Tuesday,
Armenian Judges Asked To Analyze European Court Rulings
• Naira Nalbandian
The building of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France
Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has sent letters to all court
chairmen, asking them to submit an analysis of the rulings against Armenia
issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The move comes days after the Strasbourg-based body ordered Armenia to pay as
much as 1.6 million Euros ($1.8 million) in compensation to an Armenian man
whose house and land had been expropriated during a controversial redevelopment
of downtown Yerevan in the early 2000s.
“We need to understand what systemic gaps we have,” SJC member Hayk Hovannisian
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am).
“Basically, [in ECHR rulings] we deal with either a violation of the right to a
fair trial or a violation of the right to property,” said Hovannisian, adding
that most ECHR rulings against Armenia concern the protection of these two
fundamental rights in cases like controversial redevelopment projects in
Yerevan or controversial mine development projects in the regions.
Before ordering the massive compensation to the Armenian citizen, in 2016 the
ECHR ruled that Armenian courts and other entities violated articles of the
European Convention on Human Rights guaranteeing the right to a fair hearing
and protection of property. Besides, it was stressed that the then chairman of
the Court of Cassation Arman Mkrtumian did not show an objective position.
Mkrtumian, who was appointed chairman of the Court of Cassation by the decree
of Armenia’s third President Serzh Sarkisian in 2008, resigned in July 2018 two
months after the change of government in Armenia. Despite the opinion expressed
by the Strasbourg-based court, the SJC today has no jurisdiction to raise the
issue of Mkrtumian’s lack of impartiality.
“We have several issues here, the first being the legislative regulation. The
former Judicial Code allowed for disciplinary action against a judge as a
result of ECHR verdicts. The current Judicial Code does not provide us with
such an opportunity because it says that if five years pass after judicial
proceedings and the judicial act, then no disciplinary proceedings can be
instituted,” said Hovannisian, adding that often officials have hoped to avoid
sanctions because of that provision.
According to the SJC member, the Ministry of Justice is currently working on an
amendment to the Judicial Code which will restore the possibility for the
Supreme Judicial Council to use disciplinary action against judges based on
ECHR rulings anyway.
In the time to come the Strasbourg-based court is expected to issue more
rulings in disputes between citizens and the government of Armenia and
predictably they will be in favor of Armenian citizens. The cases range from
the 2008 post-election crackdown on the opposition to controversial
redevelopment projects in downtown Yerevan in the 2000s.
SJC member Hovannisian suggests setting up a commission to establish all those
who are responsible for the decisions – be them from the former government or
the Court of Cassation.
Waste Management Company Rethinks Press Conference Venue
• Artak Khulian
An international company in charge of garbage collection in Yerevan has dropped
its plans to hold a press conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, after hearing
criticism over its decision in Armenia.
Sanitek, a Lebanese-run operator that has been under fire for over a year for
its poor waste management in the Armenian capital, originally planned the event
in the Georgian capital on July 31. It had also offered to cover travel and
food expenses for the Armenian journalists who decide to attend the event. In a
press release on July 30 the company said the press conference will be held in
Yerevan on August 2.
“In order to avoid another occasion for anti-propaganda against the company and
not to lose sight of the main goal, the press conference attended by
representatives of the company will take place at Armenia Marriott Hotel in
Yerevan on August 2,” Sanitek said.
In explaining why it had initially chosen the Georgian capital as a venue for
the press conference, Sanitek said there had been no guarantees that some
‘unlawful persecution’ would not take place against the company’s shareholders
and representatives.
The original plans of the company angered the opposition Luys faction of the
Yerevan City Council. Urging Sanitek to revise its decision, Luys faction
leader Davit Khazhakian said that otherwise it would send a bad message to
foreign investors. “We believe that the holding of a press conference by a
foreign investor in the capital of a neighboring state would directly affect
the reputation of Yerevan,” Khazhakian said.
Since last year Sanitek has complained of financial difficulties in organizing
garbage disposal in Yerevan, blaming poor roads and excessive damage to its
equipment for its woes. In the meantime, Yerevan authorities have fined the
company seven times for a total of $90 million (nearly $190,000) for falling
short of required standards.
Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutian has not concealed his dissatisfaction with the work
of the waste management company. During consultations at the municipality on
July 29 he accused Sanitek of ‘only seeking profits and having no feeling of
responsibility.” Marutian, who has repeatedly said before that he was also
mindful of the contract obligations related to Sanitek, also spoke about
Yerevan authorities’ improving the waste management situation in the city
through their own efforts.
