Wednesday, Yerevan Reassures Iranian Envoy Over Bypass Road • Naira Nalbandian Armenia - Armenia's Deputy Prime Minister Suren Papikian (right) meets with Iranian Ambassador Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, Yerevan, . Deputy Prime Minister Suren Papikian told Iran’s ambassador in Yerevan on Wednesday that Armenia will complete soon work on an alternative road that will allow Iranian trucks to bypass an Azerbaijani roadblock set up on the main highway connecting the two states. Azerbaijan gained control over a 21-kilometer section of the highway last December following an Armenian troop withdrawal from border areas along Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province. Azerbaijani officers deployed there began stopping and taxing on September 12 Iranian trucks delivering goods to and from Armenia. Many truck drivers have refused to pay the “road tax” reportedly ranging from $150 to $350 per vehicle. Iranian Ambassador Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri has since met with various Armenian officials to discuss the resulting disruptions in cargo traffic between Armenia and Iran. He said last week that Tehran hopes the Armenian government will speed up the ongoing reconstruction of the alternative Syunik road bypassing Armenian-Azerbaijani border areas. In a statement, Papikian said he assured Zohouri that the 70-kilometer bypass road will be fully refurbished “by the end of November.” He also reiterated that it will be extended further north to divert traffic from a tortuous mountain pass outside the Syunik village of Tatev. Papikian added that he also reaffirmed the Armenian government’s plans to build or refurbish other Syunik roads leading to the Iranian border. The government hopes that the European Union and other international donors will finance the ambitious project worth an estimated $1 billion. Iran is a major trading partner of Armenia and one of the landlocked country’s two conduits to the outside the world. Up to one-third of Armenia’s foreign trade is carried out via the Islamic Republic and its Persian Gulf ports in particular. Yerevan has reacted to cautiously to Baku’s decision to levy hefty fees from Iranian vehicles entering Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian suggested on September 15 the move is aimed at pressuring Armenia to open a transport corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik. But he stopped short of demanding an end to the serious hurdle to Armenia’s transport links with Iran. Gohar Iskandarian, a Yerevan-based Iran expert, also pointed to Papikian’s recent remark that it is up to Tehran and Baku to sort out the road crisis. “Iran and Azerbaijan are talking about the problem in a quite forceful way, whereas Armenia is making no such statements,” Iskandarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “On the contrary, [Yerevan] has adopted a very passive stance, saying that this is beyond the scope of our powers.” Shortly after Baku set up the roadblock the Iranian military reportedly began massing troops and holding exercises along the Iranian-Azerbaijani border. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev criticized the drills on Monday. Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the criticism. Armenian Officials Reject Freedom House Criticism • Gayane Saribekian Armenia - Deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party attend the inaugural session of the recently elected National Assemnly, Yerevan, August 2, 2021. Pro-government lawmakers dismissed on Wednesday U.S. democracy watchdog Freedom House’s strong criticism of recently enacted legislation allowing Armenian authorities prosecute people insulting state officials. The amendments to the Armenian Criminal Code make “grave insults” directed at individuals because of their “public activities” crimes punishable by heavy fines and a prison sentence of up to three months. Those individuals may include government and law-enforcement officials, politicians and other public figures. Invoking the new Criminal Code clauses, the Armenian police launched earlier this month criminal proceedings against a social media user who allegedly made an offensive comment about Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on his Facebook page. Freedom House deplored the development in a statement issued on Tuesday. The Washington-based watchdog urged the Armenian authorities to stop enforcing “this unconstitutional legislation” which it said indicates a “clear degradation of democratic norms in Armenia, including freedom of expression.” Vahagn Hovakimian, a parliament deputy from Pashinian’s Civil Contract party and one of the authors of the legislation, denied such a regression in the country. He said that Pashinian’s political team criminalized grave insults, rather than defamation. “I am saddened to see inaccurate things in the Freedom House appeal because the international organization was misled in this particular case,” the former journalist told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. Another pro-government lawmaker, Zaruhi Batoyan, also defended the controversial amendments. She said they are needed to tackle widespread verbal abuse circulated on Armenian social media accounts. “Maybe this should be a temporary