Monday, Yazidi Activist Wins Prize Created In Memory Of Armenian Genocide Armenia -- Yazidi activist Mirza Dinnayi receives the 2019 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity at a ceremony in Yerevan, October 19, 2019. A Yazidi activist who has helped civilian victims of atrocities committed by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria has received an annual humanitarian award created in memory of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Mirza Dinnayi was named the winner of the 2019 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity at a weekend ceremony in Yerevan attended by members of the Aurora Prize Selection Committee, including former Presidents Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Mary Robinson of Ireland. Dinnayi, who lives in Germany, was awarded the $1 million prize for helping more than 1,500 Yazidi women and children seek medical treatment in Europe. He decided to donate the money to his organization, Air Bridge Iraq, and two other aid groups helping victims of the ISIS. The prize runner-ups were Zannah Mustapha, a lawyer who set up a school for children affected by violence in northeastern Nigeria, and Yemeni lawyer Huda Al-Sarari, who investigated human rights abuses in the war-torn country. They received a $50,000 grant each. The annual award was established in 2015 by three prominent Diaspora Armenians: philanthropists Ruben Vardanyan and Noubar Afeyan, and Vartan Gregorian, the president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. It is designed to honor individuals around the world who risk their lives to help others. Armenia -- The co-founders of Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, Vartan Gregorian (L), Ruben Vardanyan (second from left) and Noubar Afeyan (R), pose for a photograph with its latest winner, Mirza Dinnayi, Yerevan, October 19, 2019. The international prize is named after Aurora Mardiganian, an Armenian genocide survivor who witnessed the massacre of relatives and told her story in a book and film. “The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative empowers those who risk everything for the sake of others and show extraordinary courage and conviction in situations of adversity, and Mirza Dinnayi is a perfect example of that,” Gregorian said at the award ceremony. “He embodies the power of compassion, of personal commitment, of a burning desire to save lives.” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also spoke at the solemn event. “Mr. Dinnayi, what you have been doing for the friendly Yazidi people in Iraq reminds us of the activities a century ago, during the Armenian genocide, of Western missionaries and other individuals that had helped to save thousands of Armenian lives,” Pashinian said. “I also want to thank you on behalf of the Yazidi community of Armenia.” In January 2018, Armenia’s parliament unanimously passed a resolution recognizing as genocide the 2014 mass killings of Yazidis in Iraq perpetrated by the ISIS. The National Assembly also called on the international community to track down and prosecute those directly responsible for the killings. About 7,000 Yazidi women and children were seized by the ISIS when it overran Iraq's northwestern town of Sinjar in August 2014. Almost 3,000 of them remain unaccounted for. The town was regained from the jihadist group in late 2015 and dozens of mass graves of Yazidis have since been found there. Iraq -- Ayman, a boy from a minority Yazidi community, who was sold by Islamic State militants to a Muslim couple in Mosul, hugs his grandmother after he was returned to his Yazidi family, in Duhok, Iraq, January 31, 2017 The U.S. government officially declared in March 2016 that the ISIS is “responsible for genocide” against Yazidis as well as Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria. A subsequent report released by United Nations investigators similarly concluded that the Islamist militants’ actions against Yazidis meet a 1948 UN convention’s definition of genocide. “The recognition of genocide is the first step in order to satisfy the victims,” Dinnayi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. He said Yazidi families will not feel safe returning to their homes in Iraq until ISIS militants involved in the atrocities face justice. The 46-year-old doctor also expressed concern about the Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria. He said it could further hamper efforts to see justice done by providing militants jailed there with a “big opportunity” to escape. Pashinian Denies Persecuting Constitutional Court Head • Artak Khulian • Gayane Saribekian Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, October 9, 2019. