Coronavirus infected residents of Yerevan’s Nork Nursing Home recover

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 12:23, 6 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s ministry of labor and social affairs informed that all elderly people of Yerevan’s Nork Nursing Home, who have been infected with the novel coronavirus, have recovered.

The ministry said on Facebook that there are no new cases of COVID-19 in the Nursing Home.

All hospitalized residents of the Nursing have returned to their normal life.

330 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been registered in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 28,936. 162 more patients have recovered. The total number of recoveries has reached 16,302. 7 people have died in one day, raising the death toll to 491.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenian MP: Anti-Russian moods in Armenia are very favorable for Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem

News.am, Armenia
July 2 2020

22:48, 02.07.2020
                  

Constitution is a mindset, a work culture, a system of values and morality – Armenian President

Public Radio of Armenia
July 5 2020

Sports: In Armenia prematurely ended the football championship, but the coronavirus is not to blame

The Times Hub
July 4 2020
 
 
 
In Armenia prematurely ended the football championship, but the coronavirus is not to blame
 
By Natasha Kumaron July 4, 2020in Sport
 
Five teams were disqualified for various periods of time for participation in contractual matches
 
In Armenia ahead of schedule finished the season in the First League championship, but the reason was not ill-fated coronavirus. The decision of the Executive Committee of football Federation of Armenia adopted after consideration of the case about contractual matches in the League. Five teams – the “Aragats”, “torpedo”, “Masis”, “locomotive” and “Yerevan” – were disqualified for various periods of time. Also under the sanctions were 58 people, 44 of them were suspended from football for life.
 
“Decisions were taken in relation to those clubs, in which case FFA received a reasonable, compelling evidence from international organizations and law enforcement agencies. The evidence that we have received from our international colleagues, will be transferred in law enforcement bodies.
 
However, this process ends. Established in the FFA, the Expert group will continue to work to identify all possible adverse occasions. In addition, this year introduced a licensing system for clubs of the First League. This will help prevent the emergence of clubs of unknown origin. Our goal is to eradicate corruption and contractual matches in Armenian football,” said Hayrapetyan Armen Melikbekyan.
 
 

Healthcare system will overcome coronavirus challenge becoming stronger – Minister Torosyan

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 19:53,

YEREVAN, JUNE 23, ARMENPRESS. Healthcare Minister of Armenia Arsen Torosyan is confident that Armenia’s healthcare system will overcome the coronavirus challenge becoming stronger and more capable, ARMENPRESS reports Torosyan said during a press conference on June 23.

‘’This serious situation will become a driving force for the development of the healthcare system. Now we expand our healthcare capacities which in the future will be used for the struggle against other diseases’’, Torosyan said, expressing regret for the victims that will be inevitable on this path.

21,006 cases have been reported in Armenia by June 23. 10,144 have recovered. 10.364 are active cases. Death toll is 372. A total of 98,117 tests have been done. Another 126 patients with coronavirus have died of other reasons.

State of emergency has been prolonged until July 13.

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan, Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

F18News: AZERBAIJAN: Strasbourg Court rules long pre-trial detention "excessive"

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW5J-djvpQ$
 

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief

=================================================

Monday 
AZERBAIJAN: Strasbourg Court rules long pre-trial detention "excessive"

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has ruled in three cases
in 2020 that Azerbaijan violated the rights of 13 individuals by subjecting
them to excessively long pre-trial detention, and ordered compensation.
Five of these had been detained for exercising freedom of religion or
belief. Imam Taleh Bagirov – who was tortured in pre-trial detention –
and Zakir Mustafayev are still serving jail terms.

AZERBAIJAN: Strasbourg Court rules long pre-trial detention "excessive"
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2580__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW5sLyEsZw$
 
By Felix Corley, Forum 18

In three separate decisions so far in 2020 – the most recent two on 4
June - the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg ruled that
Azerbaijan violated the rights of 13 individuals by subjecting them to
excessively long pre-trial detention and ordered compensation to each. Of
those ordered compensated, five had been detained for exercising freedom of
religion or belief.

The telephone of Chingiz Asgarov, the Azerbaijani government's Agent at the
ECtHR, went unanswered each time Forum 18 called (see below).

The General Prosecutor's Office in the capital Baku has not yet responded
to Forum 18's questions as to whether prosecutors are going to stop asking
courts to authorise the long detention of people in pre-trial detention,
and whether the General Prosecutors Office has already given prosecutors
such instructions (see below).

