RFE/RL Armenian Report – 10/03/2019

                                        Thursday, 

Armenian High Court Head Rejects ‘Political’ Pressure

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia -- Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian reads out a court 
verdict on an appeal filed by former President Robert Kocharian, September 4, 
2019.

The chairman of Armenia’s Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasian, has denounced 
the ruling My Step alliance’s efforts to unseat him as politically motivated 
and accused the authorities of seeking potentially unrestricted powers.

“In my view, this process is political and pursues one goal: to neutralize the 
Constitutional Court … as a hurdle, as an obstacle, as a body that could at 
some point block political decisions because they contradict the constitution,” 
he said in an interview with the ArmNews TV channel aired late on Wednesday.

Tovmasian repeated his claims in a written statement issued on Thursday. It 
came as Armenia’s parliament began debating a draft resolution calling on 
Constitutional Court judges to replace their chairman.

The resolution drafted by My Step and endorsed by senior government officials 
decries, among other things, Tovmasian’s handling of appeals against the 
legality of coup charges brought against the arrested former President Robert 
Kocharian. It also says that Tovmasian cannot make impartial decisions on this 
case because of his past membership in the former ruling Republican Party of 
Armenia (HHK).

With My Step holding 88 seats in the 132-member National Assembly, the 
resolution will almost certainly be passed. Tovmasian will lose his post if at 
least six of the eight other Constitutional Court judges vote against him.

In his statement, Tovmasian said he will boycott the parliament debate on the 
issue because he believes that the bid to oust him is driven by “political and 
subjective” considerations. He listed recent events which he said highlight 
ulterior motives behind it.

Those include the May 2019 blockade of all court buildings in Armenia initiated 
by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and public statements by government loyalists 
questioning the legitimacy of most members of the Constitutional Court. 
Tovmasian also pointed to the recent arrests on corruption charges of two state 
officials linked to him.


Armenia -- A session of the National Assembly, Yerevan, October 3, 2019.

Alen Simonian, a senior My Step figure and deputy parliament speaker, hit back 
at the head of the country’s highest court. “It would be good if Mr. Tovmasian 
was present here,” Simonian said on the parliament floor. “I assess very 
negatively his latest statement and interview.”

“In his statement he once again proved what everyone is now saying: he remains 
a representative of the Republican Party of Armenia,” charged the close 
associate of Pashinian.

My Step’s initiative has been backed by the opposition Bright Armenia Party 
(LHK). But the other, larger parliamentary opposition force, the Prosperous 
Armenia (BHK), has refused to endorse it, saying that Pashinian’s bloc has 
presented “very weak” arguments.

Gevorg Petrosian, a lawyer and senior BHK lawmaker, insisted on Thursday that 
Tovmasian did not commit “major disciplinary violations” during the 
Constitutional Court’s consideration of one of the appeals lodged by Kocharian.

On September 4 the court declared unconstitutional a legal provision used by 
investigators against the former president. Pashinian called that ruling 
“illegal,” citing dissenting opinions voiced by two court judges.

In a July interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Pashinian accused Tovmasian 
of cutting political deals with HHK leader and former President Serzh Sarkisian 
to “privatize” the Constitutional Court in early 2018. Tovmasian responded by 
warning the government against trying to force him and his colleagues to resign.



Armenia To Set Up Powerful Anti-Graft Body

        • Naira Nalbandian

Armenia -- Ministers attend a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan, October 3, 
2019.

The Armenian government formally decided on Thursday to set up a new 
anti-corruption agency that will be empowered to prosecute state officials 
suspected of bribery, fraud and other corrupt practices.

The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) will be created in 2021 as part of an 
anti-graft strategy and a three-year action plan adopted by the government at a 
weekly meeting in Yerevan.

The ACC will inherit most of its law-enforcement powers from the existing 
Special Investigative Service (SIS) tasked with combatting various crimes 
committed by state officials. The strategy drawn up by the Armenian Justice 
Ministry sets a three-year “transitional period” during which other 
law-enforcement bodies will still be able to deal with corruption-related 
offenses.

