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 Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.