RFE/RL Armenian Report – 08/23/2018

                                        Thursday, 

Jailed Armenian General Hospitalized

        • Anush Muradian

Armenia - Retired General Manvel Grigorian speaks at a congress of the 
Yerkrapah Union in Yerevan, 18 February 2017.

Manvel Grigorian, a retired army general arrested recently on corruption 
charges, has been hospitalized to undergo medical tests ordered by an Armenian 
law-enforcement agency.

Grigorian was transferred from a detention center in downtown Yerevan to the 
endocrinology department of the Armenia Medical Center late on Wednesday. 
Officials at the civilian hospital refused on Thursday to comment on his 
reportedly poor health condition.

The Special Investigative Service (SIS) told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that it 
wants to ascertain that condition.

Grigorian was arrested when security forces raided his properties in and around 
the town of Echmiadzin on June 16. They found many weapons, ammunition, 
medication and field rations for soldiers provided by the Armenian Defense 
Ministry. They also discovered canned food and several vehicles donated by 
Armenians at one of Grigorian’s mansions. A widely publicized official video of 
the raids caused shock and indignation in the country.

The Armenian parliament, of which Grigorian is a member, was quick to allow 
investigators to prosecute and keep him in pre-trial detention on charges of 
illegal arms possession and embezzlement. The once powerful general denies the 
accusations.

Grigorian’s lawyers have repeatedly demanded his release from pre-trial 
custody, saying that the 61-year-old is suffering from a number of serious 
illnesses. They were allowed to visit him in the hospital on Thursday morning.

One of the lawyers, Levon Baghdasarian, claimed that his client’s condition has 
worsened in the last few days. “He has trouble talking and breathing,” he told 
RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

Baghdasarian complained that Grigorian was hospitalized to undergo tests, 
rather than receive what he described as badly needed receive medical aid. His 
treatment by the authorities amounts to “torture,” charged the lawyer.

Grigorian served as Armenia’s deputy defense minister from 2000-2008. Until his 
arrest he was also the chairman of the Yerkrapah Union of Karabakh war 
veterans, an organization which was particularly influential in the 1990s and 
the early 2000s. He was reelected to the parliament last year on the ticket of 
then President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party.




Armenian Government Vows Tax Cuts

        • Sargis Harutyunyan

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visits a tech company based at the 
newly built Engineering City in Yerevan, .

The Armenian government has promised major tax cuts that will benefit most 
workers as well as some small businesses.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said the government will initiate “very serious 
changes” in Armenia’s Tax Code in a Facebook video address aired late on 
Wednesday.“I can now say that we will opt for a simplification of the tax 
legislation and a reduction in personal income tax,” he said.

Pashinian declined to specify the extent of the new tax rates planned by the 
government, saying that “several scenarios” are still under consideration. He 
pledged to all but scrap the main tax levied some of the small businesses 
operating in the country.

Under Armenian law, companies with an annual turnover of up to 115 million 
drams ($237,000) are exempt from profit and value-added (VAT) taxes paid by 
larger businesses. They are only required to pay “turnover tax” equivalent to 2 
percent of their revenue.

Pashinian promised to set a new and “symbolic” tax rate for small firms earning 
no more than 24 million drams annually. “In essence, that will mean the near 
absence of [turnover] tax,” he said.

Davit Ananian, the head of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC), was careful 
not to shed more light on the promised tax cuts when he spoke to reporters on 
Thursday. He said the government is still calculating “budgetary losses” that 
would result from lower taxes and is looking into ways of making up for them.

“In September the government will formulate a common position [on the issue] 
and inform the public,” Ananian said after a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. 
The government hopes to push the amendments through the parliament before the 
end of this year, he said.

The Tax Code was already amended by Armenia’s previous government last year. 
The amendments raised from 26 percent to 28 percent the tax rate for monthly 
incomes ranging from 150,000 drams to 2 million drams ($310-$4,150). The rate 
for those who earn more was set at 36 percent. At the same time the tax rate 
for workers making up to 150,000 drams a month was cut from 24.4 percent to 23 
percent.

Those changes, which took effect on January 1, met with strong resistance from 
opposition groups, notably Pashinian’s Yelk bloc. In February, the Armenian 
parliament voted down a Yelk bill that would repeal the higher tax rates.

But on April 12, Serzh Sarkisian’s government unexpectedly announced plans to 
lower income tax. The announcement came the day before Pashinian launched 
anti-government mass protests that eventually brought him to power.




Armenian Police Forces Deployed On Azeri Border

        • Marine Khachatrian

Armenia - The first group of Armenian interior troops is sent to the border 
with Azerbaijan, .

The first large group of Armenian interior troops joined army units in guarding 
Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan on Thursday as part of an unprecedented 
redeployment ordered by the new government.

They headed to some sections of the heavily militarized border immediately 
after an farewell ceremony in Yerevan attended by Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and other senior officials.