The government will also give more powers to the Commission on Preventing 
Corruption formed under the former Armenian authorities. The commission has 
until now been primarily charged with scrutinizing income and asset 
declarations submitted by senior officials and investigating possible conflicts 
of interest among them.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Justice Minister Rustam Badasian said Armenian 
judges will now be a key focus of the commission’s activities. The state body 
will be allowed to launch disciplinary proceedings against judges suspected of 
having dubiously acquired assets, he said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian confirmed that this “integrity verification” 
will be a substitute for a mandatory “vetting” of all Armenian judges which he 
demanded in May. “We realized that the word ‘vetting’ causes a great deal of 
allergy and decided to change the tile but keep the essence [of judicial 
reform,]” he said.

Pashinian and other Armenian officials discussed the reform with a high-level 
delegation from the Council of Europe that visited Yerevan later in May. 
According to an internal report subsequently released by the Strasbourg-based 
organization’s Venice Commission, they agreed that “it would be neither 
necessary nor useful to carry out a general vetting of all sitting judges.”

“Instead, disciplinary procedures should be strengthened and a link with the 
asset declaration system established,” said the report.

Pashinian has repeatedly claimed to have eliminated “systemic corruption” in 
Armenia since coming to power in May 2018. During his, law-enforcement 
authorities have brought serious corruption charges against dozens of 
individuals, including close relatives and cronies of former President Serzh 
Sarkisian.

The prime minister ordered law-enforcement authorities on September 20 to step 
up their anti-corruption efforts and, in particular, recover more public funds 
embezzled or wasted by former officials.



Russian FM Critical Of Pashinian’s Karabakh Remark

        • Aza Babayan

RUSSIA -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a session of the 
annual Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, October 2, 2019

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has criticized Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian for describing Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Armenia, 
saying that such statements hamper efforts to end the Karabakh conflict.

Lavrov commented on the conflict when he spoke during an annual international 
forum held in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Wednesday.

“As regards the situation on the ground, it is much calmer now than it was one 
year ago,” he said. “But the political process is on hold and we have not yet 
managed to kick-start it.”

“The parties are making quite serious statements,” he went on. “In particular, 
there has been a statement to the effect that Karabakh is Armenia, just like 
Albanian Prime Minister [Edi] Rama said from Tirana than Kosovo is Albania. 
This certainly does not help to create an atmosphere conducive to the 
resumption of the political [settlement] process.”

Lavrov added that the Russian, U.S. and French mediators co-chairing the OSCE 
Minsk Group will continue press for the conflict’s resolution. “This is one of 
the few situations where we have the same vision,” he said.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry dismissed the criticism on Thursday. “We find it 
important that each of the mediators avoids selective or one-sided 
evaluations,” said the ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian. She argued that 
Pashinian reaffirmed Armenia’s readiness for a compromise peace deal with 
Azerbaijan when he addressed the UN General Assembly in New York late last 
month.

“Artsakh [Karabakh] is Armenia. Period,” Pashinian declared at a rally held in 
Stepanakert on August 5. Azerbaijan condemned that statement as provocative.


RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev during their meeting in Sochi, October 3, 2019
Lavrov spoke one day before Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his 
Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Valdai Forum in 
Sochi. Neither president mentioned the Karabakh conflict in his opening remarks 
at the talks publicized by the Kremlin.

“For us, Russia is a very important partner, friend and good neighbor,” Aliyev 
told Putin. “We very much value this relationship.”

Putin met with Pashinian on Tuesday on the sidelines of a Eurasian Economic 
Union summit held in Yerevan. Few details of their conversations were made 
public.



Senior Armenian Lawmaker Under Fire Over Insult

        • Gayane Saribekian

Armenia -- Andranik Kocharian, the chairman of the parliament committee on 
defense and security, attends a parliament session in Yerevan, October 3, 2019.

A senior pro-government parliamentarian refused to apologize on Thursday for 
his offensive comments about former Justice Minister Arpine Hovannisian’s 
parents which have caused a storm of condemnation from Armenian opposition 
politicians and public figures.

Andranik Kocharian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on 
defense and security, made derogatory references to Hovannisian’s “mother and 
unknown father” on Wednesday after she mentioned him while criticizing 
government policies.

