Tuesday,
Armenian President Signs Bill On Asset Seizures
Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian (R) and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
attend a conference in Dilijan, June 8, 2019.
President Armen Sarkissian has signed into law a controversial government bill
allowing the confiscation of private properties and other assets deemed to have
been acquired illegally, while warning against its “unscrupulous enforcement” by
the authorities.
The bill passed by the Armenian parliament last month allows prosecutors to
investigate individuals in case of having “sufficient grounds to suspect” that
the market value of their assets exceeds their “legal incomes” by at least 50
million drams ($103,000). Should the prosecutors find such discrepancies they
can ask courts to nationalize those assets even if their owners are not found
guilty of corruption or other criminal offenses.
The latter will have to prove the legality of their holdings if they are to
retain them. They will also be given the option of reaching an out-of-court
settlement with the prosecutors, which would require them to hand over at least
75 percent of their assets in and outside Armenia to the state.
The government says that current and former state officials facing corruption
charges will be the main targets of the legal mechanism for asset forfeiture.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly portrayed it as a major
anti-corruption measure that will help the authorities recover “wealth stolen
from the people.” Pashinian has indicated in recent weeks his intention to use
it against the country’s former rulers and their cronies repeatedly branded by
him as “plunderers.”
The two opposition parties represented in the parliament have backed the bill in
principle while proposing various amendments to it and voicing other
reservations.
But other, more hardline opposition groups and figures have condemned the bill
as unconstitutional and accused Pashinian of planning a far-reaching
“redistribution of assets” to cement his hold on power. They claim that this
will only discourage Armenian and foreign entrepreneurs from investing in the
country.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian likewise warned that the bill could scare
away investors and lead to capital flight from Armenia when the government
discussed and approved it in December.
Some of the critics, among them supporters of the former government, urged
Sarkissian last month to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the bill’s
conformity with the Armenian constitution.
The president decided to sign the bill into law, however. In a lengthy
explanatory note released on Monday, his office said that “numerous” Armenian
non-governmental organizations, legal experts and even foreign investors have
voiced concern over the legislation and its possible negative impact on the
domestic business environment. It said the presidential administration has
discussed those concerns with Justice Minister Rustam Badasian and received
“clarifications” from him.
“The president of the republic attaches great importance to the fight against
crime,” read the statement. “At the same time, it is expected that the law must
be implemented in strict conformity with the legitimate aim of its passage.”
“An unscrupulous enforcement of the law could undermine trust in the state and
jeopardize its effectiveness,” it said.
Sarkissian’s office specifically warned the authorities against arbitrarily
accessing and using citizens’ personal data, breaching bank secrecy or hampering
business activity and competition.
The statement did not clearly explain why Sarkissian chose not to request a
Constitutional Court judgment on the legality of asset seizures sought by the
government.
Meanwhile, Pashinian met with Badasian later on Monday to discuss practical
modalities of the law’s implementation. The justice minister, who is the main
author of the legislation, confirmed that the process will be handled by a new
division that will be set up within the Office of the Prosecutor-General in the
coming months.
Kocharian Has Another Operation
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian is brought to a courtroom in
Yerevan, May 8, 2020.
Armenia’s jailed former President Robert Kocharian underwent surgery on Tuesday
for the second time in seven months.
Kocharian’s office said that the operation went according to plan and that he is
now in a “satisfactory” condition. It did not reveal the medical condition he
suffered from.
Kocharian, who is standing trial on corruption and coup charges strongly denied
by him, was already operated on at Yerevan’s Izmirlian Medical Center in
October. He was again the taken to the private hospital on April 28 for what one
of his lawyers described as a “post-operative checkup.”
Earlier this spring, Kocharian spent more than three weeks in another hospital
after complaining of blood pressure fluctuations. He was sent back to prison on
April 3.
Kocharian’s lawyers have since repeatedly demanded his release from custody on
health grounds, saying that he risks being infected with coronavirus. They say
that 65-year-old is in a COVID-19 high-risk group because of his age and health
problems.
The lawyers reiterated their demands on Friday when a Yerevan court resumed the
high-profile trial of Kocharian and three other former officials prosecuted on
charges mostly stemming from the 2008 post-election unrest in the Armenian
capital.
