Tuesday,
Armenian Mayor Freed But Indicted
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L), Goris Mayor Arush
Arushanian (C) and other officials walk through the center of the town,
September 12, 2020.
A court in Yerevan ordered a law-enforcement agency on Tuesday to release the
mayor of the Armenian town of Goris who was arrested after calling for civil
disobedience against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Nevertheless, the Investigative Committee leveled a string of criminal charges
against the 29-year-old mayor, Arush Arushanian. It also asked the court to
remand him in pre-trial custody.
Arushanian was among the heads of more than a dozen communities in Armenia’s
southeastern Syunik province who issued earlier this month statements condemning
Pashinian’s handling of the war with Azerbaijan and demanding his resignation.
They accused him of putting Syunik’s security at grave risk with Armenian troop
withdrawals completed over the weekend.
Arushanian urged Goris residents late on Sunday to block a regional highway and
not allow Pashinian to visit Syunik. He was arrested several hours later.
It emerged afterwards that Arushanian is suspected of organizing an illegal
gathering. The Investigative Committee said he is also a suspect in several
criminal investigations conducted by it.
Arushanian’s lawyer and supporters said that the arrest is politically
motivated. The lawyer, Armen Melkonian, challenged it in court.
The Yerevan court found the Arushanian’s arrest unjustified and ordered his
release.
“This is a political persecution,” Arushanian told reporters after being set
free.
The mayor defended the road blockade that forced Pashinian to cut short a visit
to Syunik on Monday. “That man has no right to enter Syunik because he has
handed over territory defended by the people of Syunik and vital for their
security to the enemy,” he said.
Shortly after the court order, the Investigative Committee said that Arushanian
has been formally charged with organizing the unsanctioned protest, abusing his
powers, engaging in illegal business activity and violent assault, and violating
environmental protection norms. It did not say whether the investigators will
ask the court to remand the mayor in pre-trial custody.
Melkonian described the accusations as “laughable” while saying he is not yet
familiar with their details.
Armenian Opposition Resumes Anti-Government Protests (UPDATED)
• Gayane Saribekian
• Astghik Bedevian
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Opposition supporters rally at Yerevan's Republic Square to demand
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's resignation, .
Thousands of people poured into Yerevan’s main square on Tuesday as the Armenian
opposition tried to intensify its campaign for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
resignation.
Leaders of a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties said they will
hold daily demonstrations until Pashinian agrees to hand over power to an
interim government tasked with holding snap parliamentary elections within a
year.
“We must take the whole state system away from Nikol Pashinian as a result of
sustained, consistent and well-organized efforts,” one of them, Ishkhan
Saghatelian, told the crowd demonstrating at the city’s Republic Square where
the main government building is located.
Vazgen Manukian, who has been nominated by the opposition National Salvation
Movement as a caretaker prime minister, urged Armenia’s armed forces and police
to stop executing Pashinian’s orders and “join the people.” “Switch to our side
so that we solve the issue today,” he said.
At Saghatelian’s urging, some of the protesters chanting “Nikol traitor”
surrounded the nearby building of the prime minister’s office guarded by several
rows of riot police.
A group of other protesters walked to another building that houses several
government ministries. They briefly scuffled with riot police there.
The opposition leaders went on to give the Armenian parliament’s pro-government
majority until 6 p.m. to meet with them and discuss their demands. Lawmakers
representing Pashinian’s My Step bloc ignored the offer.
One of those lawmakers, Maria Karapetian, said the ruling bloc will not meet any
of the opposition demands. She claimed that the snap polls sought by the
opposition would be held by “election falsifiers” if Pashinian were to resign
now.
The opposition responded by pledging to step up the pressure on the
parliamentary majority. “If they are not conscious of the popular demand then we
have to force a session of the parliament,” Saghatelian said in another speech
delivered at Republic Square later in the day.
The organizers pitched tents in the sprawling square for protesters willing to
spend the night there.
Armenia -- Opposition supporters rally at Yerevan's Republic Square to demand
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's resignation, .
The opposition forces hold Pashinian responsible for the Armenian side’s defeat
in the recent war with Azerbaijan and say he is not capable of confronting new
security challenges facing Armenia. Their demands for his resignation and the
formation of an interim government have been backed by President Armen
Sarkissian, the Armenian Apostolic Church and prominent public figures in
Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora.
In a statement issued earlier on Tuesday, Pashinian again made clear that he has
no intention to step down. He portrayed the ongoing anti-government protests as
a revolt by the country’s “elites” that lost their “privileges” when he swept to
power in 2018.
Karapetian rejected any parallels between the ongoing anti-government protests
and the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” “This is an attempt to use democratic
instruments against democracy and we will not allow that,” she said.
The opposition alliance called last week for a general strike and boycott of
university classes for December 22. It was not immediately clear how many
Armenians heeded the appeal.
At least one major highway was reportedly blocked by opposition supporters on
Tuesday afternoon.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic Armenian universities switched back to online
classes in October.
In statements issued in recent days, the deans and professors of 11 of the 19
departments of Yerevan State University (YSU) backed the opposition campaign of
civil disobedience. The deans included Naghash Martirosian of YSU’s Journalist
Department.
Martirosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the department’s ongoing exam
session was not interrupted on Tuesday. He said the department statement in
support of the opposition was a largely symbolic move designed to “demonstrate
our concerns over the existing uncertainties” in the country.
YSU’s Physics Department did not add its voice to the opposition demands for
Pashinian’s resignation. The department dean, Rafik Hakobian, said he believes
it must steer clear of political processes.
Several other Armenian universities likewise avoided openly backing the
opposition. But they made clear that their employees are free to go on strike
and join the protests.
Pashinian Continues To Claim Popular Support
Armenia -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visits the town of Sisian,
.
Amid continuing opposition protests in Yerevan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
on Tuesday insisted that he still enjoys popular support and that his
resignation is primarily sought by Armenia’s “elite” overthrown by him in 2018.
Pashinian claimed that opposition and other groups trying to topple him in the
aftermath of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh are pitting themselves against “the
people.”
“The ‘elite’ that lost power in Armenia as a result of the 2018 revolution is
trying to take revenge,” he wrote on Facebook. “And we are talking about not
only the political elite but also all those who had privileges until 2018 and
have not had them since 2018.”
“Thus the real confrontation is not between the government and the opposition
but between the people and the ‘elite’ that lost privileges in 2018,” he said,
adding that it is up to “the people” to decide whether he should stay in power.
Pashinian issued the statement shortly before a coalition of more than a dozen
Armenian opposition parties resumed demonstrations in Yerevan aimed at forcing
him to hand over power to an interim government that would hold snap
parliamentary elections within a year.
Armenia -- Opposition supporters rally in Yerevan's Republic Square to demand
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's resignation, .
The parties making up the ad hoc Homeland Salvation Movement called last week
for a general strike and boycott of university classes for December 22. One of
their leaders said it will be “the most decisive day” of their push for regime
change.
The opposition forces hold Pashinian responsible for the Armenian side’s defeat
in the war and say he is not capable of confronting new security challenges
facing Armenia. Their demands for his resignation and the formation of an
interim government have been backed by President Armen Sarkissian, the Armenian
Apostolic Church and prominent public figures in Armenia and its worldwide
Diaspora.
Pashinian faced angry protests on Monday as he headed to Armenia’s southeastern
Syunik province in hopes of reassuring local residents seriously concerned about
their security following Armenian troop withdrawals from Azerbaijani districts
adjacent to Syunik. The protests forced him to cut short the visit.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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