solution, but it is necessary at this point and our social life testifies to that,” said the former labor minister and civic activist. By contrast, Artsvik Minasian, a parliamentary leader of the main opposition Hayastan alliance, echoed the Freedom House criticism. “This law cannot contribute to Armenia’s democratic development,” said Minasian. “On the contrary, it will help Armenia regress in the objective rankings of all human rights organizations.” Hayastan and other opposition groups claim that Pashinian himself has relied heavily on slander and “hate speech” since coming to power in 2018. All forms of slander and defamation had been decriminalized in Armenia in 2010 during then President Serzh Sarkisian’s rule. Armenia's Water Operator Seeking Price Hike • Artak Khulian Armenia - A sign outside the Yerevan headquarters of the Veolia Djur company, September 2, 2018. A French company managing Armenia’s water distribution network has asked public utility regulators to allow it to raise the price of drinking water in the country by over 24 percent. The price has stood at 180 drams (37 U.S. cents) per cubic meter ever since the Veolia utility giant took over the nationwide network in 2017 after signing a 15-year management contract with the former Armenian government. Garegin Baghramian, the chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC), said on Wednesday that the company’s Armenian subsidiary, Veolia Djur, requested last month permission to raise it to almost 224 drams per cubic meter. The operator cited, among other things, higher-than-expected inflation and the increased cost of electricity, he told reporters. Under Armenian law, the PSRC has to fully or partly approve the tariff rise or reject it by December 1. Baghramian signaled the regulatory body’s intention to agree to a higher water price. He argued that the management contract with Veolia envisages price hikes for the coming years. But he stressed that the tariff will likely remain unchanged for about 100,000 low-income households that already enjoy electricity and natural gas price discounts. The official also revealed that the PSRC and the government are negotiating with Veolia on a deal that would set a fixed water price for the next 10 years. Veolia managed the water and sewerage network of Yerevan from 2007-2016, phasing out Soviet-era water rationing in the vast majority of city neighborhoods. The 2016 contract commits it to investing 37.5 billion drams ($77 million) in Armenia’s aging and inefficient water distribution network. It is not clear how much the company has invested so far. Veolia Djur has still not responded to relevant questions sent by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service last week. Dozens Of Karabakh Civilians Still Missing After 2020 War • Karlen Aslanian NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- An Azeri military truck drives along a street in the town of Hadrut, November 25, 2020 About two dozen civilian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh remain unaccounted for one year after the outbreak of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war, according to the authorities in Stepanakert. “They are mostly elderly or disabled individuals who did not manage to leave their places of residence in the Hadrut, Shushi and Askeran districts [occupied by Azerbaijani forces,]” Gegham Stepanian, Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday. “I presume that those individuals too were subjected to torture or killed, but their bodies have not been handed over to the Armenian side to date,” he said. “It is also possible that some of them remain in Azerbaijani captivity. Azerbaijan does not provide any real information about their whereabouts.” Stepanian claimed that 38 other Karabakh Armenian civilians were executed or tortured to death after being captured by Azerbaijani forces. He said their bodies recovered by Karabakh authorities bore traces of violence. In December 2020, Britain’s The Guardian daily examined gruesome videos that show men in Azerbaijani army uniforms beheading two elderly men recognized by their Karabakh Armenian relatives and neighbors. “The ethnic Armenian men were non-combatants, people in their respective villages said,” reported the paper. “The villagers’ testimony in interviews with the Guardian corroborates identifications by a human rights ombudsman for the Armenian-backed local government and two prominent Armenian human rights lawyers preparing a criminal case relating to the murders,” it said. So far Azerbaijan has admitted detaining only three ethnic Armenian civilians during the six-week war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire last November. It has denied ill-treating them or Armenian soldiers taken prisoner. According to Baku, 93 civilian residents of Azerbaijani towns and villages shelled by the Armenian military were killed during the hostilities. Stepanian’s office has reported 42 civilian deaths caused by Azerbaijani shelling of Karabakh. The war also left at least 3,700 Armenian soldiers dead. According to Armenian authorities, 231 others remain unaccounted for. Azerbaijan’s government has acknowledged more than 2,800 combat deaths in the Azerbaijani army ranks. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.