Tuesday,
Armenian Opposition Decides To Unblock Central Yerevan Boulevard
Supporters of the Homeland Salvation Movement have been blockading Yerevan’s
central Baghramian Avenue since late February
A loose alliance of over a dozen political parties and groups demanding the
resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has decided to unblock a central
boulevard in Yerevan that it has been blockading since late February.
In a statement disseminated on Tuesday the Homeland Salvation Movement
indicated, however, that it will continue its street protests elsewhere in the
city and will also expand to the provinces.
The decision by the Homeland Salvation Movement to unblock Baghramian Avenue,
where the Parliament building and several government offices are located, comes
less than a week after Pashinian announced that early parliamentary elections in
Armenia will be held in June.
Pashinian made the announcement after talks with Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of
the parliamentary opposition Prosperous Armenia party, which is one of the
members of the Homeland Salvation Movement.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the opposition movement indicated that it
still rejects the idea of snap elections at this stage and will continue to
demand Pashinian’s resignation and the formation of an interim government to be
led by its leader Vazgen Manukian before preterm elections could be held within
at least a year.
“It is already clear to all political and public forces that the development of
Armenia is impossible without a solution to the current crisis, moreover, [it is
clear that] the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country are at
stake. At the same time, it is obvious that nonstop struggle creates certain
inconveniences for citizens, which is not the goal of the Movement,” the Council
of the Homeland Salvation Movement said.
It said that in this view it has been decided “to start a new wave of political
actions, expanding their geography and involving the population of the
provinces… and to restore unrestricted traffic in [Yerevan’s] Baghramian Avenue,
eliminating inconveniences for citizens.”
The Council of the Homeland Salvation Movement added, however, that its
supporters will preserve a tent camp in a nearby less busy street adjacent to
the Parliament building where a rally has been scheduled for March 28.
“Our goal and agenda remain unchanged,” the Homeland Salvation Movement
concluded.
Pashinian To Top Governing Party’s Slate In Snap Elections
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian delivers a speech during a rally of his
supporters on Republic Square in downtown Yerevan, March 1, 2021
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will be the ruling party’s number one candidate
in early elections expected in Armenia in June, according to a parliament
majority leader.
“I think it is obvious that Nikol Pashinian will be at the top of the list of
candidates,” Lilit Makunts, the head of the pro-Pashinian My Step faction, said
during a news briefing in parliament on Tuesday.
Pashinian announced last week that early parliamentary elections in Armenia will
be held on June 20.
He had agreed on holding early elections and on their date with Gagik Tsarukian
and Edmon Marukian, the leaders of the two parliamentary opposition factions,
Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia, who believe that a snap vote is a way to
overcome the current political crisis in the country triggered by an Armenian
defeat in the 2020 war against Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In order to achieve the appointment of the early ballot on the indicated date
Pashinian will need to resign at some point in late April and the parliament
should twice within two weeks fail to field a new candidate to replace him.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party
Gagik Tsarukian, March 18, 2021
Pashinian’s My Step enjoys a comfortable majority in the Armenian parliament,
but it has sought a sort of arrangement with the parliamentary opposition to
ensure that no one is nominated to replace Pashinian if he steps down to pave
the way for general elections.
At least one political group in Armenia is seeking the formation of an interim
government after Pashinian’s resignation and does not want early elections to be
held immediately.
The Homeland Salvation Movement, a loose alliance of over a dozen political
parties and groups, has been holding street protests since a Russian-brokered
ceasefire was signed by Armenia and Azerbaijan on November 9 mostly on Baku’s
terms to put an end to six weeks of deadly fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The movement, which holds Pashinian responsible for the Armenian defeat and
accuses him of anything from incompetence to treason, wants its leader Vazgen
Manukian to be voted by parliament into the prime minister’s office once
Pashinian resigns before early parliamentary elections can be held within at
least a year.
Supporters of the Homeland Salvation Movement holding a protest in front of the
Parliament building in Yerevan’s Baghramian Avenue, March 6, 2021
Even after the announcement of the early election date, the Homeland Salvation
Movement has refused to discontinue its street protests or change its agenda.
Hundreds of its supporters are still blockading a central Yerevan boulevard
where the parliament building and several other government offices are located.
One of the most discussed topics in Armenia since the announcement of early
elections has been whether the current set of election-related laws should be
amended before the vote.
Bright Armenia’s Marukian has rejected the idea, fearing that a new electoral
code adopted just weeks before the vote will cast doubt on the legitimacy of its
outcome.
