Artsax,

while Babayan retained his control of the armed forces as Defense

Minister and Self-Defense Forces Commander. With Artsax on war

footing, the Commander had considerable power and autonomy, with

little oversight from the civilian authorities. Rather, a tacit system

of checks and balances was maintained, just like in Armenia. As long

as Robert Kocharian was in power in Artsax, Babayan was under

control, although he appeared to use his position to acquire land,

enterprises, tax and customs privileges for himself and his cronies.

Once Kocharian left to become Prime Minister of Armenia at the request

of then President Levon Ter-Petrossian in March 1997, Samvel Babayan

began to assert his influence over the civilian government in

Stepanakert in a more overt fashion, again evidently abusing his

office for personal aggrandizement.

 

For the time being, he was allowed to carry on his activities

unchecked. Reeling from the fallout from the controversial

re-election of September 1996, the administration of President

Ter-Petrossian was too weak domestically to try to intervene in

Artsax to curb Babayan's powers. Meanwhile, President Ter-Petrossian

attempted to regain his international and domestic legitimacy by

aggressively championing the two proposals put forward by the newly

reinvigorated Minsk Group in summer 1997. Opposed to the plan, but

loath to openly display disloyalty to President Ter-Petrossian,

Armenia's other top leaders - Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsian, Prime

Minister Robert Kocharian, and National Security and Interior Minister

Serge Sargsian - urged Samvel Babayan to challenge Ter-Petrossian's

inner circle. In the famous joint session of National Security

Councils of Armenia and Artsakh in January 1998, it was Babayan who

was most vociferous in his opposition to Ter-Petrossian, who

eventually resigned and was replaced by Robert Kocharian.

 

Nevertheless, Babayan's machinations proved too embarrassing and

irritating for the government in both Artsax and Armenia to take.

Even as the new government of Robert Kocharian publicly took on

corruption and tax and customs privileges enjoyed by Ter-Petrossian

cronies, it quickly emerged in the Armenian press that companies

controlled by Samvel Babayan had become leading importers of gasoline

and tobacco products in Armenia and that he used Artsax Army

military trucks to transport the cargo. Babayan continued to meddle in

the government affairs in Artsax, forcing then Prime Minister

Leonard Petrossian to resign in June 1998. Next, he recruited two

Armenian political parties, lavishly funding their parliamentary

campaigns in Armenia in May 1999 and securing third place in

parliament for their alliance, "Law and Unity." Such open display of

insubordination had to be addressed, and Armenia's new Prime Minister

Vazgen Sargsian and President Kocharian joined forces to restrain

Babayan's influence. A series of government reshuffles in Artsax

began to diminish his powers, and he lost the Defense Ministry

portfolio in June 1999.

 

 

AN END TO A CAREER

 

While the tragedy of October 27 and the subsequent chaos in Armenian

politics intervened, by December 1999 Babayan was forced to relinquish

his position as the Self-Defense Forces Commander. Kocharian's

precarious position in post-October 27 political environment did not

allow him to tackle the Babayan issue directly, leaving it to the

government in Artsax under President Arkady Ghukasyan and the new

Artsax Army leadership. Apparently, Babayan decided to strike

first, launching an assassination attempt against Ghukasyan on March

22, 2000, which left Ghukasyan seriously wounded but alive. The

shoddily prepared and executed assassination attempt displayed the

toll the government's efforts had already taken on his organization.

At any rate, it was nothing more than an act of desperation on his

part; it is difficult to imagine any benefit Ghukasyan's assassination

might have given him.

