Friday,
Police Officer ‘Suspended’ Over Hitting Protester
Protesters in a standoff with police near Yerevan's Opera House,
A police officer has been suspended from performing his duties pending
investigation after a video showing him hitting a protester, a police spokesman
said.
In a Facebook post late on Thursday head of the Police’s Information and Public
Relations Department Ashot Aharonian said: “A video has been disseminated
showing a police officer hitting and kicking a citizen in [Yerevan’s] Liberty
Square. Upon the instruction of Police Chief Valery Osipian, the Police’s
Internal Security Department has launched an internal probe in connection with
the case, while the police officer has been suspended from performing his
duties.”
The incident took place on Thursday when municipal authorities continued to
dismantle cafes in the vicinity of the Opera House in Yerevan.
Several dozen employees of the cafes as well as their owners staged a protest,
trying to block traffic in a nearby street.
Police detained 16 citizens for “not complying with police officers’ lawful
demands.” They were released later on.
At least one police officer and one protester were injured in the scuffle and
were briefly hospitalized to be treated for their injuries.
Yerevan’s municipal authorities said they will continue the demolition work to
free the green zone around the cultural building from illegal structures.
The cafe owners and employees described the actions of the municipality as
illegal.
Some activists, on the contrary, had come to the square to show their support
for the actions of the Yerevan authorities and the police.
Civil activist Vardges Gaspari said the authorities were doing the right thing
from the point of view of both law and morality. He told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service last night that his poster was seized from him by one of the protesting
young men and his glasses were broken during the scuffle.
Court Extends Detention Of Ex-President Kocharian
• Anush Mkrtchian
Former President Robert Kocharian gives an interview to Russia's NTV television
channel, Yerevan, 28Aug2018
A court in Yerevan on Friday extended by two months the pretrial detention of
Robert Kocharian, a lawyer for the former Armenian president said after the
court session.
Aram Orbelian also said he would appeal the decision.
Kocharian was again arrested in December more than four months after being
charged with overthrowing the constitutional order during the final weeks of
his decade-long rule that ended in April 2008. He denies the accusations as
politically motivated.
Earlier this month the Special Investigative Service (SIS) asked the court to
extend Kocharian’s arrest for the second time since his re-arrest late last
year. The court granted the request.
Kocharian’s lawyers have dismissed the SIS’s case against their client as
groundless and politically motivated.
Kocharian is specifically accused of illegally using Armenian army units
against opposition supporters who protested against alleged fraud in a disputed
presidential election held in February 2008. Law-enforcement authorities say
that amounted to an overthrow of the constitutional order.
Eight protesters and two policemen were killed when security forces quelled the
protests on March 1-2, 2008. Kocharian declared a three-week state of emergency
on that night.
The 64-year-old ex-president says the accusations are part of incumbent Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political “vendetta” waged against him.
Pashinian played a key role in the 2008 protests and spent nearly two years in
prison because of that. He has strongly defended the criminal case against
Kocharian and denied orchestrating it.
Two Activists Charged With Attempted Kidnapping
• Naira Bulghadarian
Davit Petrosian, a member of the Restart student group, 11Mar2019
Two activists involved in an attack on a video blogger highly critical of
Armenia’s government have been charged with attempted kidnapping, a
spokesperson for the country’s Prosecutor-General’s office said on Friday.
Following the incident that occurred earlier this month prosecutors originally
opened criminal proceedings on the hallmarks of hooliganism. Later, due to new
evidence that emerged in the case members of the Restart student group Davit
Petrosian and Davit Simonian were charged with attempting to kidnap the
blogger, Narek Malian. The two are confined to country limits pending
investigation.
Malian was confronted outside his home in downtown Yerevan by members of the
group shortly after midnight. A YouTube video of the incident showed the
Restart leader, Petrosian, and several other men forcibly carrying Malian along
an adjacent street before being stopped by police officers.
Petrosian posted the video on his Facebook page, writing: “There are moments in
life when you can’t choose between the good and the bad and just have to listen
to your conscience.”
In a statement, Restart said it wanted to throw Malian into a trash container.
Petrosian likewise explained that he and his comrades tried “to put the garbage
in its place” in response to what he called Malian’s offensive and slanderous
statements about their activities.
Malian, Petrosian, and four other men were detained on the spot but were set
free a few hours later. Malian was later recognized as a victim in the case.
