RFE/RL Armenian Report – 07/29/2019

                                        Monday, 

Prosecutors Allowed To Investigate Kocharian Trial Judge

        • Karlen Aslanian

Armenia -- District court judge Davit Grigorian leaves the courtroom after 
ordering former President Robert Kocharian's release from prison, May 18, 2019.

Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has allowed the prosecution of a judge 
who presided over the trial of former President Robert Kocharian and released 
him on bail in May, it emerged over the weekend.

By upholding the relevant petition from the Prosecutor-General’s Office in 
relation to Davit Grigorian, the oversight body also suspended the powers of 
the judge pending the investigation.

SJC member Hayk Hovannisian told RFE/RL Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) that 
prosecutors had requested permission for criminal proceedings on three counts, 
but were allowed to investigate only two. The SJC did not disclose details of 
the case.

No formal proceedings have been launched yet and the judge is not in the status 
of either a suspect or an accused person, prosecutors said. Grigorian is 
currently on vacation.

Earlier, the Prosecutor-General’s Office insisted that actions against the 
judge were not related to the trial of Kocharian. In a statement explaining a 
recent search in Grigorian’s office conducted by the Special Investigation 
Service it said that investigators were looking for evidence of official 
forgery related to “circumstances of a different case that was reported by a 
citizen still in February.”

On May 18, district court judge Grigorian controversially ordered Kocharian 
released from prison pending the outcome of the trial. He also decided to 
suspend the trial, questioning the legality of coup charges brought against the 
ex-president and referring the case to the Constitutional Court.

Prosecutors appealed against both decisions strongly condemned by political 
allies and supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Armenia’s Court of 
Appeals overturned them on June 25, which led to the re-arrest of Kocharian.

Earlier, Grigorian “voiced suspicions” that the search conducted in his office 
was connected to the high-profile case against Kocharian. His lawyer Gevork 
Melikian also insisted that the actions of the investigation body have 
contained illegalities. In particular, according to the lawyer, the judge 
should have been informed about the planned search of his office.

Supporters of Kocharian and other critics of the current government also claim 
that actions of the law-enforcement agencies put pressure on the judiciary and 
undermine its independence.



Armenian Soldier Killed Near Border With Azerbaijan


An Armenian soldier stands guard on the border with Azerbaijan (file photo)

An Armenian soldier has been killed near the border with Azerbaijan, a Defense 
Ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

According to Artsrun Hovannisian, Arman Bulghadarian, a 24-year-old soldier 
serving in the Armenian armed forces under a contract, was hit on Sunday by a 
bullet released from the Azerbaijani side at the northeastern section of the 
highly militarized border.

No further details of the incident have been provided.

Earlier, on Saturday, the Armenian military reported another incident at the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border in which an Armenian contract soldier was wounded.

In a statement released then Armenia’s Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijan of 
seeking to escalate the border situation.

“Another provocative action by the Azerbaijani side once again proves that the 
enemy continues to brazenly violate the ceasefire regime and consistently 
escalate the situation on the border. It is Azerbaijan that bears full 
responsibility for the escalation of the situation,” it said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an 
Armenian-populated region that has been de-facto independent from Baku after a 
three-year war in the early 1990s, in which an estimated 30,000 people were 
killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced.

Despite a 1994 ceasefire, loss of life has continued in the conflict zone in 
recurrent border skirmishes and sporadic fighting.

An internationally mediated peace process spearheaded by the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group has so far failed to produce a 
lasting settlement of the conflict.



Armenia Slams Azerbaijan Over Ceasefire Violations


Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalian (file photo)

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of dishonoring its commitments to strengthen 
ceasefire after border incidents over the weekend in which at least one 
Armenian soldier was killed and two others were wounded.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalian said on Monday that the 
recent violations show that authorities in Baku have shown disregard for the 
obligations undertaken during the two countries’ leaders in Vienna, Austria, 
earlier this year.

“The intentional and provocative violations of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan 
contradict the commitments to maintain and strengthen the ceasefire that were 
made at the level of the leaders of the two states at the Vienna Summit on 
March 29. They disregard the statement adopted by the Organization for Security 
and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-chairs following their June 
20 meeting in Washington with the [Armenian and Azerbaijani] foreign ministers, 
in which the parties were urged to strictly adhere to their commitment to 
respect the ceasefire and refrain from provocative actions by using snipers 
along the line of contact and the state border,” Naghdalian said.

The Foreign Ministry representative stressed that Yerevan condemns “the 
provocations that lead to human casualties and are accompanied by Azerbaijan’s 
refusal to implement security and confidence-building measures aimed at 
maintaining and strengthening the ceasefire.”

In a statement released by the Foreign Ministry Naghdalian stressed that 
Azerbaijan’s actions “create a risk of increased tensions, for which the entire 
responsibility lies with the Azerbaijani side.”

After the Saturday incident at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in which an 
Armenian contract soldier was wounded Armenia’s Defense Ministry also accused 
Azerbaijan of seeking to escalate the border situation.

“Another provocative action by the Azerbaijani side once again proves that the 
enemy continues to brazenly violate the ceasefire regime and consistently 
escalate the situation on the border. It is Azerbaijan that bears full 
responsibility for the escalation of the situation,” it said.

The following day military authorities in Yerevan reported that an Armenian 
contract serviceman was shot dead at the northeastern section of the border 
with Azerbaijan.

Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovannisian on Monday reported about another 
Armenian soldier wounded at the border with Azerbaijan in the northeastern 
Tavush province.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an 
Armenian-populated region that has been de-facto independent from Baku after a 
three-year war in the early 1990s, in which an estimated 30,000 people were 
killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced.

Despite a 1994 ceasefire, loss of life has continued in the conflict zone in 
recurrent border skirmishes and sporadic fighting.

An internationally mediated peace process spearheaded by the OSCE Minsk Group 
has so far failed to produce a lasting settlement of the conflict.


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

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS