RFE/RL Armenian Report – 08/15/2017

                                        Tuesday, 

More Corruption Charges Brought Against Armenian Judge


 . Naira Bulghadarian


Armenia - A courtroom in Yerevan, 8Jun2017.

An Armenian law-enforcement agency has brought more charges of
corruption against a senior judge who was arrested two months ago, it
emerged on Tuesday

State prosecutors said in early June that Aghvan Petrosian, the
chairman of a court in Armenia's Gegharkunik province, was paid
$23,000 to give a suspended prison sentence to a young man prosecuted
for a 2014 violent assault. The lenient sentence was subsequently
struck down by the Court of Appeals in Yerevan and sent back to the
Gegharkunik court.

The 45-year-old Petrosian and another judge, Vanik Vartanian, were
also charged in June with accepting $2,500 in exchange for an "illegal
verdict" in a property dispute involving Gegharkunik residents. The
ruling was handed down by Vartanian. Both judges were taken into
custody.

The Special Investigative Service (SIS), which is conducting the
corruption probe, now claims that Petrosian was also paid another
kickback worth $30,000.

Petrosian's lawyer, Armen Melkonian, told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am) that his client is denying the bribery charges and
refusing to cooperate with SIS investigators. He declined to comment
further.

Vartanian, the other arrested judge, has also denied any
wrongdoing. "We believe that the criminal case was opened without
legal grounds," said his lawyer, Ruben Hakobian.

Hakobian said that the main piece of evidence in the corruption case
is audio of a secretly recorded conversation that took place in
Petrosian's office. He insisted that the recording does not prove the
bribery alleged by the SIS.

At least two other Armenian judges have been prosecuted on similar
charges recently. One of them, Ishkhan Barseghian, was allegedly
caught red-handed in October while being paid $1,000 by a
citizen. 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 in May. He worked
in the court of general jurisdiction of the Ararat and Vayots Dzor
provinces.

Corruption within Armenia's judicial system, which has undergone
frequent structural changes over the past two decades, is widely
believed to be endemic. The country'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. Both the court and an Armenian government body
monitoring the judiciary denied the allegations.



Yerevan Seeks Russian Recognition Of Armenian Driving Licenses


 . Aza Babayan


Kazakhstan - Prime Ministers Dmitry Medvedev (L) of Russia, Andrey
Kobyakov (C) of Belarus and Karen Karapetian of Armenia arrive for a
meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarabyev in Astana,
14Aug2017.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetian has reportedly objected to Russia's
controversial decision to stop recognizing the validity of driving
licenses issued by Armenia at a meeting with his counterparts from
other Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states.

A Russian law which took effect on June 1 banned foreign nationals
with driving licenses issued by their home countries from working as
drivers in Russia. The Russian parliament subsequently waived the
restriction for citizens of those countries, including EEU members
Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, where the Russian language has an official
legal status.

Armenia is not one of those countries, meaning that a large number of
its migrant workers driving trucks, taxis and other vehicles in Russia
now risk losing their jobs. The Armenian parliament speaker, Ara
Babloyan, discussed the matter with his Russian counterpart,
Vyacheslav Volodin, when they met in Moscow in July.

Volodin suggested that Armenia adopt Russian as its second official
language in order to circumvent the ban. Volodin's remark caused
outrage in Yerevan, with local opposition politicians, media
commentators and intellectuals accusing Moscow of meddling in
Armenia's internal affairs.

According to Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Bakitzhan Sagintayev,
Karapetian raised the issue at Monday's meeting in Astana of the prime
ministers of the five EEU member states, including Russia's Dmitry
Medvedev. Sagintayev reportedly hinted that Moscow will address
Yerevan's concerns.

A statement released by the Armenian government listed "mutual
recognition of national and international driving licenses" among
issues on the agenda of the Astana meeting. It did not elaborate.

Medvedev also held separate talks with Karapetian in the Kazakh
capital. The Armenian premier said at the meeting that Medvedev will
visit Yerevan later this year.



Russian Plane Joins Firefighting Efforts In Armenia


 . Artak Hambardzumian


Armenia - A wildfire in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve, 14Aug2017.

A Russian firefighting plane dropped on Tuesday more than 200 tons of
water on a nature reserve in Armenia engulfed by one of the country's
worst wildfires in decades.

