Wednesday, Armenian Prosecutors Consider First Asset Seizures • Naira Bulghadarian Armenia -- Srbouhi Galian speaks to RFE/RL, April 15, 2020. Armenian prosecutors have started scrutinizing assets of more than 200 people to determine whether they were acquired illegally and can be confiscated under a controversial law enacted earlier this year. The law drafted by the Armenian government allows the prosecutors to conduct such inquiries in case of having “sufficient grounds to suspect” that the market value of an individual’s assets exceeds their “legal income” by at least 50 million drams ($100,000). Should the prosecutors find such discrepancies they can ask courts to nationalize them 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 authorities, which would require them to hand over at least 75 percent of their assets in and outside Armenia to the state. The politically sensitive process is handled by a special team of prosecutors formed in September and overseen by Deputy Prosecutor-General Srbuhi Galian. Galian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday that the team is now investigating 206 people suspected of having enriched themselves illegally. She declined to name any of them or say whether there are well-known individuals among them. “I hope that the public will hear in the near future about the practical application of this legal instrument,” said the 28-year-old official. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly portrayed the law as a major anti-corruption measure that will help his administration recover “wealth stolen from the people.” Pashinian has indicated his intention to use it against the country’s former rulers and their cronies. Opposition groups and figures, among them supporters of former President Serzh Sarkisian, have condemned the law as unconstitutional and accused Pashinian of planning a far-reaching “redistribution of assets” to cement his hold on power. Final decisions on asset forfeiture are due to be made by special anti-corruption courts which the Armenian authorities plan to set up soon. The government has already drafted a bill on such courts. It is not yet clear when it will be debated by the National Assembly. Armenian Government Eases Martial Law Armenia -- Riot police detain an opposition protester in Yerevan, December 1, 2020. Armenia’s government lifted on Wednesday serious restrictions on civil liberties stemming from martial law declared by it following the outbreak of the Nagorno-Karabakh war on September 27. Martial law allowed the government to not only call a nationwide mobilization of army reservists but also ban rallies, strikes and media reports critical of its war-related decisions. Citing the mobilization, it also prohibited men under the age of 55 from leaving the country without permission granted by military authorities. The government announced the lifting of these bans in a decision posted on its website. The chief of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s staff also issued a separate statement to that effect. The move came one week after the pro-government majority in the Armenian parliament rejected opposition demands to lift martial law altogether. The two opposition parties represented in the National Assembly said the restrictions are no longer necessary after a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the bloody war on November 10. Government officials and parliament majority leaders countered that martial law is still needed for the ongoing redeployment of Armenian army units along Armenia’s border with four districts west of Karabakh handed over to Azerbaijan as a result of the war and the truce agreement. They said the Defense Ministry has drafted legislation allowing it to call up army reservists without martial law. The government, they said, needs time to examine and approve the ministry proposals. Opposition lawmakers claimed that the authorities are keeping the restrictions in place to stifle street protests against the truce accord that locked in Azerbaijan’s sweeping territorial gains. They also argued that martial law does not allow parliamentary motions of no confidence in Pashinian and his cabinet. Putin Backs Pashinian Over Karabakh Truce Implementation • Aza Babayan RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, December 2, 2020. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday praised Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for agreeing to the “painful” ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh and said Russia and its ex-Soviet allies should help him implement the Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement brokered by Moscow. “Armenia and the Armenian people have endured a really difficult period in their history,” Putin said during a virtual summit of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). “The leadership of Armenia, the prime minister had to take very hard but necessary, for the Armenian people, decisions. “I must say that those decisions were painful but, I repeat, necessary, and their adoption required the Armenian prime minister’s personal courage. This is obvious, and each of us participating in this meeting understands the extent of responsibility needed for making such decisions. He [Pashinian] took that responsibility.” “And our task now is to support both the prime minister and his team in order to establish a peaceful life, ensure the implementation of all adopted decisions and help people [in the Karabakh conflict zone] who have found themselves in a difficult situation,” added Putin. The remarks came amid continuing calls for Pashinian’s resignation voiced by Armenian opposition leaders and a growing number of public figures. They hold him responsible for sweeping territorial gains made by Azerbaijan during the war and locked in by the ceasefire agreement. Armenia - Opposition parties hold an anti-government rally in Liberty Square, Yerevan, November 18, 2020. The announcement of the agreement on November 10 provoked a series of anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan. Opposition groups plan to resume them on Saturday. Pashinian’s critics were further infuriated by Putin’s November 16 assertion that the Armenian side would have suffered fewer territorial losses and, in particular, retained control of the strategic Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha) had Pashinian agreed to Azerbaijan’s terms of a ceasefire on October 20. Pashinian has rejected the opposition demands for his resignation and snap parliamentary elections. He has pledged to “restore stability” in Armenia in the months ahead. Addressing the CSTO summit from Yerevan, Pashinian again thanked Putin for helping to stop the war with Azerbaijan and deploying Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh. He also complained about the slow pace of the exchange of Armenian and Azerbaijani prisoners of war and mutual handover of bodies of soldiers killed in action. Authorities Implicate Opposition Groups In Yerevan Riots Armenia - Angry protesters break into the prime minister's office, Yerevan, November 10, 2020. The National Security Service (NSS) on Wednesday accused Armenian opposition members and supporters of organizing violent protests in Yerevan following the announcement of the Russian-brokered ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hundreds of angry men broke into Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s office and residence and the Armenian parliament and ransacked them early on November 10. They condemned the ceasefire agreement as a sellout. Some of the protesters also beat up parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan. The latter underwent several surgeries as a result. In a statement, the NSS said it has indicted about 50 people and arrested 18 of them in a continuing criminal investigation into what it described as “mass disturbances” aimed at facilitating a violent overthrow of the Armenian government. The statement claimed that the participants of the riots were recruited by “supporters of political forces acting in the opposition field and having anti-government views.” Many of the rioters support former Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian or are affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and other opposition groups, it said. The security service added that it is now taking “large-scale investigative measures” to ascertain “the role of the organizers of the mass disturbances” and identify more people involved in the violence. It did not say whether it has already brought relevant criminal charges against any opposition politicians. A senior Dashnaktsutyun member, Bagrat Yesayan, said he has been questioned as a witness in the case but not charged by NSS investigators. He said the NSS is now trying to falsely implicate him in the violence. Yesayan accused the Armenian authorities of trying to link the riots to peaceful protests against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian launched by Dashnaktsutyun and over a dozen other opposition forces on November 10. The opposition forces hold Pashinian responsible for the outcome of the war and want him to resign. The prime minister has rejected their demands. Kocharian’s office was also quick to react to the NSS allegations. “It is widely known that President Kocharian has thousands of supporters who are patriotic and politically active people and always take part in various demonstrations and protest actions,” the office said in a statement. “The NSS’s functions and capacity are needed for another task: clarifying the motives of treasonous capitulators.” Pashinian discussed the NSS probe on Monday at a meeting with the heads of Armenian law-enforcement bodies, senior judges and other officials. He seemed upset with Armenian courts’ refusal to sanction the pre-trial arrest of many of the individuals accused of involvement in the November 10 violence. Opposition figures and other critics of the Armenian government accused Pashinian of pressuring the judiciary. Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, also expressed serious concern over the meeting. 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.