The five ordered compensated for excessively long pre-trial detention as
they awaited punishment for exercising the right to freedom of religion or
belief are:

- Shia Muslim and leader of the Muslim Unity Movement Imam Taleh Bagirov,
held in pre-trial detention for seven months in 2013;

- Shia Muslim Zakir Mustafayev of the Muslim Unity Movement, held in
pre-trial detention for nearly ten months from 2015;

- Sunni Muslim Ismayil Mammadov, held in the then NSM prison in Baku for
five months in 2014;

- Sunni Muslim Eldaniz Hajiyev, held in the then NSM prison in Baku for
five months in 2014; 

- Sunni Muslim Revan Sabzaliyev, held in the then NSM prison in Baku for
nearly four months in 2014 (see below).

Of these five, Mustafayev and Bagirov are still serving jail terms. No
officials have been arrested or put on trial for inflicting torture on
Bagirov and others arrested with him (see below).

The 13 men had appealed to the Strasbourg Court at various dates between
2011 and 2017 under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms. This declares that arrested individuals are
"entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial.
Release may be conditioned by guarantees to appear for trial."

In two of the three cases – involving a total of ten men – the
government itself "acknowledged the excessive length of pre-trial
detention" and offered compensation of 3,000 Euros (5,700 Azerbaijani
Manats, 32,000 Norwegian Kroner or 3,400 US Dollars) to each. The Court
accepted this, even though the victims believe the compensation is too low
and wanted the Court to continue hearing the cases. The Court rejected
their request (see below).

Asabali Mustafayev, a lawyer who assisted on Mammadov and Hajiyev's cases,
said they did not agree with the Court's decision to close the cases. "We
wanted the Court to continue the cases and rule on the substance, the
legality of their detention – whether these men should have been arrested
and prosecuted at all" (see below).

In the case of Sabzaliyev, the government should have paid compensation by
16 April, three months after the ECtHR decision. However, as of 19 June he
still had not received it. "They're dragging their feet," the lawyer
Mustafayev told Forum 18 from Sumgait. "They're promising it this month"
(see below).

Meanwhile, amendments to the Criminal Code – which entered into force on
1 June - have introduced an alternative punishment for producing, selling
and distributing religious materials without state permission under Article
167-2.

In addition to the previous punishments of fines or a jail term,
individuals acting alone can now be punished with a restricted freedom
sentence of up to two years for a first conviction, or a restricted freedom
sentence of between two and four years for members of a group or those
already convicted (see below).

"They want to demonstrate that they are ready to soften approaches," one
human rights defender told Forum 18 from Baku, but questioned why people
should be punished at all for publishing or distributing materials about
religion without state approval (see below).

Will ECtHR decisions lead to change?

Forum 18 was unable to find out what actions the Azerbaijani government (if
any) is planning in response to the findings of the ECtHR in Strasbourg
that it had held the 13 men in excessively long pre-trial detention. ECtHR
judgments require governments not only to pay any compensation awarded but
to rectify the conditions which led to the human rights violations.

The telephone at the Presidential Administration of Chingiz Asgarov, the
Azerbaijani government's Agent at the ECtHR, went unanswered each time
Forum 18 called on 22 June.

Forum 18 asked Gunay Salimzade, head of the Press Service at the General
Prosecutor's Office, in writing on 22 June:

- whether prosecutors are going to stop asking courts to authorise the long
detention of people in pre-trial detention;

- and whether the General Prosecutors Office has already given prosecutors
such instructions.

Forum 18 received no response from the General Prosecutor's Office by the
end of the working day in Baku on 22 June.

Individuals and communities have brought at least 50 cases to the ECtHR
against Azerbaijan since 2004 over its persistent and repeated violations
of the right to freedom of religion or belief.
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2490__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW7sV0gGhw$
 )

The ECtHR found in October 2019 that the Azerbaijani government violated
the rights of five Jehovah's Witnesses who were punished for refusing to
perform compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Four of them
had been jailed and one given a suspended sentence and fined. Despite this,
Azerbaijan has so far failed to introduce a civilian alternative to
compulsory military service.
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2567__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW4RU4TG4Q$
 )

Delayed compensation, no compensation

In October 2018, after a long legal battle within Azerbaijan, two Jehovah's
Witnesses finally received compensation for their pre-trial detention of
nearly a year in the then National Security Ministry prison in Baku in 2015
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2440__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW4-ZZuxHw$
 ).  The two women were
arrested for offering a religious book to a neighbour (see below). The
Supreme Court finally exonerated the two women in February 2017.

