Wednesday, January 29, 2020 Chinese Nationals Hospitalized In Armenia For Virus Tests January 29, 2020 • Susan Badalian China -- Medical staff members wear protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus accompanying a patient as they walk into a hospital in Wuhan, January 26, 2020. Two Chinese citizens were taken on Wednesday to a hospital in Armenia and tested there for possible cases of a dangerous new virus which has infected thousands of people in China and killed at least 132 of them. Officials in Yerevan said they were hospitalized after being barred from again entering neighboring Georgia at the main Armenian-Georgian border crossing. According to Liana Torosian, a senior official from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the Chinese travellers showed no symptoms of any virus while the other only had a mild fever and is now undergoing an X-ray examination of their lungs at a Yerevan hospital specializing in treatment of infectious diseases. “Let’s see what results the X-ray will produce,” Torosian told reporters. “The condition of both patients is satisfactory at the moment. They will certainly remain under medical surveillance in separate insulated wards.” Torosian insisted that the likelihood of either Chinese national suffering from the new kind of coronavirus is low because they had left China before the disease outbreak. “During the entire [two-week disease] incubation period they were in Georgia and Armenia and had no health issues,” she said. There have been around 6,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus nationwide in China so far. Dozens of other cases have been confirmed outside mainland China as well, including in Europe, North America, and elsewhere in Asia. Nobody has been diagnosed with the coronavirus in Armenia, according to the country’s medical authorities. Speaking at a joint news conference with Torosian, Deputy Health Minister Lena Nanushian said Armenia is considered a low-risk zone for the spread of the virus not least because of the absence of direct flights to China. Nanushian said the health authorities are examining Armenian citizens returning from China via third countries and taking other precautions. The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan last week advised Armenians to refrain from travelling to China for now. It said six Armenians live in the Chinese city of Wuhan lying at the epicenter of the outbreak. Torosian admitted that the authorities currently lack the capacity to definitively detect cases of the coronavirus through laboratory testing. But she said they should be equipped to do so by the end of next week. High Court Chief Again Rules Out Resignation January 29, 2020 • Gayane Saribekian Armenia -- Constituional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian speaks to journalists, Yerevan, December 27, 2019. Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian has said that he will not step down despite facing criminal charges and growing pressure from Armenia’s political leadership. “What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger,” Tovmasian told 168.am in a video interview posted late on Tuesday. “I will not respect myself if I back away, for the reasons mentioned by you, from the issues, the mission assigned to me.” “You would not respect me, nobody would respect me [in that case,] and I would consider that a humiliation,” he said, adding that he will therefore “fight to the end” in the increasingly acrimonious standoff. The remarks followed a series of renewed verbal attacks on him launched by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Speaking at a weekend news conference, Pashinian labeled Tovmasian as a “representative of the corrupt former regime” who “offered his services” and cozied up to him following the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” Pashinian went on to state that law-enforcement authorities’ allegations that Tovmasian illegally became the head of Armenia highest court shortly before the revolution are “effectively proven and irrefutable.” Tovmasian deplored that claim, saying that Pashinian violated the presumption of innocence guaranteed by the Armenian constitution. “Are you a court?” he said, appealing to the premier. “Are you an investigator? Where did you get such information from to determine [Tovmasian’s guilt?] What will you do when national or international courts rule tomorrow that none of that happened?” “If they want to pressure me in this way then I have to say that … they should not try in vain,” he added. The Special Investigative Service (SIS) claimed in October that the former Armenian parliament elected Tovmasian court chairman as a result of an illegal seizure of the judicial authority by a “group of officials.” It said that took the form of forgery committed by former parliament speaker Ara Babloyan and one of his top staffers. Both men strongly deny relevant accusations leveled against them. In late December, a senior prosecutor declined to endorse those accusations, ordering the SIS to conduct an “additional investigation.” A few days later, Tovmasian was indicted on other, unrelated charges. Prosecutors said that he unlawfully privatized an office in Yerevan and forced state notaries to rent other premises “de facto” belonging to him when he served as Armenia’s justice minister from 2010-2014. Tovmasian rejects the accusations as baseless and politically motivated. The chief justice also indicated in his latest interview that he may backpedal on his stated decision to file a defamation lawsuit against Pashinian. “Maybe I got emotional at that point and spoke of going to court,” he said. “But I think that everything has become clear to the public and everyone now has the answer to that question. I will again talk to my legal team and decide.” Soros Foundation In Armenia Decries ‘Smear Campaign’ January 29, 2020 • Nane Sahakian Armenia -- Larisa Minasian, director of Open Society Foundations-Armenia, speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, January 29, 2020. The Armenian branch of U.S. billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) on Wednesday accused radical anti-government forces of conducting an “unprecedented” smear campaign against it and its local partners. “A large-scale counterpropaganda and an unprecedentedly aggressive information campaign, accompanied by hate speech and often overt calls for violence, is waged against the foundation and our partners for quite some time,” the OSF-Armenia director, Larisa Minasian, told a news conference. Minasian said that the effort is aimed at preventing OSF from supporting various reforms announced by the Armenian government. “We realize that the civil society’s potential to demand and support systemic changes in Armenia is what made us and our partners the target of this smear campaign,” she said. “Also targeted is public trust in our country’s democratic institutions, the legitimately elected National Assembly and the government formed by it.” Minasian complained that some Armenian media outlets help OSF detractors spread false claims about Soros and activities financed by his charity in Armenia and other