Commenting on Sanitek’s original plans for holding its press conference on
major waste disposal issues connected with the Armenian capital in another
country, Yerevan municipality spokesman Hakob Karapetian said: “I am not aware
of any problem that could prevent [Sanitek] from holding its press conference
in Yerevan. Perhaps they wanted more publicity. Perhaps they wanted to look
like they are being persecuted.”
Armenian Official Voices Support For Istanbul Convention Ratification
• Susan Badalian
Armenian Minister of Justice Rustam Badasian in Azatutyun TV's Yerevan studio,
14Jul2019
A senior Armenian official has spoken in favor of Yerevan ratifying a Council
of Europe convention dealing with the rights of women and gender equality in
spite of a campaign launched by some detractors claiming risks to family values.
Thirty-four of the 47 Council of Europe member-states have already ratified the
so-called Istanbul Convention. Armenia is among 11 members that have signed the
document but not yet ratified it in parliament.
The Convention has not even been put on the parliament agenda in Armenia yet,
but its detractors have already launched an online-based campaign against it,
claiming that the document undermines family values by promoting LGBT (lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender) rights and legally recognizing same-sex marriages
and the so-called ‘third sex’ status.
Proponents of the Convention in Armenia have called such views a misconception,
seeking to debunk these claims.
Armenia’s Ministry of Justice has presented tabulated arguments in favor of
ratifying the Convention, describing the row kicked up over its possible
ratification as “artificial”.
“The goal is simply to hit the government from different sides and create a
negative background to all this,” Justice Minister Rustam Badasian said.
The Convention obliges participating nations to prevent violence without any
discrimination, including gender-based discrimination. According to the
Armenian Justice Ministry, “ratification of the Convention is not imposed from
the outside, but is what we need ourselves.”
“This is the commitment of the Republic of Armenia to its citizens to ensure
the protection of human rights,” Justice Minister Badasian said.
Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates Ara Zohrabyan, one of the most vocal
critics of the Convention, has been rallying support for his campaign to “stop
the Istanbul Convention” through a website.
But Zohrabian says his struggle is not political and is not aimed against the
current government as he also spoke about the issue before. “I actively opposed
this bill and organized professional discussions also before... I spoke about
it at that time. In other words, it means I do not pursue any political goals
against the current government. I simply see a threat to family values and in
this sense I’ve raised my concerns,” he said.
Zohrabian stressed that he supports the prevention of violence and that the
Convention has mechanisms in this regard that should be applied in Armenia’s
legislation, but in his view, the Convention has some unacceptable wording. For
example, he says, along with the word ‘family’ the Convention uses the term
‘domestic unit’. According to Zohrabian, this contains a risk that LGBT
community members will also be able to create families.
“Let them pass a separate law protecting the rights of LGBT people, if they
find it necessary, but not write about domestic violence and include them in
the family, because in that case tomorrow the conception of family will already
imply these people as well,” Zohrabian said.
Talking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am), Dr. Marceline Naudi,
President of GREVIO, the Istanbul Convention monitoring body, said that the
countries that have ratified the Convention have made significant progress in
preventing violence against women.
As for the debate in Armenia, Naudi said: “The Istanbul Convention does not
define family. It does not promote a particular type of family. The Istanbul
Convention does not say a family consists of X, Y, Z. It does not define family
at all. What the Istanbul Convention tries to do is to protect women wherever
they are – whether they are at home, whether they are on the street, whether
they are at work, because violence against women sadly occurs everywhere and
anywhere… Now we also say that the Convention should apply generally to all
women regardless of who they are – whether they are Roma women, Muslim women,
regardless of their ethnicity, their sexual orientation, if they are lesbian
women, if they are heterosexual women, regardless of who they are, none of them
should be excluded from receiving help and support and protection from violence
against them.”
The Council of Europe official thinks that like other nations Armenia would
only benefit from ratifying the Istanbul Convention. “I would say that becoming
a party to the Convention and working towards preventing, combating and
eliminating violence against women and domestic violence would benefit all
members of Armenian society – women, girls, men, boys. I think that everyone
would stand to benefit if it is ratified,” she said.
The Armenian Apostolic Church also has reservations about the Convention. In a
statement bishops and diocesan leaders have called on the Armenian authorities
not to ratify the Convention. Spiritual leaders say they see dangers in the
subtext of articles that they claim imply freedom for people to choose their
gender and contain wording that goes against the Armenian perception of what
family is.
