Monday,
Indicted Former Official ‘Detained In Russia’
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Mihran Poghosyan, head of the Service for Mandatory Execution of
Judicial Acts, at a press conference in Yerevan, January 26, 2016.
A former senior Armenian official wanted by law-enforcement authorities in
Yerevan on corruption charges was reportedly detained in Russia over the
weekend.
Armenian prosecutors said on Monday that they will ask their Russian
counterparts to extradite Mihran Poghosian, who headed a state agency enforcing
court rulings from 2008-2016 and was linked to Armenia’s former leadership.
Earlier this month, the Special Investigative Service (SIS) moved to arrest
Poghosian after accusing him of abusing his powers to enrich himself. Security
officers searched his Yerevan villa and offices on April 18.
Poghosian denies the charges as politically motivated. He said through his
office last week that he currently resides in Moscow. But he did not clarify
whether he is planning to return to Armenia.
An SIS spokeswoman, Marina Ohanjanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Sunday
that Poghosian was taken into custody in the northwestern Russian region of
Karelia. She said investigators will request his extradition to Armenia. The
Office of the Prosecutor-General said it is already putting together a package
of relevant documents that will be sent to Russia.
Russian law-enforcement authorities did not publicly confirm and comment on
Poghosian’s reported arrest as of Monday afternoon.
The SIS claims that the 42-year-old Poghosian embezzled, through individuals
and companies linked to him, at least 64.2 million drams ($132,000) in public
funds. It also accuses him of giving privileged treatment to a real estate
valuation firm that was contracted by the Service for the Mandatory Execution
of Judicial Acts (SMEJA) in 2014.
The firm was allegedly a subsidiary of shadowy companies set up by Poghosian in
Panama in 2011. Citing leaked documents widely known as the Panama Papers, an
Armenian investigative website reported in April 2016 that Poghosian controls
three such companies registered in the Central American state.
Poghosian dismissed the report. Nevertheless, he resigned as SMEJA chief
shortly afterwards, despite continuing to deny any wrongdoing. A year later, he
was elected to the former Armenian parliament on the ticket of ex-President
Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party.
Pashinian Defends Corruption Case Against Prominent Ally
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) introduces Davit Sanasarian, the
newly appointed head of the State Oversight Service (SOS), to SOS staff,
Yerevan, May 29, 2018.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has defended investigators that brought
corruption charges against a senior Armenian government official and lambasted
civic activists questioning the credibility of the high-profile probe.
In a weekend Facebook post, Pashinian said Davit Sanasarian, the suspended head
of the State Oversight Service (SOS), cannot be immune to prosecution despite
having played a major role in last year’s “velvet revolution” that brought him
to power.
The National Security Service (NSS) indicted Sanasarian on Thursday as part of
its ongoing investigation into allegedly corrupt practices in government-funded
supplies of medical equipment to hospitals. It arrested two senior SOS
officials in late February, saying that they attempted to cash in on those
supplies.
According to the NSS, Sanasarian abused his powers to help his subordinates
enrich themselves and a private company linked to them.
Sanasarian was quick to reject the charges as “fabricated.” Many of his
supporters, among them leaders of some Western-funded non-governmental
organizations, have defended him on social media, turning on the NSS and its
influential director, Artur Vanetsian, in particular.
Pashinian hit back at the critics, saying that they place their personal
relationships with Sanasarian above the rule of law.
“The ‘brotherly’ mindset has much deeper rules in Armenia than oligarchy and
crime,” he wrote. “Even for civic activists and politicians, ‘brotherhood’
remains the main formula of worldview. They don’t give a damn about the truth
…about the revolution and its values.”
“Davit is my friend too, but be aware that there are no untouchable persons in
Armenia, whether they are in government or in opposition, revolutionaries or
counterrevolutionaries,” he said.
Pashinian stressed that the law will be enforced “twice as strictly” against
those who had spoken out against corruption but eventually “betrayed the
people.” “Let a normal investigation be conducted,” he warned. “If you don’t, I
will ensure that.”
Daniel Ioannisian, one of the activists critical of the corruption case,
insisted that he and other sympathizers of Sanasarian do not have any personal
motives. “We just see problems with the course of the investigation,” he said,
adding that it is not objective.
Ioannisian said the probe was launched after Sanasarian’s agency tried to
address a suspicious lack of competition in the choice of medical supplies.
Sanasarian’s lawyer, Inessa Petrosian, claimed, for her part, that the criminal
case against the 34-year-old official and former activist is based on “false
testimony” given to the NSS by his subordinates. Petrosian said her client is
prosecuted because he combatted corrupt practices in the healthcare sector.
The NSS claimed earlier that the arrested SOS officials arbitrarily forced
medical institutions to rig rules for the choice of companies supplying
expensive equipment for hemodialysis, a treatment of kidney failure. It said
they wanted to make sure that a company controlled by them wins tenders for
such supplies.