 

Having played his final trump card, Babayan gave the pretext for the

Artsax authorities to carry out an efficient and ruthless campaign

to dismantle his organization, by detaining, removing from office, or

pettily harassing hundreds of his loyalists and family members,

closing down or nationalizing his enterprises, and confiscating his

real estate. The government press printed a disturbingly long list of

cars, houses, and companies amassed by Samvel Babayan and his brother

Karen, whom he had elected as Mayor of Stepanakert. The official

investigation, accompanied by torture and beatings, and the subsequent

trial were conducted in the best of post-Soviet traditions, i.e.

without regard to credibility of charges, testimonies, or indictment,

or for the public opinion, which at any rate was mostly glad to see an

obviously corrupt individual removed from power, even if for the wrong

pretext. While Babayan's charges were disputed by his cronies in

Armenia (including the parliamentarians elected on his ticket) as well

as by his former comrades-in-arms, the trial concluded in March 2001

with a verdict finding Babayan guilty of directing the assassination

attempt, and sentencing him and a dozen other loyalists to different

terms in prison. The verdict also stripped him of his many government

decorations and ranks, and disenfranchised him. In a separate trial,

his brother Karen was convicted of abusing powers of office in the

Stepanakert Municipality, and sent to jail as well (he was released in

2002). While the verdict was not agreeable to many in Artsax and

Armenia, the sadness over the fall from grace of a former Army

Commander and war hero was more universal.

 

 

LESSONS OF FALL

 

Whatever the merits of the case against Babayan, there can be no doubt

about the positive effect his removal from power has had on the

political and economic development in Artsax, and the international

credibility of its government. Babayan's rule was not the sole cause

for Artsax's social-economic ills, nor did his internment put a

definite end to corruption and government abuse in Artsakh.

Nevertheless, freed from the hegemony of one person, Artsax's

business and investment environment improved dramatically, allowing

Armenia's economic progress to spill over into Artsax. Babayan's

fate provides an important precedent and stark reminder of what

unchecked usurpation of power can lead to; this lesson is undoubtedly

on the minds of leaders in Armenia and Artsax. Another lesson was

that, unlike its neighbors Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Armenian

political environment, and by extension, that of Artsakh does not

tolerate a one-person rule.

 

Imprisoning a former leader and war hero for his transgressions may

not be a revolutionary idea, but it remains a novel one for

post-Soviet countries and statelets. Babayan's removal from office and

subsequent imprisonment provided an important test of durability and

maturity of government in Artsax, as well as the strength of its

statehood. Contrast this with the continuing excesses and abuse by

President Smirnov in Transnistria, or Abkhazia's Ardzinba clan, or

Ajaria's Abashidze before he was removed by the central government in

Georgia (and even then allowed to escape rather than put on trial).

This is a lesson not entirely lost even on foreign observers, as a

recent article in The Economist shows. Another important contrast was

provided by Azerbaijan in the summer of 2004. After a group of

activists of the so-called Artsax Liberation Organization, a group

of activists funded and encouraged by hardliners in the government,

disrupted a NATO PfP conference in a Baku hotel and attempted to

assault its participants for inviting Armenian officers to Baku, the

initial response of the government of Azerbaijan was proper. The

activists were arrested, put on trial, and given lengthy sentences for

sabotaging an event sponsored by NATO, an organization to which

Azerbaijan is said to want to adhere. After a public outcry, President

Ilham Aliyev quickly backtracked, publicly admonished the court for

the 'tough verdict,' and forced the appellate court to release the KLO

activists. The entire episode betrayed serious dilettantism of

Aliyev's government, and certainly did not inspire confidence in

Azerbaijan among its international partners.

 

 

RELEASE FROM PRISON

 

Over the years, many rumors circulated about the pending release of

Samvel Babayan from his confinement in the maximum-security prison in

Shushi. Unofficially, it became known that his health greatly

suffered after duress caused during the investigation, and he never

recovered. He is said to suffer from hepatitis and other ailments

which could not be treated in prison. A total deterioration of health

or death in prison would have unnecessarily made Babayan a martyr, and

his release for health reasons was an acceptable solution. The

government is obviously satisfied that he would not become a public

nuisance, and the terms of release include a probationary period and

continued disenfranchisement.