countries. She insisted in particular that the prominent philanthropist has never provoked or assisted in any anti-government revolt. “George Soros made his fortune in the financial markets of democratic countries that are strictly regulated by regulatory bodies,” she added. Minasian also dismissed claims that OSF has been promoting a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which would benefit Azerbaijan. “The foundation has never financed any propaganda of pacifism towards Azerbaijan or any initiative related to the Karabakh conflict,” she said. Nationalist groups as well as some individual activists opposed to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government have increasingly attacked OSF in their public statements made since the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” They allege that the government is furthering Soros’s secret political agenda in Armenia which they say poses a serious threat to national security and traditional Armenian values. Some of them have gone as far as to claim that Soros was behind the “revolution” that brought Pashinian to power. Minasian already shrugged off those claims during a March 2019 news conference in Yerevan. In a separate statement issued at the time, OSF-Armenia said it will continue to support “civil society organizations and all Armenians working to advance sustainable, systemic reforms.” Over the past two decades OSF has provided a total of about $53 million in grants to Armenian non-governmental organizations and individuals. They have been spent on hundreds of projects implemented in a wide range of areas, including education, human rights, judicial reforms and media. Former Armenian President To Go On Trial January 29, 2020 • Naira Nalbandian Armenia -- Former President Serzh Sarkisian attends the funeral of former National Security Service Director Georgi Kutoyan, Yerevan, January 20, 2020. Armenian prosecutors have paved the way for a trial of former President Serzh Sarkisian, formally endorsing corruption charges brought against him. A spokeswoman for the Office of the Prosecutor-General, Arevik Khachatrian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that the indictment was sent to a court in Yerevan on Wednesday. Armenia’s Judicial Department said, though, that it has not yet received materials of the criminal case. The Special Investigative Service (SIS) charged Sarkisian in early December with organizing the “embezzlement by a group of officials” of 489 million drams (just over $1 million) in government funds allocated in 2013 for the provision of subsidized diesel fuel to farmers. The SIS claimed that Sarkisian interfered in a government tender for the fuel supplier to ensure that it is won by a company belonging to his longtime friend, businessman Barsegh Beglarian, rather than another fuel importer that offered a lower price. It also indicted Barseghian and three former government officials. All five suspects deny the accusations. In a statement released last week, Sarkisian’s lawyers insisted that the accusations are baseless and are part of his “political persecution” by the current Armenian authorities. Artashes Mayilian, a senior SIS official who led the probe, dismissed those claims when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian service on January 24. The high-profile case is reportedly based on former Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetian’s incriminating testimony against the ex-president. Karapetian and his former deputy Samvel Galstian are among the five suspects. Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) has also described the charges as politically motivated. It says that the ex-president is prosecuted in retaliation for his public criticism of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Sarkisian, who ruled Armenia from 2008-2018, accused Pashinian’s government of jeopardizing democracy and stifling dissent in a November speech at a congress of the European People’s Party held in Croatia. He had kept a low profile since resigning in April 2018 amid Pashinian-led mass protests against his continued rule. Pashinian has repeatedly implicated Sarkisian, his family and political entourage in corruption both before and after coming to power in the “Velvet Revolution.” Parliament Majority Leader Wants Police To Explain Detentions January 29, 2020 • Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia -- Lilit Makunts, the parliamentary leader of the ruling My Step bloc, at a news conference in Yerevan, May 6, 2019. Lilit Makunts, the parliamentary leader of the ruling My Step alliance, said on Wednesday that the Armenian police must explain why they briefly detained at least four activists highly critical of the government. The police said on Tuesday that two of the outspoken activists, Narek Malian and Konstantin Ter-Nakalian, were held in custody for several hours on suspicion of illegal arms possession. They did not comment on two other detentions which were reported later in the day. Immediately after being set free without charge, the activists claimed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian ordered the police actions in a bid to humiliate and bully them. Representatives of the two opposition parties represented in Armenian parliament expressed concern over the detentions. Arman Abovian of the Prosperous Armenia Party cited “quite serious questions” about their legality and timing. Taron Simonian, a lawmaker representing the Bright Armenia Party, saw “no obvious grounds” for the detentions carried out by masked officers of a special police unit tasked with combatting organized crime. “I am asking and urging our police officers to stick to the letter of the law,” he said. Makunts, who leads the parliamentary group of Pashinian’s My Step bloc, reacted to those concerns. “I think that law-enforcement bodies should present explanations of the grounds on which they took the actions,” Makunts told reporters. “I don’t think that it’s right to evaluate those grounds that before the law-enforcers present them.” “As for the detained individuals, if they think that their rights were violated there are all necessary legal provisions for them to protect their rights,” she said. “In the meantime, we will wait for the police explanations.” Makunts added that she will raise the matter with the acting chief of the national police, Arman Sargsian, when he meets with My Step lawmakers on Thursday. One of those lawmakers, Hayk Konjorian, denied that the radical activists are persecuted for their political views and activities. “Only politicians can be subjected to political persecution in any hypothetical situation,” said Konjorian. “There is no political persecution in Armenia. Armenia has a fully democratic system. The individuals who were detained yesterday are not politicians.” Malian used to work as an adviser to former police chief Vladimir Gasparian and now leads a group called Veto. Ter-Nakalian and another activist, Artur Danielian, are the leaders of the nationalist Adekvad movement. Both groups rely heavily on social media in their campaigns against the government. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org