The Prosperous Armenia party also does not consider it advisable that a new
electoral code be adopted now, but like Bright Armenia it has indicated its
intention to participate in the elections in any case.
My Step parliamentary faction leader Lilit Makunts
Asked whether the majority faction intends to seek a new electoral code for the
June elections, My Step’s Makunts said: “We are inclined to make changes in the
Electoral Code to make a transition to an all-proportional ballot system to be
applied in the upcoming early elections. Discussions are underway at the moment.
These discussions include different segments. Amendments to the Electoral Code
imply quite significant changes, and a decision should also be made on whether
the ballot should be an all-proportional one. Also, the changes must be
realistic for the forthcoming elections.”
Asked whether the changes could concern only switching to an all-proportional
ballot system, Makunts said: “I don’t exclude anything at this moment.”
Under the current Electoral Code political parties and blocs contest seats in
the parliament based on a mixed system of representation, including party-list
ballots and individual races deciding the ratings of candidates within their own
parties and blocs. Critics argue that such individual races make elections less
political and more dependent on financial resources of candidates, creating more
risks of electoral fraud.
Armenian Constitutional Court Starts Examining Kocharian Claim
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian greets supporters during his trial,
Yerevan, February 25, 2020.
Armenia’s Constitutional Court has started the examination of applications from
former President Robert Kocharian and a lower court judge regarding the
compliance of a penal code article to the country’s basic law.
At the heart of the dispute is Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code that concerns
“overthrowing the constitutional order” under which Kocharian is currently being
tried by a lower court and faces up to 15 years in prison.
In May 2019, the Court of General Jurisdiction in Yerevan presided over by Judge
David Grigorian, along with the order to release Kocharian from pretrial
detention, decided to suspend the case and apply to the Constitutional Court to
check whether the penal code article under which Kocharian is accused is
constitutional.
Kocharian’s lawyers submitted a separate application to the Constitutional Court
regarding the same matter.
Kocharian, his former chief of staff Armen Gevorgian and two retired army
generals stand accused of “overthrowing the constitutional order” in the wake of
a disputed presidential election held in 2008.
In particular, the matter concerns the alleged use by the Kocharian government
of the army to quell street protests.
Kocharian and the three other defendants deny that the military was used in the
dispersal of opposition demonstrations in which 10 people were killed.
They all reject the accusations as politically motivated.
Kocharian’s lawyers find that the penal code article under which their client is
charged is too general. Besides, they find that since it was not in the criminal
code in 2008, it could not be applied retrospectively against the former leader.
Kocharian was first arrested and indicted in July 2018, two months after the
“Velvet Revolution” that brought current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to power.
(Pashinian was one of the opposition leaders who contested the outcome of the
2008 presidential election and was actively involved in street demonstrations.
In 2010, he was convicted of “organizing mass disorders” and sentenced to seven
years in prison, but was amnestied and freed the following year, having spent
less than two years in jail.)
Grigorian’s order to release Kocharian from pretrial detention was overruled by
a higher court and the judge himself was prosecuted on an unrelated charge of
documentary forgery. The court, however, later acquitted Grigorian.
Meanwhile, Kocharian was rearrested in June 2019. The judge who took over
Kocharian’s trial later that year, Anna Danibekian, repeatedly refused to
release the ex-president from custody pending a verdict in the case. In June
2020, the Court of Appeals overturned Danibekian’s decision to deny Kocharian
bail and ordered him freed. Eventually, Kocharian was freed after paying a
record $4.1 million bail set by Armenia’s Court of Appeals.
Remarkably, at today’s hearing, lower court judge Danibekian announced that the
court proceedings against Kocharian and others in the case that have lasted for
more than a year and a half and were accompanied with various petitions from the
counsel for the defense “have entered the trial stage.”
After this announcement Kocharian’s lawyers boycotted the court session and left
the courtroom, which led to the postponement of the proceedings.
It was also announced that prosecutors will present their case against the
defendants at next week’s hearing.
Kocharian, who ruled Armenia in 1998-2008, has criticized Pashinian and his
government for mishandling the 2020 war against Azerbaijan that ended in the
defeat of Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and triggered a political crisis
in Armenia.
The 66-year former leader has called for Pashinian’s resignation and the
formation of an interim government. In a January interview the former leader
also said that he will participate in snap parliamentary elections and win them
even if they are held by Armenia’s current government.
Last week, after consultations with the parliamentary opposition, Pashinian
announced that early elections in Armenia will be held in June.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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