 

It was only natural that the early release of Samvel Babayan from

prison led to several conspiracy theories, suggesting a political deal

cut with the government, or linking it to the current phase of the

Nagorno Artsax conflict settlement. The Armenian newspaper Iravunk,

close to Babayan's former political clients in Armenia, reported that

the former General had not appealed for a pardon (his mother did on

his behalf) and that no deal had been offered, or accepted. This

appears to be the case. It is unlikely that a formal deal between

Babayan and the Artsax government has been made, or was even

necessary. Babayan's political and economic resources were entirely

uprooted four years ago, and he is no longer a serious threat to the

government or society. Even if he does attempt political activities in

Armenia after his recuperation, he cannot run for office and as ARF

leader Vahan Hovhanisian aptly pointed out, "there is no political

niche in Armenia" left vacant for Babayan. His political options are

limited too, as any attempt to rock the boat could lead to his repeat

internment. Nor will he make a difference on the Artsax settlement

either way. A peaceful settlement is currently the domain of the

Presidents and Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and while

contours of what is being discussed are gradually becoming clear,

there is nothing negative or positive that Babayan can contribute.

 

Nonetheless, Babayan's release comes at a particularly sensitive time

for domestic politics in Artsakh. Discontent and dissatisfaction with

the pace of democratic and social-economic progress in Artsax

finally bubbled to the surface during the municipal elections in

August 2004. Significantly, independent candidate Eduard Aghabekian

was elected Mayor of Stepanakert, defeating the incumbent in the first

round and the well-funded ruling party candidate in the run-off.

Election of an opposition candidate to the Mayor's office in a major

city is no small achievement, unsurpassed even in Armenia. As the new

Mayor assumed office, his victory appears to have emboldened both the

population and the legislature of Artsakh. When Major General Movses

Hakobian, acting Chief of Army Staff, was quoted by a group of

visiting journalists from Armenia as saying that Artsax was not

ready for full democracy as long as war was not over, a special

session of the legislature was called to which he was summoned and

assured the parliamentarians that he was misquoted.

 

As the experience of the Saakashvili movement in Georgia shows, the

popular mandate over municipal government and the ability to win

elections allows building a political base for greater ambitions in

nationwide office. As Arkady Ghukasyan (like his political mentor

Robert Kocharian) is serving his second, and in principle, last term

in office, he has to increasingly take the public opinion into greater

account. Pardoning Babayan on his own accord, rather than being forced

to do it by political opponents, is a sound political move, even if

conditioned by Babayan's health problems.

 

In sum, Samvel Babayan's release appears to have been an act of

clemency by Artsax's President Ghukasyan. Clemency in this case,

however, is a poisoned chalice for Samvel Babayan. As long as he was

in the Shushi jail, both his supporters and ill wishers viewed him

from a distance, if not with respect, then with certain appreciation.

They will now behold what is probably a sick and forlorn figure, an

untenable realization for the macho political culture in Armenia. That

will prove to be more difficult to recover from than the stigma of a

prison term or abuse of office.

Edited October 7, 2004 by Armen

[Harut]

first, let me say that i have not followed the trial of Samvel Babayan closely and do not know whether he was or was not guilty of consiparcy.

however, if the state found him guilty of assassination attempt agaist the president of the state, it is a sign of weakness, incompetance, and lack of credibility from the state to give him an amnesty.

[Armen]

Tha was just an excuse to get him into jail. Lot of people were telling things about his freakness (maybe just rumours). I think they just put in jail to cool him down.

[Armen]

SAMVEL BABAYAN VISITED ERABLUR

 

A1+

27-10-2004

 

General Samvel Babayan, ex Commander of Defense Army of Nagorno

Artsax visited Erablur. He came alone, put a garland on the grave

of Vazgen Sargssyan and flowers to tomb stones of all the victims.

 

General Babayan was excited and refused to talk with

journalists. "Today I am not in the mood to talk. But I have something

to tell all of you and we will meet during 5-10 coming days",

he promised.

 

Artcakh War fighters in Erablur greeted Samvel Babayan cordially and

embraced him calling him "Hope and Faith".