The women were held at the then NSM prison in a "confinement room, a
'cage', rather than a cell, in that there was no privacy and everything was
exposed to the sight of others", Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. "The
smell of sewage in this 'cage' was suffocating."
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2140__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW762xV07w$
 )

Jeyhun Jafarov, a translator of Islamic works and broadcaster on Islamic
themes, received no compensation for more than a year in pre-trial
detention.

The then NSM secret police arrested Jafarov in March 2015 on treason
charges, which he rejected. He complained to the ECtHR about being arrested
and tortured (Application No. 46446/15). A Baku court ordered his transfer
to house arrest in September 2016 and later the criminal case was closed
with no trial 
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2309__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW6diH304A$
 ). The
ECtHR asked the government questions about the case on 12 March 2018.
Jafarov withdrew his application on 2 July 2018 and the ECtHR struck out
the case on 17 January 2019
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2490__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW7sV0gGhw$
 ).

Length of pre-trial detention "excessive"

In two separate cases on 4 June, the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg ruled that Azerbaijan violated the rights of ten individuals by
subjecting them to excessively long pre-trial detention and ordered
compensation to each. Of those detained, four had been detained for
exercising freedom of religion or belief.

The ten men include:

- Shia Muslim Zakir Mustafayev of the Muslim Unity Movement, held in
pre-trial detention for nearly ten months;

- Shia Muslim and leader of the Muslim Unity Movement Taleh Bagirov (also
known as Bagirzade), held in pre-trial detention for seven months;

- Sunni Muslim Ismayil Mammadov, held in pre-trial detention for five
months;

- and Sunni Muslim Eldaniz Hajiyev, held in pre-trial detention for five
months.

The two decisions followed a similar ECtHR decision on 16 January 2020
relating to the excessive time in pre-trial detention of three former
prisoners (one of whom died before the decision was handed down). One of
the three was Sunni Muslim Revan Sabzaliyev, held in pre-trial detention
for nearly four months.

Armed officers from the police and the then National Security Ministry
(NSM) secret police raided Hajiyev's home in Baku in April 2014 as Muslims
were meeting to study the works of the late Turkish Sunni Muslim theologian
Said Nursi. Officers seized religious literature and arrested Hajiyev,
Mammadov and Sabzaliyev.

The three spent up to five months in detention in the then NSM secret
police Investigation Prison in Baku before being transferred to house
arrest in September 2014
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1999__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW6cfP8OsQ$
 ).

At Baku's Yasamal District Court on 7 October 2015, Ismayil Mammadov was
jailed for 5 years, 5 months; his brother Zakariyya Mammadov, with Shahin
Hasanov, was jailed for 5 years; Eldeniz Hajiyev was jailed for 4 years, 5
months; and Revan Sabzaliyev was jailed for 1 year, 7 months.

The five were punished for participation in an "illegal" religious group
under Criminal Code Article 168, as well as for distributing religious
literature which had not undergone the state's strict pre-publication
religious censorship. 
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2109__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW40vRVHHA$
 )

On 19 April 2016, at their much-delayed appeal, Judge Mammadov reduced the
prison terms on Ismayil Mammadov and Hajiyev to 2 years, 6 months each. The
Judge reduced Sabzaliyev's prison term to one year. The Judge also changed
the remainder of Hasanov and Zakariyya Mammadov's sentences from prison
terms to suspended sentences.

As Sabzaliyev had already served the reduced prison term (his time in
pre-trial detention at the NSM secret police Investigation Prison counted
towards his punishment), he was freed in the court room.
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2173__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW7sW4Y05w$
 )

Mammadov lodged his case to the ECtHR on 31 October 2014 (Application No.
71584/14).

Sabzaliyev lodged his case to the ECtHR on 6 November 2014 (Application No.
73334/14).

Hajiyev lodged his case to the ECtHR on 27 November 2014 (Application No.
74567/14).

Shia Muslim theologian and preacher Taleh Bagirov led prayers at the Hazrat
Abulfaz Aga Mosque in the village of Mastaga on the Absheron peninsula near
Baku. He and his driver Anar Melikov were arrested on 31 March 2013. While
in the hands of Baku's Sabunchu District Police, both say they were beaten.