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian denied through a spokesman on Monday opposition claims that he ordered criminal proceedings against the chairman of Armenia’s Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasian, in a bid to force the latter to resign. Pashinian’s spokesman, Vladimir Karapetian, at the same time effectively accused Tovmasian of complicity in “crimes” committed by members of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). Two law-enforcement agencies announced separate criminal investigations into Tovmasian on October 17 two days after seven of the eight other Constitutional Court rejected the Armenian parliament’s calls for his dismissal. The Special Investigative Service (SIS) said it is investigating a possible “usurpation of power” by Tovmasian and former senior officials that helped him become head of the country’s highest court in 2018. For its part, the National Security Service (NSS) interrogated his father and two daughters. HHK representatives as well as other critics of Pashinian denounced the criminal proceedings as acts of political prosecution. They were particularly critical of the NSS’s actions, saying that the authorities are now targeting Tovmasian’s relatives as part of their efforts to oust the court chairman. Karapetian brushed aside those claims. “If the NSS has some questions regarding corruption issues then I see nothing wrong with that,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “That body can address questions to any person. The proceedings are carried out at this level at this point, and any talk of [government] pressure is just meaningless.” “They know very well who Hrayr Tovmasian is,” Karapetian said of the HHK critics. “He shares their ideology, he is well aware of the spate of crimes which … had been committed by many representatives of that party. This explains their support for their, so to speak, last of the Mohicans.” The official also made clear that Pashinian stands by his recent claims that Tovmasian, who used to be affiliated with the HHK, was installed as Constitutional Court chairman as a result of legally questionable political deals cut with Armenia’s former political leadership. Tovmasian, who also served as justice minister from 2010-2013, dismissed those claims. He said on October 2 that the authorities want to force him out in order to gain control over Armenia’s highest court. Under Armenian law, Tovmasian cannot be prosecuted without the consent of at least five other members of the Constitutional Court. In a joint statement issued on Friday, seven court justices said they are “monitoring developments relating to Hrayr Tovmasian and members of his family and will react if need be.” The head of the SIS, Sasun Khachatrian, stressed on Monday that Tovmasian has not been charged or regarded by his investigators as a suspect as yet. But he did not rule out the possibility of such charges. “Do you want me to make presumptions?” Khachatrian told reporters. “I repeat that … a criminal case been opened in connection with the existence of signs of an apparent crime.” SIS officers raided the Constitutional Court and HHK headquarters in Yerevan to confiscate some documents on Thursday. On Friday, the NSS sought to justify it decision to summon Tovmasian’s father and two daughters for questioning. In a statement, the former Armenian branch of the Soviet KGB said it is investigating a possible misuse of some 855 million drams ($1.8 million) in funding allocated by the Justice Ministry in 2012 for capital repairs of three buildings. It said also suspected that Tovmasian’s relatives had not submitted accurate asset declarations to a state body. Lawyers for Tovmasian’s family said NSS officers asked his daughters on Friday questions about a car and a garage which they received as a gift from a cousin who emigrated to the United States in 2016. According to them, Tovmasian’s 75-year-old father was summoned to the NSS headquarters to explain who repaired the roof of his house in a village near Yerevan. Indicted Tycoon Delays Return To Armenia • Naira Bulghadarian Armenia - Businessman Samvel Mayrapetian at the official opening of his Toyota car dealership in Yerevan, 23 June 2009. Citing health reasons, a wealthy businessman prosecuted on corruption charges has postponed his return to Armenia from Germany where he was allowed to receive medical treatment early this year. The businessman, Samvel Mayrapetian, was arrested in October last year on charges of “assisting” in large-scale bribery alleged by a fellow entrepreneur, Silva Hambardzumian. Hambardzumian claimed to have transferred millions of dollars in cash to former Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian and another former official through Mayrapetian in 2008. The latter denied the allegation before being freed on bail in late December. In January, the Special Investigative Service (SIS) reluctantly allowed Mayrapetian to undergo treatment in a German clinic. Doctors in Yerevan said the tycoon, who suffered from a serious form of pancreatitis, needs the kind of surgery which is not performed in Armenian hospitals. Mayrapetian promised to return to the country after recuperating from the life-threatening disease. The SIS said recently that it expects him to fly back to Yerevan by October 15. According to the SIS, Mayrapetian’s lawyers have told investigators that he was on his way back to Armenia when his condition deteriorated sharply at a German airport. They said that he was therefore taken back to hospital. An SIS spokesperson told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that the law-enforcement body is now trying to check the veracity