Friday, Pashinian Ally Condemned For Insulting Journalists • Gayane Saribekian Armenia - Vahagn Aleksanian, a deputy from the ruling Civil Contract party, speaks in theparliament, Yerevan,April 13, 2021. Armenian press freedom groups on Friday strongly condemned a pro-government parliamentarian for branding journalists very critical of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian as “prostitutes.” The controversial lawmaker, Vahagn Aleksanian, lashed out at unnamed TV channels linked to the Armenian opposition in a speech delivered on the parliament floor this week. He claimed that ever since Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan they have been busy disseminating “hate speech” against Pashinian and his family members on a daily basis. “They are not journalists, they are verbal prostitutes,” Aleksanian said without naming names or giving any examples of the alleged disinformation. Ashot Melikian of the Yerevan-based Committee to Protect Freedom of Speech condemned the remarks, saying that nothing can justify public insults directed at reporters. “The vocabulary used by Vahagn Aleksanian … is a classic example of hate speech,” Melikian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Vahagn Aleksanian must at least apologize to journalists,” he said. “If he doesn’t do that, the political force which he represents must do in his place.” A former spokesman for Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, Aleksanian frequently lambastes the prime minister’s detractors in and outside the National Assembly. He was among three Civil Contract deputies who physically assaulted an opposition colleague in August, sparking a mass brawl on the parliament floor. Armenia - Ashot Melikian, chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, at a news conference, October 22, 2021. Shushan Doydoyan, the head of the Center for Freedom of Information, demanded that the National Assembly’s ethics commission investigate Aleksanian’s diatribe. She said the commission should also determine “whether his job is to defend the dignity of the family of a certain high-ranking official,” rather than pass laws. “If so, he should starting working as a paid lawyer,” added Doydoyan. Gegham Manukian, an opposition lawmaker who used to run a TV channel linked to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), added his voice to the criticism. “I also want to appeal to the political majority [in the parliament,]” he said. “Do not forget that you may not be in power and may need protection tomorrow. For everyone’s sake, do not allow such bullying.” In the course of last year Armenian media associations repeatedly accused Pashinian’s administration of seeking to curb press freedom in the country. In particular, they denounced government-backed bills that tripled maximum legal fines for “slander” and made it a crime to gravely insult state officials and public figures. They also criticized parliament speaker Alen Simonian’s decision to seriously restrict journalists’ freedom of movements inside the parliament building. Melikian said on Friday that Armenia’s current and former authorities “very much resemble each other in terms of their attitudes” to the media. European Envoys Visit Armenia, Azerbaijan • Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets the representative of the French Presidency to the Council of the European Union, Isabelle Dumont, and the EU's special representative to the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar, . Senior European diplomats have visited Azerbaijan and Armenia to discuss ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions along the border between the two countries. Toivo Klaar, the European Union’s special representative to the South Caucasus, and French envoy Isabelle Dumont met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Thursday before proceeding to Yerevan for talks with Armenian leaders held on Friday. Klaar described the meetings as “excellent.” “The EU is firmly committed to peaceful and prosperous South Caucasus,” he tweeted at the end of what he called a “successful” visit. In a separate tweet, the EU envoy said he and Dumont wanted to “follow up on December meetings in Brussels” held by Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. The two leaders met in the Belgian capital twice in the space of two days on the sidelines of the EU’s Eastern Partnership summit with five former Soviet republics. The talks were hosted by European Council President Charles Michel and French President Emmanuel Macron. Michel said on December 15 that Aliyev and Pashinian agreed to take “further tangible steps” that would create a “conducive atmosphere” for planned negotiations on the demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The EU is ready to provide “technical assistance” to the demarcation process, he said. Aliyev and Pashinian pledged to set up a joint commission on border delimitation and demarcation when they held a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on November 26. Armenian officials said earlier this week that the commission should start its work after a set of confidence-building measures, notably the withdrawal of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops from their border posts. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov rejected the Armenian “preconditions,” saying that Baku stands for an immediate and unconditional start of the demarcation process. Armenia’s Foreign Ministry insisted on Thursday that the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders agreed on the mutual troop withdrawal during the Brussels talks. A spokesman for Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign and security policy chief, called for a “distancing of forces and confidence-building measures” when he reacted to fresh deadly fighting that erupted on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border last week. Official Armenian and Azerbaijani sources gave few details of the visiting European envoys’ talks in the two capitals. Pashinian’s press office said the prime minister discussed with them “steps aimed at de-escalating the situation and ensuring stability on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.” Pro-Government Lawmakers Urge Release Of Former Defense Minister • Anush Mkrtchian Armenia - Former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan. Two members of Armenia’s parliament representing the ruling Civil Contract party have called for former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan’s release from custody pending the outcome of his trial. In a petition submitted on Thursday to the judge presiding over the trial, Kristine Poghosian and Vilen Gabrielian said they guarantee that Tonoyan’s will not obstruct justice if set free. The petition as also signed by Aram Sarkisian, the leader of the pro-government Hanrapetutyun party not represented in the National Assembly. Tonoyan, the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Artak Davtian, two other generals and an arms dealer went on trial on Wednesday, accused of supplying the armed forces with faulty ammunition. They all deny the accusations. Unlike the other defendants, Davtian has not been arrested or fired. He has not publicly commented on the case so far. The presiding judge, Manvel Shahverdian, accepted prosecutors’ demand that the trial be held behind the closed door because of “state secrets” involved. Defense lawyers strongly objected to the decision. They also demanded that Shahverdian free all detained suspects. The judge began considering the demands, including the petition or Tonoyan, on Friday. It was not immediately clear when he will announce his decision. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian appointed Tonoyan as defense minister just days after coming to power in May 2018. The latter was sacked in November 2020 less than two weeks after a Russian-brokered agreement stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. In a statement released early this month, Tonoyan warned that he must not be made a scapegoat for Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war. He pledged to make “surprise” revelations in that regard. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.