Bagirov was held in pre-trial detention for seven months until he was
finally brought to trial at Baku's Sabunchu District Court. He was given a
two-year strict regime prison sentence on 1 November 2013
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1894__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW7V5TrUIQ$
 ). He was found guilty
of possessing just over one gram of heroin, an accusation his supporters
insist was fabricated to punish him for his religious and political
activity. Four months were later added to his sentence for allegedly having
a mobile phone with him in prison
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1985__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW4pLrY4LQ$
 ).

The Azerbaijani authorities moved quickly to crush the Muslim Unity
Movement, which Bagirov leads, after its launch in 2015. The Movement has
both religious and political goals and aims to unify the Islamic and
secular opposition to the regime of President Ilham Aliyev.

Bagirov was among many Muslims arrested during an armed raid on a home in
Nardaran in November 2015 as they were holding Friday prayers
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2127__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW7EhbrEgw$
 ).

The first 18 – including Bagirov and the deputy head of the Muslim Unity
Movement Abbas Huseynov – were sentenced at Baku's Serious Crimes Court
on 25 January 2017. The charges – which the accused strongly disputed -
included terrorism, an attempt to seize power violently, illegal firearms
possession, and murder. Bagirov and Huseynov received the longest prison
terms of 20 years each
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2254__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW5tE7QuNg$
 ).

In February 2018, a Baku Court convicted Bagirov for having micro-discs of
the Koran and religious music in his prison cell. It added two and a half
months to his existing 20-year prison term
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2353__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW7791FVMQ$
 ).

Shia Muslim Zakir Mustafayev of the Muslim Unity Movement was among those
also arrested in the raid on the Nardaran home in November 2015. He was
tried with Bagirov and the 16 others and sentenced on 25 January 2017 to
14.5 years' imprisonment
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2254__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW5tE7QuNg$
 ).

Of the 18 men convicted in the case in January 2017, 17 told the court that
they had been tortured after their arrests to extract confessions and
"testimony" against others
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2254__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW5tE7QuNg$
 ). Despite Azerbaijan's
binding international human rights obligations, no officials have been
arrested or put on criminal trial for torturing people.

Bagirov was also subjected to "severe torture" and a broken nose while in
detention at the Interior Ministry's Main Directorate for the Struggle with
Organised Crime in December 2015
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2143__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW6qedGMlg$
 ). No officials were
arrested or put on criminal trial for this torture.

Bagirov lodged his case to the ECtHR – related to his first arrest and
pre-trial detention in 2013 - on 7 October 2013 (Application No. 12541/13).

Mustafayev lodged his case to the ECtHR on 15 October 2016 (Application No.
62872/16).

Compensation, but no consideration of why men arrested

The ECtHR in Strasbourg ordered Azerbaijan to pay each of the 13 men whose
rights it had violated 3,000 Euros (5,700 Azerbaijani Manats, 32,000
Norwegian Kroner or 3,400 US Dollars) in compensation within three months
of the decisions being handed down. The decisions were final on the day
they were issued and the victims could not challenge them.

In the case of Sabzaliyev, the government should have paid compensation by
16 April, three months after the ECtHR decision. However, as of 19 June he
still had not received it. "They're dragging their feet," a lawyer familiar
with the case, Asabali Mustafayev, told Forum 18 from Sumgait on 19 June.
"They're promising it this month."

The 13 men had appealed to the Strasbourg Court in separate cases at
various dates between 2011 and 2017 under Article 5 of the European
Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. This declares that
arrested individuals are "entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to
release pending trial. Release may be conditioned by guarantees to appear
for trial."

In two of the three combined cases – involving a total of ten men – the
government itself "acknowledged the excessive length of pre-trial
detention" and offered 3,000 Euros compensation to each. The Court accepted
this, even though the victims believe the compensation is too low and
wanted the Court to continue hearing the cases. The Court rejected their
request.

The 13 men had appealed to the Strasbourg Court under Article 5 of the
European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which
declares: "3.  Everyone arrested or detained in accordance with the
provisions of paragraph 1 (c) of this Article shall be ..  entitled to
trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial. Release may be
conditioned by guarantees to appear for trial."

