Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Sarkisian Denies Rift With Armenian PM
June 6, 2017

Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and Prime Minister Karen
Karapetian at an awards ceremony at the presidential palace in
Yerevan, 28Jan2017.

President Serzh Sarkisian dismissed on Tuesday media claims that Prime
Minister Karen Karapetian is increasingly at odds with him and will
step down soon.

A number of Armenian media outlets and commentators have speculated in
recent weeks that Sarkisian plans to become prime minister or replace
Karapetian by someone else after serving out his final term in April
2018. Some of them have claimed that the premier will resign or be
sacked before that time because of his worsening relationship with the
president.

The Yerevan daily "Zhoghovurd" reported on Tuesday that Karapetian has
already twice tendered his resignation and that Sarkisian has refused
to accept it. Citing unnamed sources, it said that Karapetian will not
remain in office much longer.

"The prime minister has no reason to resign," Sarkisian said in rare
comments to Armenian reporters made later in the day. "Periodical
reports about alleged differences or a confrontation are untrue."

"We understand very well, both at the party and the government levels,
who the authors of those fabrications are and what they want. But I
think that that cannot have any impact on the situation," he added,
according to the Armenpress news agency.


Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian and Prime Minister Karen
Karapetian arrive at an election campaign rally in Yerevan, 31Mar2017.

Sarkisian appointed Karapetian as prime minister in September last
year with the stated aim of improving the socioeconomic situation in
Armenia through more radical reforms. The 53-year-old premier, who is
a former business executive, has since repeatedly pledged to create a
level playing field for all businesses, combat corruption and tax
evasion, and attract large-scale investments in the Armenian economy.

Karapetian has also indicated his desire to retain his post after the
end of Sarkisian's decade-long tenure, which will be followed by
Armenia's transition to the parliamentary system of government. He
told reporters on May 9 that he does not "see" preparations by
Sarkisian to take his place at the helm of the government.

The president himself has not publicly ruled out such a
possibility. In a March 25 speech in Nagorno-Karabakh, he said vaguely
that he would like to "play a role, in some capacity, in ensuring the
security of our people" after April 2018.

A spokesman for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) declined
to clarify last week whether Karapetian, who is also the HHK's first
deputy chairman, will stay on as prime minister next year.



Ohanian Vows Continued Fight For Regime Change
June 6, 2017

 . Sargis Harutyunyan


Armenia - Former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian attends an election
campaign rally in Yerevan, 11Mar2017.

Former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian made clear on Tuesday that he
will not quit politics despite his opposition alliance's poor showing
in Armenia's recent parliamentary elections.

"False media reports that I left Armenia, got a job abroad [in Russia]
and so on are untrue and unacceptable," Ohanian told RFE/RL's Armenian
service (Azatutyun.am) in an interview. "I have served my homeland for
38 years, I have spent my entire life here, and I will carry on with
my service for the homeland."

"I will present the methods, forms and principles [of doing that] to
the public after deciding on them," he said.

"Everyone is in politics today," Ohanian went on. "Today no capable
and intelligent force thinking about Armenia's future, security and
development can stay away from processes taking place in Armenia and
around Armenia."

A retired army general, Ohanian was sacked in October last year after
working as defense minister in President Serzh Sarkisian's
administration for more than eight years. He began criticizing the
Armenian government shortly afterwards. In January, he teamed up with
opposition parties led by former Foreign Ministers Vartan Oskanian and
Raffi Hovannisian to run in the April 2 parliamentary elections.


Armenia -- Former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian (2nd R) speaks with
local residents during an Ohanian-Raffi-Oskanian alliance campaign
meeting in Gyumri, March 21, 2017
According to the Central of Election Commission (CEC), their ORO
alliance polled only 2 percent of the vote, falling well short of a 7
percent threshold for having seats in Armenia's new parliament. The
bloc rejected the official vote results as fraudulent but refrained
from staging post-election street protests. Its leaders have kept a
low profile since then.

Ohanian insisted that the new National Assembly controlled by
Sarkisian's Republican Party (HHK) "does not reflect the will of the
people." Opposition groups not represented in the legislature must
therefore strive to "make our people's voice heard" by the
authorities, he said.

"In that regard, I do not exclude developments outside the parliament
that could lead to a force majeure situation," Ohanian said, alluding
to the possibility of future anti-government protests. "I believe that
the people must make their voice heard by the authorities," he added.



More Armenian Judges Prosecuted For Corruption
June 6, 2017

 . Naira Bulghadarian


Armenia -- The main entrance to the Office of the Prosecutor-General
in Yerevan, 15Dec2009

Two more Armenian judges as well as one prosecutor have been accused
of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes in return for making
illegal decisions on two court cases in the country's Gegharkunik
province.

It also emerged on Tuesday that law-enforcement authorities have
arrested six other local residents who allegedly arranged or paid the
kickbacks to the chairman of the Gegharkunik court of general
jurisdiction, Aghvan Petrosian, one of its judges, Vanik Vartanian,
and a regional prosecutor, Sevak Shoyan.

Petrosian and Shoyan have been taken into custody. Armenia's Justice
Council was expected to give the green light to Vartanian's arrest
later in the day.

A statement by the Office of the Prosecutor-General claimed that
Petrosian was paid $23,000 to hand a suspended prison sentence to a
young man prosecuted for his role in a violent assault that occurred
in Vartenis, a small regional town, in 2014. Armenia's Court of
Appeals subsequently struck down the lenient sentence and sent it back
to the Gegharkunik court.

According to the statement, the Vartenis man was detained and went on
trial even though Shoyan, the local prosecutor, received a $4,000
bribe from the suspect's parents.