of the lawyers’ claims. Mayrapetian, 60, is one of Armenia’s leading real estate developers who also owns a national TV channel and a car dealership. Some media outlets for years linked Kocharian’s elder son Sedrak to the Toyota dealership. Kocharian is currently held in pretrial detention, having been charged in July 2018 in connection with the deadly breakup of post-election opposition protests in March 2008. He was also charged with bribe-taking in February this year. The ex-president denies the accusations as politically motivated. The bribery case against Kocharian is based on Hambardzumian’s testimony. In a February interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, the businesswoman insisted that she had asked Mayrapetian to “take the money to the three persons” so that they “don’t interfere with my business.” “I myself gave the money. They didn’t demand it from me," she stressed, adding that she did not meet with Kocharian or Sarkisian and does not know whether the alleged bribe reached them. Unlike Kocharian, Sarkisian is not facing any criminal charges. Deputy PM Criticizes Departing Official • Nane Sahakian Armenia -- Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian speaks in the National Assembly October 2, 2019 Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian criticized on Monday the head of Armenia’s Cadaster Committee who has resigned in protest against government policies on urban development. Sarhat Petrosian, who was appointed to run the government agency following last year’s “Velvet Revolution,” tendered his resignation on Friday. In a statement, he said he “can no longer tolerate dilettantism and sectarianism bordering on corruption.” Petrosian, whose agency regulates and registers property deals in Armenia, hit out at the current and former heads of the government’s Urban Development Committee. The latter now works as an adviser to Avinian. Avinian rejected the criticism, saying that Petrosian wanted to overstep his powers. “The post of head of the Cadaster Committee did not allow him to operate in the area of urban development,” he told reporters. “I presume that Mr. Petrosian is a bit disappointed with this fact.” Avinian dismissed Petrosian’s claim that government regulation of urban development in the country has “regressed” despite a buoyant real estate market. “I think that Mr. Petrosian, who has not been the head of the Urban Development Committee, hardly has in-depth knowledge of problems existing in the area of urban development,” he said. The head of the committee, Vahagn Vermishian, could not be reached for comment. In his resignation statement, Petrosian did not give examples of mismanagement and incompetence alleged by him. He said he will talk about concrete cases later on. The 37-year-old official held a farewell meeting with his staff on Monday. In a Facebook post later in the day, he thanked well-wishers for their support. He also reiterated that unnamed “opportunists” must not be allowed to discredit the 2018 revolution or use its achievements “for personal welfare.” Petrosian actively participated in the revolution that brought Nikol Pashinian to power. The Armenian prime minister has not yet commented on his resignation. Another Former Armenian Official Arrested Armenia- Arsen Babayan, the deputy chief of the parliament staff, April 6, 2018. An Armenian law-enforcement agency made the first arrest on Monday in its ongoing investigation into a possible “usurpation of power” by Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian. The Special Investigative Service (SIS) said Arsen Babayan, the former deputy chief of the Armenian parliament staff, is suspected of forging documents during the “process” of the resignation in early 2018 of Tovmasian’s predecessor, Gagik Harutiunian. An SIS statement on Babayan’s arrest gave no details of his alleged crime punishable by up to two years in prison. It indicated that he has not been formally charged yet. The SIS said that it found evidence of forgery committed by multiple “officials” during the criminal investigation into Tovmasian’s election as Constitutional Court chairman by the former Armenian parliament. Such a probe was demanded by an Armenian parliamentarian who alleged recently that the process of replacing Harutiunian was illegal. The probe was launched on October 17 two days after the Constitutional Court rejected the current parliament’s demands to oust Tovmasian. The former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), with which Tovmasian was previously affiliated, says it is part of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s continuing efforts to force the high court chairman to resign. The HHK’s deputy chairman, Armen Ashotian, said Babayan’s “ludicrous” and “immoral” arrest is meant to serve the same purpose. “This will not help you either,” Ashotian warned the authorities on Facebook. “Hrayr [Tovmasian] will stay on in his trench no matter how much you and your propaganda machine whimper.” Babayan condemned the criminal proceedings against Tovmasian prior to his arrest. He has also been very critical of the Pashinian government. 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