Speaking to 24News.am earlier this week, Hovannisian said the authorities 
should scrutinize the assets of not only those former officials who served 
during former President Serzh Sarkisian’s rule but also those who held senior 
state positions in the 1990s. She named several such individuals, including 
Kocharian, who served as Armenia’s deputy defense minister from 1991-1995 and 
held a parliament seat from 1995-1999.

Kocharian’s reaction to those remarks drew strong condemnations on social media 
from opposition leaders, other critics of the current government and even some 
supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

“I believe that insulting, mocking a woman or making her personal life a 
subject of public discussion because of her political activities is condemnable 
and extremely unacceptable,” said Edmon Marukian, the leader of the opposition 
Bright Armenia Party (LHK). “I apologize for this political culture.”

Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, added his voice to the 
condemnations. “Targeting a personal or family is absolutely unacceptable 
without any exception, especially if we are talking about a woman,” he wrote.

Significantly, the French ambassador to Armenia, Jonathan Lacote, shared 
Tatoyan’s “welcome and necessary reaction” on his Facebook page.


Armenia - Justice Minister Arpine Hovannisian speaks to journalists during a 
congress of the ruling Republican Party, November 26, 2016.

“Anything relating to the personal space, the private domain must have no place 
in our political speech,” said Lilit Makunts, the parliamentary leader of 
Pashinian’s My Step bloc. “I also want to stress that I would be very happy if 
such reaction [to Kocharian’s comments] from all sides was also displayed in 
all [similar] cases.”

Makunts also said that she discussed the controversy with Kocharian. But she 
did not specify whether she urged him to apologize to Hovannisian.

Such apologies were offered by Sasun Mikaelian, another prominent 
parliamentarian representing the ruling bloc. “If Andranik Kocharian said such 
a thing I apologize in his place,” Mikaelian told reporters.

Kocharian himself remained unrepentant, however. He doubled down on his mockery 
of Hovannisian and her “unknown father” when approached by journalists.

“Unknown means not known to the society,” said the Pashinian ally. “Yesterday 
the whole Facebook was looking [for Hovannisian’s] father and apparently found 
him. The unknown is now known.”

Kocharian also hit out at Tevan Poghosian, a well-known pundit and former 
parliamentarian who also apologized to the former minister. “I phoned Tevan and 
said, ‘Tevan, what did you apologize for?’” he said.

Hovannisian, 35, served as justice minister from 2015-2017 before becoming a 
deputy speaker of the former Armenian parliament elected in April 2017. She 
announced in February this year that she is suspending her membership in the 
former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) to start a law practice and run 
a new think-tank. She remains a vocal critic of the country’s current 
leadership which ousted HHK leader Serzh Sarkisian from power in April 2018.



Press Review
Հոկտեմբեր 03, 2019

“Yerevan’s tough position on the Karabakh issue has created serious problems 
for Russia and Azerbaijan,” claims Lragir.am. “With negotiations frozen, the 
Russian plan can only be realized in a military way, which is also 
controversial and could blow up not only Azerbaijan but also Russia.” The 
publication speculates that this is what Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia 
and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan will probably be discussing in Sochi on 
Thursday. It says Putin will also brief Aliyev on the Eurasian Economic Union 
(EEU) summit in Yerevan.

“Haykakan Zhamanak” says Putin proved wrong Pashinian detractors who had 
claimed that he will not attend the summit or avoid a bilateral meeting with 
the Armenian prime minister. The pro-government paper also slams them for 
playing up the significance of Putin’s meeting in Yerevan with former President 
Robert Kocharian’s wife Bella. It says that Armenians who did well during 
Kocharian’s rule now hope that thanks to Russia the former president will not 
only be freed from jail but also return to power.

“Zhoghovurd” reports on the Prosperous Armenia (BHK) Party’s decision not to 
back government efforts to oust the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Hrayr 
Tovmasian. “There have been many meetings between Pashinian and [BHK leader 
Gagik] Tsarukian of late,” writes the paper. “It looks like they have not 
managed to reach a common denominator on this issue. And so the real fight 
between the BHK and [Pashinian’s] My Step got underway yesterday.” It recalls 
that one year ago the BHK already joined the former ruling Republican Party of 
Armenia in challenging Pashinian in the parliament. That development 
precipitated the holding of snap parliamentary elections in December.

(Lilit Harutiunian)


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