Originally, the investigation was conducted under an article of the Criminal
Code dealing with “hooliganism.” Malian, who worked until last year as an
adviser to former police chief Vladimir Gasparian, described the assault as a
“kidnapping attempt”. He linked the incident to his vocal efforts to prevent
the sacking of the long-serving rector of Yerevan State University (YSU), Aram
Simonian, which is sought by the government. Late last month the former police
official staged a lone protest at a meeting of YSU’s supervisory board that
narrowly failed to fire Simonian.
Restart has on the contrary been campaigning for the controversial rector’s
ouster since last year’s “velvet revolution” in Armenia. The youth group
comprising current and former YSU students actively participated in the
revolution.
By contrast, Malian has been very scathing about the dramatic regime change in
the country. He regularly attacks Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other
government officials and pours scorn on their supporters on his Facebook page.
Incidentally, Pashinian was quick to condemn the assault, saying that “any
attempt to solve issues in Armenia through violence must meet with a tough
legal reaction.”
Armenian PM Offers Condolences Over New Zealand Attacks
An injured person is loaded into an ambulance following a shooting in
Christchurch, New Zealand
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has sent a telegram of condolences to
Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Arden over the terror attacks in two
mosques in the city of Christchurch in which dozens of people were killed.
According to the prime minister’s official website, in his message Pashinian
said that he was “deeply saddened” by the terrorist attacks that “claimed the
lives of many innocent people.”
“Strongly condemning terrorism in all its forms, I express my sincere
condolences and support to you, the families of the victims and the friendly
people of New Zealand,” Pashinian said.
The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also twitted words of condolences over
the Christchurch attacks, saying that “on this dark day, we stand with the
people of New Zealand in condemning violence and terrorism.”
Forty-nine people were killed and 20 wounded in an attack on two mosques in
Christchurch on Friday. Police in New Zealand have arrested the suspected
shooter, bringing murder charges against him.
Meanwhile, the Armenian National Committee of New Zealand also offered its
deepest condolences over the terror attacks and unequivocally condemned them.
“Further, we condemn the accused gunman’s attempt to reference the Armenian
language, along with the languages of other Christian nationalities – including
Georgian, Serbian, Russian and Austrian - through markings on his weapons used
in what was an unacceptable hate crime targeting the Islamic community,” the
organization said in a statement, stressing that “such crusades have no place
in our world, and definitely no place in peace-loving New Zealand.”
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” reflects on the statements by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov who said on March 14 that Baku is
against changing the format of negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.
“This behavior by Azerbaijan is quite natural, even though in 1994 Baku signed
a document, recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as a party to the conflict. Later, it
did everything to shift the problem into the field of relations between Armenia
and Azerbaijan only. And because of the former Armenian authorities 20 years
ago Azerbaijan got what it wanted, as Nagorno-Karabakh was left out of the
format of negotiations. So, it is natural that Azerbaijan should oppose
Nagorno-Karabakh’s return to the negotiating table. What is strange is the
assessments voiced by foreign diplomats that by raising the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s return to the negotiating table Armenia sets a demand for
changing the format of negotiations,” the paper writes, stressing that Yerevan
should have made it clear through its diplomacy that the matter concerns “the
full application of the 1994 format.”
“Zhamanak” writes that there have been some media reports saying that Armenian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who visited Nagorno-Karabakh for the purpose of
co-chairing a joint meeting of the Armenian and Karabakh Security Councils,
also had a meeting on the so-called ‘internal political’ subject, in
particular, with Vitaliy Balasanian, a plausible presidential candidate in
Nagorno-Karabakh’s 2020 presidential election. “Pashinian stated that Armenia
is pursuing a policy of raising Nagorno-Karabakh’s status as an entity, which
means that Armenia should seek not to meddle in the process of the formation of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s government,” the paper writes, adding: “At the same time, it
is clear that Armenia cannot but have its interest in it, because as in the
case with non-interference in the judicial system in Armenia, the possibility
of influence of the former system may become considerable.”
The editor of “Aravot” comments on the dismantling of cafes located in the
vicinity of the Opera House in Yerevan’s Liberty Square: “Personally, I would
have tolerated the existence of these cafes for several more years, especially
since their owners signed contracts with the municipality until 2022-23. And
the right of ownership is also very important, including in terms of attracting
investment. The decision to dismantle the cafes could have been postponed.
Meanwhile, some ‘constructive’ work could be done before demolishing. It is
clear that within a few months it is impossible to free us from the poor
transport system or build a new metro station, but at least some work could be
started… so that in two or three years the authorities could say: ‘Well, we
have done some good things, and now we are dismantling the bad things.’”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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