The troops that are part of the national police service have until now been 
tasked with only ensuring internal security and dealing with violent unrest in 
the country. Pashinian ordered them to also protect the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
frontier on a rotating basis shortly after coming to power in May.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pashinian described their new mission as “historic,” 
saying that they will not only help the Armenian military but also improve 
their public image. “Our objective is to ensure that Armenia’s citizens 
perceive the police and the police troops as protectors of their security, 
Armenian statehood and the constitution,” he said.

The Armenian police chief, Valeri Osipian, said earlier this week that police 
personnel will serve at the border on two-week tours of duty and receive 
additional payments for that. They look forward to their new task, Osipian told 
reporters.

Daniel Ioannisian, a civic activist who sits on new government commissions 
formed by Pashinian, welcomed the redeployment. “The public always wondered who 
the possible enemies of the police troops are, and this only deepened distrust 
between the public and the police,” he said. “That problem was somewhat 
addressed as soon as it was announced that the police troops will also be 
defending the country’s borders.”




Kocharian To Also Appeal To Top Court

        • Tatev Danielian

Armenia - A plaque at the entrance to former President Robert Kocharian's 
office in Yerevan, 23 June 2018.

Despite being released from custody Robert Kocharian will also appeal to 
Armenia’s highest criminal court in connection with his recent arrest, a lawyer 
for the embattled former president said on Thursday.

The Court of Appeals on August 13 overturned a district court’s July 27 
decision to allow Kocharian’s arrest on charges stemming from the 2008 
post-election violence in Yerevan. It said that the Armenian constitution gives 
him immunity from prosecution.

The Special Investigative Service (SIS), which filed the accusations, condemned 
the decision as “illegal.” State prosecutors asked the Court of Cassation, 
Armenia’s highest body of criminal and administrative justice, to invalidate it 
on Monday.

One of Kocharian’s lawyers, Hayk Alumian, said his client is not fully 
satisfied with the August 13 ruling and will file an appeal with the Court of 
Cassation. “Of all our arguments only the one about Mr. Kocharian’s immunity 
was accepted,” explained Alumian. “But we wanted the Court of Appeals to also 
address the other grounds [for his release.]”

Kocharian, who ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, stands accused of illegally using 
the armed forces against opposition supporters who protested against alleged 
fraud in a disputed presidential election held in February 2008. Eight 
protesters and two police personnel were killed when security forces broke up 
those demonstrations on March 1-2, 2018.

The 63-year-old ex-president denies the accusations as politically motivated, 
saying that Armenia’s current government is waging a “vendetta” against him. He 
announced his return to active politics on August 16.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who played a key role in the 2008 protests, 
strongly defended the SIS probe at a rally held the following day. In a clear 
reference to Kocharian, Pashinian said: “I want to make clear that no one will 
avoid responsibility for killing 10 people and staging a coup d’état in Armenia 
on March 1 [2008] … All murderers will go to prison.”




Press Review



“Zhoghovurd” sees “no alternative” to pre-term parliamentary elections in 
Armenia, saying that the current National Assembly “does not reflect the real 
political picture and the popular mood.” The paper argues that the largest 
parliamentary force, the Republican Party (HHK), was ousted from power by 
Armenians just a few months ago.

“Haykakan Zhamanak” says, for its part, that the HHK has failed to become a 
credible opposition force despite having “huge financial resources” and many 
experienced individuals. “Very quickly it became clear that there is no reason 
to be particularly worried [about the HHK,]” writes the paper linked to Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian. It says that all the HHK can do now is to exploit 
statements made by Pashinian. In particular, it shrugs off at parliament 
speaker Ara Babloyan’s claims that Pashinian is putting pressure on Armenian 
courts, saying that he never protested against the grave lack of judicial 
independence in the country before the recent regime change.

“Today’s political agenda is dictated by corruption revelations, law-enforcers’ 
statements about the recovery of large [embezzled] sums, arrests, the amounts 
of bail granted by courts and so on as well as the resulting speeches 
incriminating the former authorities,” writes “Aravot.” “Not only the prime 
minister’s entourage but also virtually all political forces concentrate on 
fighting against the HHK and Robert Kocharian. This retrospective fight is 
attributed to the latter’s ‘revanchist’ plans which are possible but 
meaningless and not feasible. Fighting shadows of the past is a very convenient 
political stance. You don’t have to say how one or another problem should be 
solved or come up with any ideas. You just confine yourself to lambasting 
former presidents, General Manvel [Grigorian] and others.”

“Hraparak” comments on the “interesting” decision of the HHK not to participate 
in the upcoming mayoral elections in Yerevan. “This is nonsense but we are used 
to political nonsenses,” says the paper. It finds equally nonsensical the same 
decision made by Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress.

(Tigran Avetisian)

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