Tuesday,
More Charges Brought Against Former Amenian PM
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian chairs a cabinet meeting in Yerevan,
16Jun2016.
Armenian law-enforcement authorities brought more criminal charges against
former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian on Tuesday after moving to confiscate a
large part of his big fortune.
Abrahamian, who served as prime minister from 2014-2016, was charged with abuse
of power and illegal entrepreneurial activity in September 2018. The accusations
denied by him stem from allegations by a businessman that in 2008 Abrahamian
forced him to give up a majority stake in his sand quarry located in Armenia’s
Ararat province.
Abrahamian was the chief of then President Serzh Sarkisian’s staff at the time.
His brother Henrik and a relative of then Ararat Governor Alik Sargsian each
bought 30 percent stakes in the sand quarry at a knockdown price.
The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) announced that as part of the same criminal
investigation it also charged Abrahamian with money laundering. It claimed that
he did not declare 230 million drams ($590,000) in “illegal revenue” obtained
from the quarry and used it for buying real estate and other transactions.
The law-enforcement agency did not explain why it took investigators so long to
file the additional charges and why the ex-premier has still not gone on trial
nearly five years after his first indictment.
Abrahamian and his lawyers could not be reached for comment.
The 64-year-old is a native of Aarat who used to hold sway in the region south
of Yerevan, developing extensive business interests there before holding senior
state positions. He fell out with Serzh Sarkisian shortly after being sacked as
prime minister in 2016.
Prosecutors recently asked an Armenian court to confiscate 21 billion drams ($54
million) in cash and 59 properties belonging to Abrahamian or his family, saying
that these assets were acquired illegally. Court hearings on the suit have yet
to start.
Azeri Soldier Accused Of Murder In Armenia
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia-Armenia - A screenshot of video of Syunik residents apprehending an
Azerbaijani soldier, April 13, 2023.
One of the two Azerbaijani soldiers detained in Armenia last week was charged on
Tuesday with killing an Armenian man.
The 56-year-old Hayrapet Meliksetian worked as a security guard at a waste
disposal facility of Armenia’s largest mining company located in southeastern
Syunik province. He was found shot dead on April 12 several kilometers from
where the Azerbaijani soldier, Huseyn Akhundov, was caught the following day.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General said that Akhundov committed the murder in
a failed attempt to steal the guard’s car and flee to neighboring Iran. It
claimed that the car did not start and Akhundov fled the scene before using the
victim’s mobile phone to record a video in which he bragged about killing
Armenians and said “we are not traitors of our fatherland.”
The video posted on social media was widely circulated by Armenian media outlets
shortly after several Syunik residents apprehended Akhundov on a highway near
the provincial capital Kapan. The soldier was apparently unarmed during his
detention.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service earlier on Tuesday, Narek Ghahramanian, a
Kapan-born parliamentarian affiliated with the ruling Civil Contract party, said
that Akhundov confessed to the murder. Ghahramanian suggested that investigators
are looking for his weapon.
The second Azerbaijani serviceman, identified as Akshin Bebirov, was detained on
April 12 in a Syunik village located about 100 kilometers northwest of Kapan.
According to the Armenian military, he claimed to have crossed the Armenian
border with Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave together with another soldier
believed to be Akhundov.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on April 12 that they deserted their army
unit in Nakhichevan because of “being subjected to hazing and humiliation by
other soldiers.”
The Azerbaijani government demanded the immediate release of both servicemen
charged with illegally crossing into Armenia. It did not immediately react to
the murder charge brought against Akhundov.
Sargis Khandanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign
relations, indicated that given the accusations leveled against them Yerevan
does not intend to swap Akhundov and Bebirov for any of at least 33 Armenian
soldiers who were taken prisoner during or after the 2020 Karabakh war and
remain in Azerbaijani captivity.
“Armenia is not planning to make any concessions on this matter,” Khandanian
told reporters.
