Friday,
Ex-Official Sees No Conflict Of Interest In Contesting ‘Grave Insults’ Law
• Naira Nalbandian
Kristine Grigorian addresses the National Assembly shorly before being elected
Armenia's new human rights defender, Yerevan, January 24, 2022.
Armenia’s newly appointed ombudswoman Kristine Grigorian sees no conflict of
interest in pursuing a case in the Constitutional Court next week against a law
that she herself presented in parliament as a deputy justice minister half a
year ago.
The matter concerns the criminalization of serious insults adopted by parliament
last summer.
Under amendments to the Armenian Criminal Code enacted last summer anyone
insulting government officials and public figures risks paying hefty fines or
going to jail for up to three months.
Opposition members and human rights activists criticized the authorities for
adopting the measure, describing it as an infringement of free speech.
Former ombudsman Arman Tatoyan took the matter to the Constitutional Court,
insisting that the law is unconstitutional.
Grigorian took over Tatoyan’s office in February and is now due to present the
case at litigations opening on March 22.
Talking to reporters on Friday, Grigorian insisted that there is no conflict of
interest in her involvement in the case on the other side now.
“According to our legislation, it is the government that presents its position.
I presented the government’s point of view as a co-rapporteur,” she explained.
Grigorian added that she was not going to withdraw any application submitted to
the High Court by her predecessor. “But we do have some ambiguous perceptions
and problems with practice,” she added.
Tatoyan declined to comment on how unbiased his successor would be in pursuing a
case against amendments that she herself defended in parliament only a few
months ago. He only stressed the importance of a proper presentation of the case
against the criminalization of serious insults that he said has become a means
of shielding state officials and politicians from criticism.
The Constitutional Court did not suspend the effect of the law despite agreeing
to consider Tatoyan’s claim.
Since the adoption of the amendments last summer about two dozen criminal cases
have been referred to courts under the penal code article on “grave insults.”
The bulk of the cases are related to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who has
heard some strong-worded criticism mainly from the nationalist and conservative
flank of the political spectrum since Armenia’s defeat in a war against
Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.
A number of international organizations, including the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe, have called on Armenia to decriminalize “grave insults.”
The U.S. democracy watchdog Freedom House has repeatedly said that the passage
and enforcement of the controversial law highlighted a “clear degradation of
democratic norms” in Armenia.
Armenian authorities have defended the controversial law. Prosecutor-General
Artur Davtian said earlier this month that the law is necessary for “reducing or
neutralizing the scale and impact of hate speech.”
IMF Sharply Cuts Armenian Growth Outlook
• Robert Zargarian
Citing regional and global spillovers from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised downwards its forecast for
Armenia’s economic growth from 4.5 percent to 1.5 percent this year.
In a statement issued on March 17, the leading international financial
institution stressed that the wide-ranging Western sanctions imposed on Russia
over the war in Ukraine will “inevitably have a notable impact on Armenia.”
“Higher food and fuel prices, lower remittances, increased global financial
market volatility are expected to widen [Armenia’s] current account deficit,
lead to a pickup in inflation, and reduce economic growth in the coming months.
While there is considerable uncertainty about the magnitude of the impact on
Armenia, as the situation is still evolving, our preliminary assessment is that
the [Armenian] economy could grow at around 1.5 percent in 2022—a much slower
pace than previously expected,” the IMF said.
Earlier this week Armenia’s Central Bank also sharply cut its initial annual GDP
growth forecast from 5.3 percent to 1.6 percent.
Central Bank governor Martin Galstian acknowledged on Tuesday that increased
geopolitical risks in the region and a high degree of uncertainty have led to
increased volatility in Armenia’s financial markets. He said that it was clear
that sanctions imposed on Russia, which is Armenia’s main trading partner, would
significantly slow down economic growth in Armenia and hit some sectors of its
economy.
“We see that there are certain problems in the mining industry, in the
processing industry… There is a certain decline in the construction sector as
well. The only sector that we expect to have some positive development is
agriculture,” he said at a press conference in Yerevan.
In order to curb inflation, which stood at 6.5 percent in February, the Central
Bank of Armenia decided earlier this week to raise its benchmark interest rate
by 1.25 percentage points – to 9.25 percent.
“In the current situation, the Central Bank’s governing board considers it
expedient to increase the refinancing rate by a relatively large step,” the
regulator said.
The Central Bank said it expects that as a result of such policy measures
Armenia’s 12-month inflation will gradually decrease, reaching the target of 4
percent.
Armenian Defense Chief Visits Syunik
Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian during a visit to the Syunik province,
.
Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian has paid a working visit to the
country’s southern Syunik province where deaths of two conscripts in separate
incidents were reported earlier this week.
During the visit, which the Defense Ministry’s press office said took place on
March 17, Papikian also traveled to the border area where local residents
claimed Azerbaijan had moved its military positions into Armenian territory.
According to the official report, while visiting Syunik the defense minister met
with local officers to discuss the recent incidents involving conscripts.
Papikian reportedly stressed that such incidents were a result of the violation
of discipline in some units as well as an “insufficient moral and psychological
level of individual servicemen.”
“After listening to the reports of the officers responsible for the incidents,
the defense minister instructed that the commander of the military unit take the
necessary measures to exclude such cases in the future,” the report said.
The Investigative Committee on Thursday launched criminal cases over the deaths
of two conscripts in noncombat conditions in Kapan and Meghri. Both were found
dead with gunshot wounds. At least in one of the cases investigators suspect a
suicide, but do not exclude outside influence on the soldier’s decision to take
his own life.
During the visit Papikian also reportedly traveled to the border area adjacent
to the village of Nerkin Hand in the southeast of Syunik where the commander of
the local military unit, Major-General Artak Budaghian presented to him the
current situation.
The mayor of Nerkin Hand and other residents of the village told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service on March 15 that Azerbaijani servicemen had moved 800-900
meters deep into the administrative territory of the community, set up five
tents and began digging trenches there earlier this month.
Later that day, the Armenian Defense Ministry dismissed allegations about the
advancement of the Azerbaijani military. In particular, it said that Azerbaijani
servicemen had simply returned to the positions that they previously controlled,
but recently had to leave temporarily due to harsh winter conditions.
“There can be no question of any [Azeri] advancement. In this and all other
sections of the border the Armenian Armed Forces are fully fulfilling their
tasks, monitoring any movement of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces and keeping the
situation under control,” the ministry said.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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