Three former Armenian prime ministers also attended the court hearing to ask the
presiding judge, Anna Danibekian, to free Kocharian pending the outcome of the
trial. Danibekian is scheduled to respond to these petitions on Wednesday.
Kocharian rejects all charges leveled against him as politically motivated.
Government Won’t Rule Out Renewed Coronavirus Restrictions
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia -- A COVID-19 patient and a medic at the intensive care unit of Surp
Grigor Lusavorich hospital, Yerevan, . (A photo by the Armenian
Mnistry of Health)
The government could re-impose restrictions on people’s movements if coronavirus
cases continue to spread in Armenia, a senior official said on Tuesday.
“We may again tighten restrictions if need be,” Vahan Hunanian, a spokesman for
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Hunanian said that the government has still not decided whether to extend a
coronavirus-related state of emergency which ends on Thursday. “When a final
decision is made we will announce it,” he added.
The government declared the state of emergency on March 16 and imposed a
nationwide lockdown a few days later in a bid to contain the coronavirus
epidemic. It began easing the resulting restrictions already on April 13.
The lockdown was largely lifted by May 4 despite increased daily numbers of new
COVID-19 infections and Health Minister Arsen Torosian’s warnings that the
authorities will soon be unable to hospitalize or isolate all infected people.
The Armenian Ministry of Health reported 146 coronavirus cases on Tuesday
morning, raising the country’s total to 3,538. It also said that one more person
died from the virus in the past 24 hours. The official death toll from the
epidemic thus reached 47.
The ministry has also reported the deaths of 19 other individuals infected with
the COVID-19. It claims that they died as a result of other, pre-existing
conditions.
Hasmik Ghazinian, an epidemiologist, said that the number of cases and
fatalities is continuing to rise rapidly because the lockdown restrictions were
not strict enough and were not taken seriously by many Armenians. “The
restrictions that were put in place were not really restrictions,” she said.
Some restrictions such as a ban on public transport and the closure of schools
and universities remain in force. Also, supermarkets, other shops and small
businesses must require customers to wear face masks and gloves. Many of them do
not comply with this requirement.
Ghazinian suggested that supermarkets’ failure to enforce social distancing and
hygiene rules is one of the main causes of the continuing spread of the virus.
Opposition Party Boycotts Armenian Parliament After Violence
• Tatevik Lazarian
Armenia -- Empty seats of deputies from the opposition Bright Armenia Party
boycotting sessions of parliament, Yerevan, .
Deputies representing the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK) continued to
boycott on Tuesday sessions of the parliament in protest against the violent
conduct of their pro-government colleagues which they say is encouraged by Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian.
They walked out of the National Assembly last Friday following a brawl involving
LHK leader Edmon Marukian and several deputies from Pashinian’s My Step bloc.
One of those lawmakers, Sasun Mikaelian, punched Marukian while the latter spoke
on the parliament in the presence of Pashinian and government ministers.
Pashinian deplored the violence but effectively blamed it on the LHK. Marukian’s
party charged in response that he thereby “justified, legitimized and
encouraged” violence against his political opponents. It also demanded the
resignation of Mikaelian and two other My Step deputies who also hit Marukian
during the fight.
The ruling bloc responded by saying that they will resign from the parliament
only if Marukian and two other LHK deputies quit too.
Marukian shrugged off the proposal in a video address livestreamed on Facebook
overnight. He claimed that Pashinian wants to get rid of his “last opponents” in
the parliament.
“Why should we hand our mandates?” said Marukian. “Who did we punch? Sasun
Mikaelian must definitely give up his mandate because he has nothing to do with
politics.”
“We are victims of violence whereas you are its perpetrators and initiators,” he
added, appealing to the ruling bloc.
“They are not victims, they are a party to the conflict,” countered Lilit
Makunts, the bloc’s parliamentary leader.
“I am calling on my esteemed colleague to return to the political field and to
put the work of the National Assembly back on a substantive track,” she told
reporters.
Makunts also said that My Step has “drawn our conclusions” from the ugly
incident and expects the same from the opposition party.
None of the 17 deputies representing the LHK showed up for Tuesday’s session of
the 132-member parliament. The boycott led speaker Ararat Mirzoyan to postpone a
planned debate on two LHK bills by two months.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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