Wednesday, COVID-19 Cases Rising Again In Armenia • Anush Mkrtchian Armenia -- Medics at the Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center in Yerevan, Armenia's largest hospital treating COVID-19 patients, June 5, 2020. Mirroring a global trend, coronavirus infections in Armenia are rising rapidly again after falling to record low levels in May, government data shows. The Armenian Ministry of Health recorded a total of 629 COVID-19 cases last week, up from 354 cases in the previous week and 174 cases in the period from June 27 to July 3. The ministry reported an average of several cases a day in May. The country’s infection rates remained negligible until the end of June. Despite the soaring cases, health authorities in Yerevan have reported no coronavirus-related deaths so far this month. “Severe cases are not registered in large numbers yet,” Romela Abovian, a senior official from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, explained on Wednesday. “There are hospitalized people but many of them were vaccinated and are coping [with the disease] well.” Abovian blamed the resurgence of the virus on the even more contagious BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron which are becoming prevalent around the world. Davit Melik-Nubarian, a public health expert, said that waning vaccine protection is another factor behind what appears to be a new wave of infections. Armenia - A man is vaccinated against coronavirus at a mobile vaccination center in Yerevan, October 24, 2021. According to the Ministry of Health, less than half of Armenia’s population has received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine. The vast majority of them were vaccinated last fall and winter. Only 60,000 or so people in the country of about 3 million have received a third “booster” shot to date. The vaccination process practically ground to a halt in May. Melik-Nubarian said the COVID-19 resurgence could intensify after schools and universities across the country reopen their doors in September. Still, he suggested that it will be less severe than the previous waves “in terms of the loss of human lives.” Abovian said that the authorities will consider restoring mandatory mask-wearing and reimposing other restrictions if the upward trend continues unabated in the coming weeks. Melik-Nubarian was skeptical on that score, arguing that such restrictions were barely enforced in Armenia when they were in force. The Armenian authorities have registered more than 10,300 coronavirus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic. Yerevan Silent On French-Armenian Leader’s Deportation • Artak Khulian France - Mourad Papazian, a leader of the French-Armenian community, speaks at an Armenian genocide remembrance ceremony in Paris, April 24, 2022. The Armenian authorities have declined to explain their decision to ban a leader of France’s influential Armenian community critical of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian from entering Armenia. Mourad Papazian, co-chairman of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), was detained at Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport and deported back to Paris last Thursday. He says that said immigration officers there gave no reason for his deportation. The National Security Service (NSS), which is in charge of passport control at Zvartnots, on Wednesday refused to explain what was a rare entry ban slapped on a prominent Armenian Diaspora figure. The NSS only cited a legal provision which allows it to withhold such information if it breaches “the secrecy of a person’s private or family life.” Papazian, who is also a leading member of Dashnaktsutyun, a pan-Armenian party in opposition to Pashinian’s government, insisted, meanwhile, that his expulsion was politically motivated. “Mr. Pashinian doesn’t accept opposition both inside and outside [Armenia,]” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “There is a serious problem with democracy behind this affair.” France/Armenia - French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the Co-ordination Council of Armenian Organisations of France (CCAF) annual dinner in Paris, 05Feb, 2019 The CCAF, which is an umbrella structure uniting France’s leading Armenian organizations, condemned Yerevan’s decision as an “attack on democracy” and “brutal blow” to the French-Armenian community. “Armenia also belongs to the Diaspora, to the sons of survivors of the [1915] genocide, especially when they fight for their rights,” the CCAF said in a July 15 statement. “And no one can decide to exclude activists of the Armenian cause from it to settle political scores.” The Armenian government has still not reacted to this criticism echoed by its domestic political opponents. Zareh Sinanyan, the government’s Armenian-American high commissioner for Diaspora affairs, claimed this week that he does not know why Papazian was denied entry to Armenia. Sinanyan at the same time accused the CCAF and Dashnaktsutyun of pressuring European politician not to cooperate with the authorities in Yerevan. Some Armenian pro-government media outlets have said that Papazian was deported because the authorities believe he was behind an anti-Pashinian demonstration staged during the prime minister’s June 2021 visit to Paris. Papazian denies any involvement in that protest. He was able to visit Armenia as recently as in May. Death Of Arrested Government Critic ‘Investigated’ • Naira Bulghadarian Armenia - Activist Armen Grigorian at a rally in Yerevan, November 28, 2020. Law-enforcement authorities have pledged to investigate the sudden death of a vocal critic of the Armenian government who was controversially arrested two months ago. Armen Grigorian, a well-known entertainment producer, collapsed in a courtroom on Friday as he stood trial on charges of insulting residents of two Armenian regions supporting the government. Grigorian had made disparaging comments about them a year before his arrest condemned by the Armenian opposition as politically motivated. He was taken into custody by the National Security Service, which normally deals with grave crimes. The 57-year-old activist’s death sparked outcry from opposition leaders as well as the country’s human rights ombudswoman, Kristine Grigorian (no relation). The latter demanded “clarifications” from prosecutors and the Ministry of Justice, which runs Armenia’s prisons. The Investigative Committee said this week that it has opened a criminal case in connection with Grigorian’s death, the precise cause of which is still not known. The Office of the Prosecutor-General specified that the law-enforcement body is conducting an inquiry into prison medics’ failure to adequately perform their duties, rather than the wisdom of holding Grigorian in detention. “Throughout the confinement period Armen Grigorian was under the surveillance of medical personnel and received treatment,” the Ministry of Justice insisted for its part. In a statement, the ministry revealed that Grigorian complained of headaches, high blood pressure and dizziness right after being taken to a prison 50 kilometers west of Yerevan. But it said that neither the activist nor his lawyer formally notified the prison administration of his health problems. Armenia - Angry opposition supporters protest outside the prime minister's office in Yerevan following the death of an arrested government critic, July 15, 2022. The lawyer, Ruben Melikian, said on Friday that his client, who was a medic by education, did not allow him to “speak up about those problems in the court or any other bodies.” Melikian and opposition leaders have blamed the country’s political leadership for Grigorian’s death. They have linked his May 18 arrest to daily antigovernment protests launched by the opposition in Yerevan on May 1. More than two dozen other opposition activists are also currently under arrest. Most of them are accused of assaulting riot police during the protests aimed at forcing Pashinian to resign. The authorities maintain that the accusations are not politically motivated. The opposition has accused Pashinian’s administration of weaponizing pre-trial arrests to try to neutralize its members and supporters fighting for regime change. Zaruhi Hovannisian, who leads a team of civic activists monitoring Armenian prison conditions, likewise criticized on Wednesday the authorities’ excessive recourse to such arrests. “Both under the former authorities and now pre-trial arrest has been used for pressuring individuals or as a punitive measure against them,” Hovannisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday. “This does not correspond at all to objectives set in the Criminal Code.” 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.