Thursday,
Former Armenian Official Jailed In ‘Coup’ Probe
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- Supporters of arrested former parliament staffer Arsen Babayan
protest outside a court building in Yerevan, .
A court in Yerevan allowed investigators on Thursday to hold a former
parliament staffer in detention on coup charges which his lawyers said are
aimed at stepping up government pressure on Hrayr Tovmasian, the embattled
chairman of Armenia’s Constitutional Court.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) arrested Arsen Babayan, the former
deputy chief of the Armenian parliament staff, on Monday before accusing him of
involvement in a “usurpation of power” resulting in Tovmasian’s appointment as
court chairman in March 2018.
The SIS claimed that former parliament speaker Ara Babloyan illegally accepted
and announced the resignation of Tovmasian’s predecessor, Gagik Harutiunian,
before receiving a relevant letter from the latter. It said Babayan backdated
the letter to enable Tovmasian to become court chairman before the entry into
force of sweeping amendments to the Armenian constitution.
The amendments introduced a six-year term in office for the head of Armenia’s
highest court. Tovmasian was named to run the court under the previous
constitution which allows him to hold the post until the age of 70.
Babloyan insisted on Wednesday that he received and signed Harutiunian’s letter
of resignation on March 2, 2015, not three days later, as is claimed by the
SIS. The former Constitutional Court chairman said, for his part, that his
resignation was voluntary and in accordance with Armenian law.
Nevertheless, Babayan was remanded in pre-trial custody. The district court in
the Armenian capital also refused to free him on bail.
One of Babayan’s lawyers, Lusine Sahakian, condemned the court’s decisions and
the charges leveled against her client as politically motivated.
“There is no testimony that corroborates the accusations,” Sahakian told
reporters outside the court building. “There are only testimonies corroborating
the fact that there was no forgery or backdating.”
“It was obvious to us that with this clearly illegal process they were going to
imprison yet another person to put further pressure on Hrayr Tovmasian,” she
said. “The court has ensured that.”
Babayan also denied any wrongdoing in a letter to the Yerevan daily “Hraparak”
sent through his attorneys. The former official urged his sympathizers not to
worry about him, saying that he remains in a “combative” mood.
The SIS announced the coup inquiry on October 17 two days after seven of the
nine Constitutional Court judges dismissed calls for Tovmasian’s dismissal made
by the current Armenian parliament loyal to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. In
an appeal to the court, the parliament claimed, among other things, that
Tovmasian cannot act impartially because of his past affiliation with the
former ruling Republican Party (HHK).
Pashinian similarly charged in July that Tovmasian “privatized” the
Constitutional Court with the help of the HHK. Tovmasian countered early this
month that the authorities are seeking to oust him in order to gain control
over Armenia’s highest court. He said he has no intention to step down.
Critics, notably senior HHK figures, say that Babayan’s arrest and other
criminal proceedings targeting Tovmasian are part of Pashinian’s efforts to
force the high court chief’s resignation. The prime minister and his political
allies deny this.
Court Extends Arrest Of Former Tax Chief
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Finance Minister Gagik Khachatrian attends a parliament session in
Yerevan, November 16, 2015.
A court in Yerevan on Thursday extended until December 24 the pre-trial arrest
of former Finance Minister Gagik Khachatrian who is accused abuse of power and
misuse of public funds.
Khachatrian, who was a member of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s cabinet
from 2014-2016, was arrested in late August after a law-enforcement agency
claimed to have recovered 800 million drams ($1.7 million) in “damage inflicted
on the state” by him.
Khachatrian’s nephew Karen was also arrested and charged at the time. The
latter used to run an internal security division of the State Revenue Committee
(SRC). The government agency comprising Armenia’s tax and customs services was
headed by Gagik Khachatrian from 2008-2014.
Karen Khachatrian’s pre-trial arrest was extended on Wednesday. Both he and his
uncle deny a large-scale “waste” of government funds alleged by the National
Security Service (NSS). Details of that accusation have still not been made
public.
The NSS claims that as head of the SRC Gagik Khachatrian also hired and
registered employees who never reported for work.
The court allowed the NSS to keep Khachatrian under arrest for two more months.
Accordingly, it rejected defense lawyers’ latest request to free him on bail.
One of the lawyers, Yerem Sargsian, said they will appeal against the decision.
Sargsian said that his client has serious health problems and needs to undergo
surgery abroad.
Throughout his tenure Khachatrian was dogged by corruption allegations, with
some Armenian media outlets and opposition figures accusing him of using his
position to become one of the country’s richest men. They cited his family’s
extensive business interests, which include one of Armenia’s three mobile phone
networks, a shopping mall, a car dealership and a luxury watch store in Yerevan.
Khachatrian repeatedly denied ownership of these and other businesses, saying
that they belong to his two sons and other relatives.
U.S. House Set To Vote On Armenian Genocide Resolution
• Emil Danielyan
U.S. -- A view of the US Capitol is seen in Washington, September 9, 2019
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote next week on a
resolution calling for official U.S. recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide
in Ottoman Turkey.
The resolution was introduced by several pro-Armenian U.S. lawmakers, including
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, in April this year and has
had 117 co-sponsors since then. It calls on the U.S. government to “commemorate
the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance” and to
“reject” Turkish and other efforts to deny it.