Asabali Mustafayev, the lawyer who assisted on Mammadov and Hajiyev's ECtHR
cases, said they did not agree with the Court's decision to close the
cases. "This angers us," he told Forum 18. "It's not just about the level
of compensation offered, but about the government continuing its
persecution of Muslims who study Said Nursi's works."

"The government will simply continue its policy if we just agreed [to the
settlement] and they pay," the lawyer added. "We wanted the Court to
continue the cases and rule on the substance, the legality of their
detention – whether these men should have been arrested and prosecuted at
all."

Mustafayev pointed to other earlier arrests of Muslims who study Nursi's
works, as well as fines on more than ten people following a burial they had
attended in the northern Quba Region three years ago. Even now, these
Muslims are too afraid to gather for religious meetings, the lawyer noted.

Alternative punishment for unapproved religious literature

On 1 May, the Milli Majlis (Parliament) in Baku approved amendments to
numerous Articles of the Criminal Code. President Ilham Aliyev signed the
amendments into law on 22 May, according to the presidential website. The
amendments entered into force on 1 June.

The amendments introduced an alternative punishment of a restricted freedom
sentence under Criminal Code Article 167-2. The Article – adopted
originally in December 2011
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2429__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW6XxJlUDQ$
 ) - punishes:
"Production, sale and distribution of religious literature (on paper and
electronic devices), audio and video materials, religious items and other
informational materials of religious nature with the aim of import, sale
and distribution without appropriate authorisation".

Punishments for first time offenders acting alone are now a fine of between
5,000 and 7,000 Manats, up to two years' restricted freedom or up to two
years' imprisonment. Such a "crime" by a group of people "according to a
prior conspiracy", by an organised group, by an individual for a second
time or by an official would attract a fine of between 7,000 and 9,000
Manats, between two and four years' restricted freedom or imprisonment of
between two and five years.

"Interestingly, they kind of soften the punishments although statements of
officials on these issues were quite harsh and there was a call for even
more severe punishments," one human rights defender told Forum 18 from Baku
in late April before final parliamentary approval. "They want to
demonstrate that they are ready to soften approaches."

However, the human rights defender questioned why people should be punished
at all for publishing or distributing materials about religion without
state approval.

In January 2016, after nearly a year in pre-trial detention, two Jehovah's
Witnesses Irina Zakharchenko and Valida Jabrayilova were convicted under
Criminal Code Article 167-2.2.1 and given a large fine. At the same time
the fine was waived and the women freed
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2144__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW4ICLViMA$
 ). They were not
initially compensated for their wrongful imprisonment, as the United
Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had demanded.

Zakharchenko and Jabrayilova appealed against their conviction for
distributing religious literature without state permission. In March 2016,
Baku Appeal Court left the sentence unchanged. In February 2017, the
Supreme Court in Baku acquitted the two women of their convictions.

In October 2018, after a long legal battle within Azerbaijan, Zakharchenko
and Jabrayilova finally received compensation for their pre-trial detention
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2440__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW4-ZZuxHw$
 ) (see above).

Four Sunni Muslims from Baku were jailed in July 2015 under Criminal Code
Article 167-2 for selling religious books without state permission
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2086__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW638ozZlQ$
 ). (END)

Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=23__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW4vpm6H1w$
 )

For more background, see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2429__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-fLVF-UsKiGHu_vN88OsKfgcobYKR0wCQ1KAiVgQYJndzHI9WxYtEW6XxJlUDQ$
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Armenian Parliament refused to include on the agenda issues proposed by Prosperous Armenia faction

Arminfo, Armenia

ArmInfo.The National Assembly of Armenia at the plenary meeting on June 16 voted against the inclusion of two issues on amendments to the Tax Code of the country.

It is curious that the author of both documents, MP from the  Prosperous Armenia faction Mikael Melkumyan refused to submit the  amendments proposed by him, saying that he had "nothing to say." On  both bills, the National Assembly's profile committee issued negative  conclusions.

Apparently, the demarche of the faction's representative is   connected with the situation surrounding leader of the Prosperous  Armenia party Gagik Tsarukyan, in relation to whom a criminal case  was initiated under several articles of the RA Criminal Code. As  expected, RA Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan will present two  motions to deprive Tsarukyan of parliamentary immunity and arrest. 