The Russian government dispatched the Ilyushin-72 heavy aircraft at
the request of Armenian authorities struggling to contain the blaze
that broke out in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve on Saturday.

The special plane capable of carrying 42 tons of water at a time
carried out six flights from an airbase in Yerevan to the mountainous
area southeast of the Armenian capital throughout the day. The
Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations said the water dropped by it
had a "considerable" impact on its continuing efforts to contain the
fire. It said the aerial firefighting operation will resume on
Wednesday morning.

As the Russian plane flew over burning trees, bushes and other
vegetation dozens of Armenian firefighters, joined by over a hundred
army soldiers and 55 forestry workers, waited on the ground for the
resumption of their firefighting efforts.


Armenia - A Russian firefighting plane is filled with water at the
Erebuni airbase in Yerevan, 14Aug2017.

"Nobody is allowed to enter the reserve until the plane finishes its
work," Mushegh Ghazarian, the chief of the national Rescue Service,
explained at the scene. He cited safety reasons.

Ghazarian coordinated the ground operation and communicated with
Minister for Emergency Situations Davit Tonoyan through a radio in the
presence of reporters. "Black smoke has turned white," he told Tonoyan
when asked about the first results of the Ilyushin-72
flights. "Mr. Minister, if they continue like this we will finish the
job."

Earlier in the day, President Serzh Sarkisian held an emergency
meeting with Tonoyan and other officials involved in the effort. "I
want to thank those people and structures that are battling the fire,"
he said at the meeting. "And special thanks to our Russian partners
who quickly responded to our request and are now actively involved in
this important work."


Armenia - Trees in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve burned by a
wildfire, 14Aug2017.
The Khosrov reserve encompasses roughly 25,000 hectares of land,
around 9,000 of which is covered with forests originally planted by a
4th century Armenian king, Khosrov III. Officials said on Tuesday that
the fire has already destroyed about 400 hectares of woodland.

Some environment protection groups have blamed the Rescue Service and
other divisions of Tonoyan's ministry for the scale of the damage,
saying that the authorities were not prepared for coping with such a
calamity. Ministry officials reject the criticism. They argue that the
mountainous terrain makes is practically impossible for them to deploy
fire engines near the blaze.

The Khosrov reserve is also a major wild animal sanctuary. Ghazarian
insisted that brown bears, wild boars, foxes, vultures and hundreds of
other species inhabiting the area not in danger.

"Animals are smarter than us," the Rescue Service chief told
journalists. "They left the burning area long ago. We just need to
save the trees."



Press Review



"Zhoghovurd" reports and comments on continuing wildfires in two
Armenian forests. "As a result, quite serious damage has been
inflicted on nature," writes the paper. "Decades will be needed to
reverse the damage to the Khosrov Forest Reserve caused in the last
few days. These wildfires have demonstrated that contrary to
[emergency situations] ministry claims, the system is not prepared for
emergencies # It is scary to even imagine what will happen if there is
a real emergency in our country."

"Environmentalists are bringing the Ministry for Emergency Situations
to task," writes "Haykakan Zhamanak." "They criticize it for not
taking preventing measures and lacking the equipment to deal with the
continuing fires." Ministry officials counter, the paper says, that
there have been no such massive wildfires in Armenia for the last 14
years, that the Khosrov forest terrain is extremely rugged and that
the fire is fanned by strong winds. "The ministry's justifications are
understandable," comments the paper. "Still, some questions do arise."
In particular, it points to vague ministry warnings to citizens
regarding how to prevent and cope with fires.

Meanwhile, a ministry spokeswoman, Nana Gndoyan, assures "Aravot" that
firefighters and other ministry divisions have "done everything" to
contain the fires. She disagrees with claims that the ministry's
decision to ask Russia to send a water-dropping plane to Armenia
proves the opposite. Gndoyan argues that Russian emergency services
themselves needed months to end wildfires across Russia. "A natural
disaster is such that you can be properly prepared for coping with it
but will struggle at some point," she goes on.

"Hraparak" reports that the governing body of President Serzh
Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) will hold its first
meeting after a summer recess. Sarkisian returned from vacation,
reportedly spent in Germany, at the weekend.

(Artur Papian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org