Thursday, June 8, 2023
Armenian Ex-Presidents Insist On Acquittal
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Former President Serzh Sarkisian talks to his lawyer during his trial
in Yerevan, February 25, 2020.
Lawyers representing Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian said on Thursday that
the former Armenian presidents standing trial on corruption charges will not
invoke the statute of limitations and will continue fight for their acquittal.
They were indicted shortly after the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought Nikol
Pashinian to power. Kocharian was charged with receiving a hefty kickback from a
businesswoman at the end of his 1998-2008 presidency, while Sarkisian stands
accused of illegally granting a lucrative government contract to a longtime
friend.
Both ex-presidents, who now lead major opposition groups, strongly deny the
accusations, saying that they are part of a political vendetta waged against
them by Pashinian. Their trials have being going on for years.
Lawyers for Kocharian and Sarkisian confirmed that the Armenian statute of
limitations for the charges leveled against their clients has expired. This
means that the latter can now cut short their trials and avoid prison sentences
without being acquitted by courts. They will not go to jail even if they refuse
to plea the statute of limitations.
“Such a thing cannot be discussed. We are fighting only for a not-guilty
verdict,” Ruben Hakobian, one of Sarkisian’s lawyers, told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service. Hakobian said that the judge presiding over Sarkisian’s trial has not
offered him such a settlement because he knows that the ex-president will reject
it.
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian arrives for a court hearing,
Yerevan, February 18, 2020.
Hayk Alumian, a key member of Kocharian’s legal team, suggested that his client
will hardly settle for anything less than acquittal.
“My impression until now has been that the choice of that [statute of
limitation] option is very unlikely,” said Alumian.
The high-profile trials are therefore expected to continue in the months ahead.
They could drag on further following the recent resignations of the trial
prosecutors in both cases. The reasons for the resignations are not yet known.
Sarkisian’s trial was adjourned on Thursday after the presiding judge gave the
new prosecutor one month to familiarize himself with details of the criminal
case.
Armenian Task Force To Explore Nuclear Plant Options
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia - The main control room of the Metsamor nuclear plant.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has formed a working group tasked with fleshing
out his government’s ambitious plans to build a new nuclear power station in
Armenia.
The ad hoc body will specifically explore the possibility of replacing the aging
Metsamor nuclear plant by small modular reactors (SMRs) designed by U.S.
companies.
Metsamor’s sole functioning reactor, which generates roughly 40 percent of
Armenia’s electricity, went into service in 1980 and is due to be decommissioned
in 2036. The Armenian government announced in April 2022 plans to build a new
nuclear plant by that time.
The chief executive of Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom, which has helped
to modernize Metsamor’s 420-megawatt reactor, visited Yerevan twice in the
following weeks to discuss the project with Pashinian.
The United States has also shown an interest in the project, with U.S. Secretary
of State Antony Blinken and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan signing in
May 2022 a memorandum of understanding on “strategic nuclear cooperation”
between their countries. A senior State Department official said last month that
Washington is “assessing the feasibility” of the construction of an SMR plant in
Armenia. She said the US technology could make the South Caucasus nation less
dependent on Russia for energy.
Pashinian announced afterwards that an Armenian government delegation will visit
the U.S. soon to take a close look at the SMRs. He suggested that they could be
more affordable for Armenia than the much more powerful nuclear facilities built
by Russia.
It is not yet clear whether the delegation will consist of members of the
interagency task force set up by Pashinian on Tuesday. According to a relevant
executive order signed by him, it must analyze various options for building the
new facility, including the SMRs, and submit its findings to the prime
minister’s staff within two months.
The 13-member working group headed by Deputy Minister of Territorial
Administration and Infrastructures Hakob Vartanian will comprise deputy
ministers of economy, environment and interior as well as other senior
government officials.
The U.S. company NuScale Power Corp plans to build America’s first SMR plant at
the Idaho National Laboratory by 2030. The demonstration facility will consist
of six reactors with a combined capacity of 462 megawatts. The U.S. nuclear
power regulator certified the design of NuScale’s reactor in January this year.
Armenian-Azerbaijani Talks In Washington Postponed (UPDATED)
• Astghik Bedevian
U.S. - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts talks between the Armenian
and Azerbaijani foreign minsters in Arlington, Virginia, May 4, 2023.
Azerbaijan has postponed fresh talks between its Foreign Minister Jeyhun
Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan slated for next week,
official Yerevan said on Thursday.
Bayramov and Mirzoyan were due to begin on June 12 a fresh round of negotiations
in Washington to try to build on progress towards an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace
treaty made by the two sides in recent weeks.
A spokeswoman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry said the talks have been delayed
“at the request of the Azerbaijani side.” She did not give a reason for the
delay.
“The public will be duly notified of the new dates of the meeting,” she added in
a short statement.
The Azerbaijani news agency Turan was the first to report earlier in the day
that the Washington talks have been postponed. It cited unnamed diplomatic
sources as attributing the postponement to a scheduling conflict and
“logistical” issues.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry essentially confirmed the information. “We hope
that the meeting will take place in the near future,” a ministry spokesman said,
adding that the new date will be announced by the U.S. State Department.
“Regarding the exact date of the next round of talks, we don’t have any specific
dates to announce at this time,” a State Department spokesperson said in written
comments to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The official also said Washington looks forward to again hosting
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. “Direct dialogue is the key to resolving
issues and reaching a durable and dignified peace,” added the official.
The two foreign ministers held four-day negotiations outside Washington one
month ago. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev met together with European Union chief Charles Michel a week later.
They held two more meetings in the following weeks and are due to meet again in
July.
The two sides say that despite Pashinian’s pledge to recognize Azerbaijani
sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh through the peace treaty, they still disagree
on other sticking points.
Armenia - U.S. Ambassador Kristina Kvien (right) visits Syunik province, June 8,
2023.
Tensions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and “the line of contact” around
Karabakh have steadily increased over the last few weeks, with the sides
accusing each other of violating the ceasefire on a virtually daily basis.
Armenian officials and pundits claim that Baku is ratcheting them up in a bid to
clinch more Armenian concessions.
Incidentally, the U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Kristina Kvien, visited on
Thursday Armenia’s Syunik province bordering Azerbaijan. She said she “saw first
hand the tense situation along the border” and “heard about pervasive security
concerns from local officials, civil society.”
“Everyone deserves the safety and security a just and durable peace would
bring,” tweeted Kvien.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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