Pashinian Reaffirms Recognition Of Azerbaijan’s Territorial Integrity (UPDATED)
• Nane Sahakian
• Lusine Musayelian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian prepares to address the parliament,
Yerevan, .
Armenia unequivocally recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and is ready
to sign a relevant peace treaty with Baku, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said
on Tuesday.
“The peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will become realistic if the
two countries recognize clearly, without ambiguities and pitfalls, each other's
territorial integrity and undertake not to ever submit territorial claims to
each other,” Pashinian told the Armenian parliament.
“I now want to reaffirm that Armenia fully recognizes the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan and we expect Azerbaijan to do the same by recognizing the entire
territory of the Armenian [Soviet Socialist Republic] as the [modern-day]
Republic of Armenia,” he said.
Pashinian already vowed such recognition in a joint statement with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Union
chief Charles Michel issued after their meeting held in Prague last October. The
statement upheld a 1991 declaration in which Armenia and other newly independent
Soviet republics recognized each other’s Soviet-era borders.
This was due to be at the heart of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty promoted
by the West. Pashinian publicly backed such a deal ahead of the Prague summit,
stoking Armenian opposition claims that he is ready to help Baku regain full
control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov likewise said in December that Pashinian
effectively recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh at Prague. Lavrov
said the Armenian leader thus all but precluded a different peace deal favored
by Moscow. It would indefinitely delay an agreement on Karabakh’s status.
An Armenian opposition lawmaker, Artur Khachatrian, challenged Pashinian on
Tuesday to clarify his position on Karabakh’s future status. The prime minister
gave no clear answer, saying only that there needs to be an “international
mechanism” for direct talks between Baku and Karabakh’s leadership.
In April 2022, Pashinian sparked angry opposition protests in Yerevan when he
signaled readiness to “lower the bar” on Karabakh’s status acceptable to
Armenia. He and other Armenian officials also stopped making references to the
Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination in their public statements.
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party pledged to continue championing the principle
of self-determination in its 2021 election manifesto.
Artsvik Minasian, another opposition lawmaker, accused the Armenian government
of not honoring that pledge and thus calling its legitimacy into question.
Meanwhile, Aliyev said that Armenia’s leadership now “agrees in principle” with
his position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. Still, he said, Pashinian
should go farther and declare that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan.”
In an interview with Azerbaijani state television aired on Tuesday, Aliyev also
renewed his threats of fresh military action against Armenia, saying that
Azerbaijan is strengthening its army because it “must be ready for any
situation.”
Aliyev went on to again rule out any internationally mediated talks with
Karabakh representatives. Karabakh Armenians should accept Azerbaijani
citizenship or leave the territory, he said.
“The separatists have to realize that they have two options: either they will
live under Azerbaijani rule or leave,” added Aliyev.
Senior U.S. Diplomat Visits Armenia
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets US Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State Erika Olson, Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met on Tuesday with a visiting senior official
from the U.S. State Department for talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
U.S.-Armenian relations.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Erika Olson met with other senior Armenian
officials in Yerevan on Monday. The U.S. Embassy in Armenia said at the start of
her trip that she will discuss “U.S. support for an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace
agreement and U.S.-Armenian bilateral ties.”
In a statement, Pashinian’s press office said the normalization of
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations was on the agenda of his meeting with Olson. It
said they also touched upon Azerbaijan’s continuing blockade of Karabakh’s land
link with Armenia and “the creation of an international mechanism for dialogue
between Baku and Stepanakert.”
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov accused Yerevan on Monday of
hampering Baku’s efforts to “reintegrate” the Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijan
in a phone call with another U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, Dereck
Hogan. According to Azerbaijani news agencies, Hogan stressed the importance of
“successfully completing the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process.”
Earlier on Monday, Bayramov met with Louis Bono, a U.S. special envoy for
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. Bono visited Armenia last week.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mediated talks between Pashinian and
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on February 18 on the sidelines of the Munich
Security Conference. Blinken had separate phone conversations with the two
leaders late last month.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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