The resolution is included on the House agenda for next week released by
Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. It is due to debated right after a
House vote on a bipartisan bill that would sanction Turkey for its military
offensive in northern Syria.
“We're going to have a Turkey sanctions bill and we're going to have an
Armenian genocide bill,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel
told National Public Radio earlier this week. “Both of which I'm sure the
government of Turkey is not happy with, but then again we're not happy with the
government of Turkey.”
Armenia - Congressmen David Cicilline (L), Ed Royce (C) and Eliot Engel lay
flowers at the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan, 24Apr2014.
In a joint statement issued on Thursday, Schiff and other leaders of the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues said they are “very pleased” that the
resolution “will receive a vote next week by the full House.”
Armenian-American lobby groups also hailed the initiative which is understood
to enjoy the backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“This latest [Turkish] assault on vulnerable ethnic groups demonstrates the
need for Congress to unequivocally affirm the Armenian genocide and adopt the
resolutions pending in the House and Senate,” said Bryan Ardouny, the executive
director of the Armenian Assembly of America.
“We urge all [House] members to support this important human rights measure and
send a strong message that the days of genocide denial are over,” Ardouny told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
The Assembly and the Armenian National Committee of America have for decades
been campaigning for the passage of such legislation. Genocide resolutions
drafted by pro-Armenian lawmakers have been repeatedly approved by
congressional committees. But they have not reached the House or Senate floor
until now because of opposition from U.S. administrations worried about their
impact on U.S.-Turkish relations.
U.S. -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam
Schiff, D-CA, speak during a press conference in the House Studio of the US
Capitol in Washington, October 2, 2019
Successive Turkish governments have warned of serious damage to those ties,
vehemently denying the slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenian subjects of the
Ottoman Empire. Ankara has not yet reacted to the announcement of the planned
House vote.
There was also no immediate reaction from the White House. Like his
predecessors, President Donald Trump avoided using the word genocide in his
annual statements on the World War One-era mass killings and deportations of
Armenians. He has spoken instead of “one of the worst mass atrocities of the
20th century.”
On Wednesday, Trump lifted sanctions imposed by him on Turkey earlier this
month, saying that a ceasefire in northern Syria is now permanent.
Armenia Slides In Investment Climate Rankings
• Robert Zargarian
U.S. -- The World Bank building in Washington, April 9, 2008
The World Bank has downgraded Armenia’s position in its annual survey on the
ease of doing business around the world despite reporting an improvement in the
country’s investment climate.
Armenia ranked 47th, together with Belgium and Moldova, in the latest Doing
Business survey which assessed economic conditions in 190 nations with a range
of specific indicators. It was 41st in last year’s global rankings.
Armenia scored poorly in two of the ten categories used by the bank for
evaluating the ease of engaging in entrepreneurial activity: “Protecting
Minority Investors” and “Resolving Insolvency.” Even so, the World Bank said
the Armenian authorities have “strengthened minority investor protections” over
the past year. It also found improvements in taxation procedures and
construction quality control.
As a result, the country’s overall Doing Business score went up from 73.2 to
74.5. “This means that over the course of last year Armenia has improved its
business regulations as captured by the Doing Business indicators in absolute
terms,” the head of the World Bank office in Yerevan, Sylvie Bossoutrot, said
in a statement issued on Thursday.
This latest edition of the study documents reforms implemented in the 190
economies over a 12-month period ending on May 1, 2019, one year after Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian and his government took office. Pashinian has
repeatedly claimed to have eradicated “systemic corruption” and significantly
improved Armenia’s business environment.
Pashinian discussed the country’s worsened position in the investment climates
during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan. Economy Minister Tigran Khachatrian blamed
it on what he described as a change in the bank’s methodology of measuring
minority shareholder protection. Artur Javadian, the Central Bank governor also
present at the meeting, claimed, for his part, that Armenia’s poor score in
that category is the result of a “technical error.”
Press Review
“Zhamanak” reports on parliamentary debates on a bill that would allow
political appointees to run Armenia’s police and National Security Service
(NSS). The paper notes that a deputy chief of the police, Hovannes Kocharian,
was sacked on Wednesday one day after publicly objecting to the bill drafted by
the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK).It says this is a further indication
that the law-enforcement system remains “under review.”
“For at least the last two decades Armenia’s entire state governance system has
been based on crime and corruption,” claims “Haykakan Zhamanak.” “This
certainly does not mean that everyone involved in the system was a criminal.
But the system was like that and in order to win promotion any official had to
execute illegal orders issued by their boss, turn a blind eye to abuses, rig
elections and so on.” The paper controlled by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
family dismisses opposition claims that the arrests of some of those officials
are politically motivated repressions organized by the current authorities. It
says that such claims are spread by those who had “forced their subordinates to
commit those abuses.”
“Aravot” says that Armenian political and public figures engaged in
increasingly heated debates over high-profile arrests and prosecutions at home
are overlooking important geopolitical developments unfolding in the broader
region. The paper singles out Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest
negotiations with his Azerbaijani and Turkish counterparts, Ilham Aliyev and
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as Aliyev’s meeting with Erdogan held in Baku
earlier this month. It is worried that these developments could have “extremely
negative and dangerous” ramifications for Armenia. “Yet nobody seems to care
about that,” it says.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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