The statement added that the two judges were also paid around $2,500
in exchange for an "illegal verdict" in a property dispute involving
other Gegharkunik residents. The ruling was handed down by Vartanian,
it said.

Two other Armenian judges are being prosecuted on similar charges. One
of them, Ishkhan Barseghian, was allegedly caught red-handed in
October while being paid $1,000 by a citizen. Armenia's National
Security Service (NSS) circulated video purportedly showing him
receiving the sum at an underground pass in Yerevan. Barseghian, who
served in a district court in Yerevan for 20 years, pleaded not guilty
when he went on trial in April.

Another judge was charged with taking a $600 bribe last month. He
worked in the lower court of the Ararat and Vayots Dzor provinces.

Despite having undergone frequent structural changes over the past two
decades, Armenia's judicial system is still regarded by many people as
corrupt and highly dependent on the government. Armenia's former human
rights ombudsman, Karen Andreasian, highlighted the problem in a 2013
report that accused judges of routinely taking bribes.

The report based on confidential interviews with lawyers, judges and
prosecutors singled out the Court of Cassation, the highest body of
criminal justice in the country. Both the court and an Armenian
government body monitoring the judiciary denied the allegations.

Yervand Varosian, a well-known defense attorney, insisted on Tuesday
that bribery among Armenian judges remains widespread. "Few people in
the judicial system are not corrupt," Varosian told RFE/RL's Armenian
service (Azatutyun.am). Only sweeping personnel changes in the
judiciary can eradicate the illegal practice, he said.



Opposition Bloc Offers Guarded Support For New Anti-Graft Body
June 6, 2017

 . Sisak Gabrielian


Armenia - Lena Nazarian, a senior member of the opposition Yelk
alliance, speaks to RFE/RL in Yerevan, 6Jun2017.

A senior member of the opposition Yelk alliance on Tuesday welcomed
the Armenian government's plans to set up a new body tasked with
tackling corruption in the country.

Under a bill approved by Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet on
Thursday, the body is to prevent and detect corrupt practices among
Armenian officials. It will be created on the basis of the existing
State Commission for the Ethics of High-Ranking Officials. The
commission receives income and asset declarations from Armenia's 600
most high-ranking state officials, including ministers and judges.

The new body would not only scrutinize those financial disclosures but
also investigate possible conflicts of interest or unethical
behavior. It would be empowered to ask law-enforcement bodies to
prosecute officials suspected by it of engaging in corrupt practices
or even submitting false declarations.

Under the bill, which the Armenian parliament will start debating on
Wednesday, the anti-corruption body will consist of five members
appointed by the National Assembly for six-year terms. Their
candidacies would be submitted by a special council comprising not
only government officials but also civil society representatives.

Lena Nazarian, a parliament deputy from Yelk, said she on the whole
supports the government initiative and is ready to vote for it despite
having some misgivings. In particular, she said, state officials
should be required to disclose not only their incomes but also
expenditures.

"I think that any bill that gives the opposition and the civil society
an instrument to oversee submission of [income] declarations is
positive," Nazarian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Some civic activists are far more skeptical about the new
agency. Daniel Ioannisian of the Union of Informed Citizens predicted
that it will not stop corrupt officials from falsely attributing their
wealth to their friends or relatives. He also argued that the body
will not be allowed to conduct criminal investigations.

Former Justice Minister Arpine Hovannisian, who is the main author of
the bill, insisted late last week that the anti-graft body will have
sufficient powers to prevent many instances of corruption.

The bill was also welcomed by Piotr Switalski, the head of the
European Union Delegation in Yerevan. Switalski described it as a
"step forward."

Armenia ranked, together with Bolivia and Vietnam, 113th out of 176
countries evaluated in Transparency International's most recent
Corruption Perceptions Index released in January.



Press Review
June 6, 2017

"Zhoghovurd" quotes Nagorno-Karabakh's prime minister, Arayik
Harutiunian, as saying that international mediators' peace proposals
praised by Armenia are unacceptable to the authorities in
Stepanakert. The paper notes that the Karabakh Armenian leadership has
long made clear its opposition to the so-called lands-for-status
formula favored by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group. "It will be interesting to see how this dilemma will be
solved if Karabakh continues to reject the variant under discussion,"
it says. It also wonders why President Serzh Sarkisian has not
convinced the Karabakh Armenians to drop their objections to what he
has publicly described as a reasonable compromise.

Konstantin Zatulin, a Russian pundit and former parliamentarian, tells
"168 Zham" that Moscow does not want to see any decline in its role
and presence in the South Caucasus. "Unfortunately, the existing facts
are that Azerbaijan sharply increased arms purchases from Russia and
it may well be that the military balance [in the Karabakh conflict]
was somewhat disrupted because of that," he says. "[Recent] Russian
arms supplies to Armenia indirectly testify to that fact. If we sold
weapons only to Azerbaijan and did not give or sell weapons to
Armenia, we would undermine the balance. The challenge is to maintain
it." Russia is "using" that balance in its policy towards the Karabakh
dispute, adds Zatulin.

"Zhamanak" says that opposition forces that failed to win seats in
Armenia's new parliament "seem to be recovering from their
post-election shock." "They have started to speak up little by
little," writes the paper. "Not all of them, of course. The former ORO
alliance -- and one of its leaders, Raffi Hovannisian, in particular
-- is more active right now, even if Seyran Ohanian (another ORO
leader) also does not miss opportunities to address the public."

"Aravot" complains that pro-government and opposition politicians go
out of their way to stress what they think must be done in Armenia but
will not specify how. "They must put an end to meaningless air
fluctuations," the paper says.

(Tigran Avetisian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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