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 Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org