Health Minister Arsen Torosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on February 26
that he asked the NSS to investigate “external interference” in
dialysis-related procurements because the new tender rules threatened to
disrupt the vital medical services provided to around a thousand patients
across the country.
The dialysis equipment tenders were until then won by a handful of private
firms. Earlier in February, one of their owners accused Sanasarian of driving
his Frezen company out of business. Sanasarian dismissed the allegations,
saying that the SOS has simply broken up Frezen’s “monopoly” on supplies to one
of the hospitals.
Armenian Court Validates ‘Counterrevolutionary’ Bill
• Naira Nalbandian
ARMENIA -- Supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian protest outside the
parliament building in Yerevan, October 2, 2018.
The Constitutional Court has upheld the legality of a controversial bill which
led Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to stage an angry demonstration outside
Armenia’s parliament and allege a “counterrevolutionary” conspiracy against his
government in October.
The bill hastily passed by the former National Assembly called into question
the success of Pashinian’s plans to force snap general elections in December,
over six months after the country’s “velvet revolution.” It was drafted by
former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) and backed by
Pashinian’s junior coalition partners: the Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and
Dashnaktsutyun parties.
The prime minister accused the three parliamentary forces of a “conspiracy
against the Armenian people” before sacking his ministers affiliated with the
BHK and Dashnaktsutyun. Responding to his appeal, thousands of his supporters
rallied outside the parliament building in Yerevan and blocked the entrances to
it late on October 2.
ARMENIA -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses supporters during a rally
outside the parliament building in Yerevan early, October 3, 2018
The parliamentary leaders assured Pashinian during overnight negotiations that
they will not impede the parliament’s early dissolution sought by him. The
elections were held on December 8. Pashinian’s My Step alliance won them by a
landslide.
Later in October, President Armen Sarkissian refused to sign the bill into law,
citing “apparent legal-constitutional problems” emanating from it. Sarkissian
asked the Constitutional Court to pass judgment on it.
In a ruling announced over the weekend, the court concluded that the bill
conforms to the Armenian constitution.
Ararat Mirzoyan, the current parliament speaker and a key Pashinian ally, said
on Monday that he respects the ruling. “As a politician, I can find it good or
bad,” he told journalists. “But as president of the National Assembly, I will
not challenge the Constitutional Court ruling.”
Armenia -- A Constitutional Court hearing in Yerevan, April 25, 2017.
Mirzoyan insisted at the same time that the country’s highest court did not
prove Pashinian wrong. “The HHK was not right in any way,” he said.
The former ruling party, which failed to win any seats in the current
legislature, did not immediately react to the court’s decision. Arpine
Hovannisian, a senior HHK figure and a co-author of the bill, promised to make
a detailed statement next week.
Some HHK supporters and other critics of the current government earlier accused
Pashinian of illegally blockading and pressuring the parliament in October.
The BHK, which is now in opposition to Pashinian’s government, reacted
cautiously to the development. “Whatever happened, happened,” Mikael Melkumian,
a senior BHK lawmaker, said when asked whether the Constitutional Court ruling
means Pashinian’s furious reaction was unfounded.
Jailed General To Go On Trial
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - General Manvel Grigorian attends an event organized by the Yerkrapah
Union, 5 March 2018.
Manvel Grigorian, a retired Armenian army general arrested in June, will go on
trial soon on a string of criminal charges denied by him.
A court in Yerevan confirmed this when it again refused to free Grigorian on
bail on Monday. The judge who made the decision, Marine Melkonian, argued that
the criminal case has already been sent to another judge, who will preside over
the trial.
Grigorian’s lawyer, Arsen Mkrtchian, accepted the explanation. “Since the
arrest of Manvel Grigorian this is probably Marine Melkonian’s or [another
judge] Arsen Nikoghosian’s first substantiated decision conforming to the law,”
said Mkrtchian, who has repeatedly submitted such petitions before, citing his
client’s poor health.
Grigorian, who reportedly suffers from serious illnesses, was transferred to a
civilian hospital in March just days after appealing to the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR).
Grigorian, who had served as deputy defense minister from 2000-2008, was
arrested when security forces raided his properties in and around the town of
Echmiadzin. 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.
Grigorian was also charged with tax evasion and extortion in February. He
denies all the accusations leveled against him.
The 62-year-old will stand trial together with his wife, Nazik Amirian, who is
facing some of the charges leveled against him. Unlike her husband, Amirian has
not been held in pre-trial detention.
No date of the start of their trial has been announced so far. Judicial
authorities have said only that the high-profile case has been assigned to
Mnatsakan Martirosian, a veteran judge known for his controversial guilty
verdicts against opposition figures arrested by former Armenian authorities.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org