According to the church doctrine, a family is a union between a man and a
woman. The Ministry of Justice, meanwhile, reminds the clergy that this is the
same as defined in Armenia’s Constitution.
“According to Article 35 of Armenia’s Constitution, only a woman and a man who
attain the marriageable age shall have the right to marry and form a family,”
said Deputy Minister of Justice Rafik Grigorian.
In a Facebook video Justice Minister Badasian said that a “constructive
dialogue” is ongoing with the Church regarding the Convention.
Kocharian Trial Judge Charged With Forgery
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Judge Davit Grigorian, 14May, 2019
An Armenian judge who presided over the trial of former President Robert
Kocharian and released him on bail in May has been charged with forgery
allegedly committed in relation to a separate case, the Special Investigation
Service (SIS) told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) on Tuesday.
On July 27, Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council allowed for the investigation of
Judge Davit Grigorian. The oversight body also decided to suspend the judge’s
powers pending the investigation.
On May 18, Grigorian controversially ordered Kocharian released from prison
pending the outcome of the trial.
He later suspended the trial, questioning the legality of coup charges brought
against the ex-president and referred the case to the Constitutional Court.
Prosecutors appealed against both decisions, which were condemned by political
allies and supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Armenia’s Court of
Appeals overturned them on June 25, which led to Kocharian’s re-arrest.
Earlier, Grigorian voiced suspicions that actions of the law-enforcement bodies
could be retribution for his ruling in the high-profile case.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office, however, insisted that the investigation was
not related to the trial of Kocharian.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office released more details of the criminal case on
Tuesday, saying that Grigorian committed official forgery of protocols of
hearings at which he was not even physically present. It again categorically
denied that attention to the case that was first addressed in February was due
to Grigorian’s ruling in the Kocharian trial.
Earlier, Grigorian’s lawyer Yervand Varosian said that his client does not
admit to the charge of forgery. He also said that Grigorian told the SIS
earlier today that “the charge is a direct consequence of his two decisions in
the [Kocharian] case.”
Meanwhile, supporters of Kocharian and other critics of the current government
claim that with actions like those against Grigorian law-enforcement agencies
apply pressure on the judiciary, undermining its independence.
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” refers to the weekend incidents at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border
in which at least one soldier was killed and two others were wounded,
suggesting that the kind of escalation of tensions outside the line of contact
in Nagorno-Karabakh, at the internationally recognized state frontier is a
rather rare occurrence. Hence, the paper says, is the rather rare tough
reaction of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that slammed Azerbaijan
over “intentional and provocative ceasefire violations”. “This means that the
situation at the Armenian border has changed, but this change appears to be
unnoticeable for broader public and political circles, because no one has
voiced any alarm in this regard. The impression is that the statement of
Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not concern Armenia’s borders,” the
paper writes.
Lragir.am claims that certain ‘pro-Armenian’ experts in Russia have recently
been working actively to pit the ethnic Armenian authorities of
Nagorno-Karabakh against the government of Armenia. The online paper suggests
that one of the purposes of such efforts is geopolitical and is related to the
possible deployment of Russian troops in the southern part of the territory
controlled by Nagorno-Karabakh authorities. It tries to understand whether
Samvel Babayan, a former Karabakh army commander who seeks to make a bid in the
elections of Nagorno-Karabakh’s leader scheduled for next year, has anything to
do with this, considering his statements about the ‘Russian mandate’. The paper
equally questions the position of the current Karabakh authorities and their
plausible candidate. “Participants of the current political process in
Nagorno-Karabakh should take into account all possible scenarios and be mindful
of their responsibility,” the online paper writes.
The editor of “Aravot” cites a phone call from one businessman close to former
Armenian authorities in which the latter complained that the paper
‘discredited’ him as more proof that last year’s change of government was a
correct step. “As I often do, I suggested that this businessman lay out his
vision in our newspaper. The businessman did not agree to that. Then, as an
alternative, I suggested that he file a lawsuit to achieve justice. In reply,
the man said that I discredit ‘our heroic nation’ and want ‘to turn everyone
into informants.’ A short time afterwards the same businessman sent me an SMS
with obscenities. I write about this story because it once again reassured me
that regardless of what the current government is doing, the revolution that
took place in April-May last year was right, in particular, because the
so-called impudent way of communicating with the media mainly seems to be in
the past… I say ‘mainly’ because some relapses still sometimes occur,” the
editor writes.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
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