Armenia quickly adding hospital capacity for growing COVID-19 outbreak

EurasiaNet.org
June 9 2020
Ani Mejlumyan Jun 9, 2020

US ends funding for Armenian website that spread COVID-19 misinformation

Open Democracy
June 9 2020

Following an openDemocracy investigation, the US ambassador to Armenia condemns disinformation and says the embassy will “tighten up procedures”. Հայերեն

Tatev Hovhannisyan,   Claire Provost
9 June 2020

The US ambassador to Armenia has announced that its taxpayer money will no longer support a controversial health news website that has spread misinformation about COVID-19, following an openDemocracy investigation

Amid ongoing criticism of President Donald Trump for his role in broadcasting unproven claims and conspiracy theories during the pandemic, the ambassador Lynne Tracy said: “We are very opposed to disinformation that confuses the public, that is unhelpful, particularly in a situation like a pandemic.”

In a 4 June interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Tracy said the US is doing its best to help Armenia fight coronavirus, and the embassy has not renewed its funding of the website Medmedia.am because of its “very problematic” content. 

“We've certainly learned a few things from this particular episode,” said the ambassador, adding that the embassy will be “tightening up some procedures” as a result, so that its grants promote “healthy debate but responsible debate as well”. 

The previous week, openDemocracy revealed that the most popular article on this website, which had been established last year under a grant from the embassy, called on Armenians to refuse any coronavirus vaccine. 

This article has had more than 131,000 views (a big number in a country with a population of less than 3 million). It and other popular articles were republished, third-party Facebook posts, laid out on article pages under the byline “Med Media”.

Some of these posts also called coronavirus a “fake pandemic”, and vaccines “biological weapons”, and claimed that a morgue tried to fake a COVID-19 death.

Public health experts in both the US and Armenia said this “incredibly dangerous” content could jeopardise the country’s coronavirus response, while openDemocracy’s investigation was cited by media outlets around the world.

"We've certainly learned a few things from this particular episode"

Answering questions from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Harry Tamrazian about openDemocracy’s investigation, the ambassador said “the website in question was part of a larger grant” to a local organisation that had proposed a project focused on reducing corruption in the healthcare sector. 

Tracy, who was appointed ambassador to Armenia last year, said this grant “was awarded about a year ago and it was only very recently, in early May… that we learned that there was some posting of content that was very problematic”. 

“We contacted the grantee and asked for those posts to be taken down”, she said, but this grantee organisation “felt that this was an issue of free speech”. 

“We felt differently: we felt that free speech has to be balanced also with responsible management of a website,” said Tracy, adding that as a result, “we decided on the basis of seeing these issues to not approve an extension”.

The ambassador said the embassy’s grant ended at the end of May, and that the grantee organisation requested an extension that was not approved. It remains unclear what the value of this grant was, but they can be worth up to $50,000.  

Following openDemocracy’s investigation, Gevorg Grigoryan, founder of the grantee organisation, published a statement saying that Medmedia.am made “the voice of specialists and non-governmental organisations audible”. 

He described the investigation as “a manipulative ‘sensation’ typical of globalists”, and said “the author of the mentioned articles is not an employee of the website, but is the chairman of a public healthcare organisation and a doctor by profession”. 

COVID-19 cases in Armenia have now surpassed 13,000 (as of 8 June) with the prime minister among those recently infected. On Monday this week he announced that he had recovered and will return to his usual work schedule.  

“His own situation really underscores just how this virus can reach any of us,” said the ambassador, who called for a “unified effort” to respond to COVID-19 and said that the US had given $5.4 million to the Armenian government to help. 

“I appreciate how open the prime minister has been,” she added. “I think this is a real hallmark of good leadership in a crisis: communication. If the public loses trust because there's a sense of hiding information, we're in big trouble.”

In her interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is also funded with US money, Tracy was also asked about other issues including the current ongoing protests against police brutality that have swept her country. 

“The killing of George Floyd was a shocking event, a tragic event, that has been the source of a lot of pain and anguish,” she said, adding that “peaceful protesting is patriotic” and “leaders need to listen” to communities that need to be heard.



Armenpress: Ambassador Papikyan delivers statement on promotion of impunity for hate crimes in Azerbaijan

Ambassador Papikyan delivers statement on promotion of impunity for hate crimes in Azerbaijan 

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 10:28, 5 June, 2020

YEREVAN, JUNE 5, ARMENPRESS. The issue of the Promotion of Impunity for Hate Crimes in Azerbaijan has been included to the agenda of the 1270th session of the OSCE Permanent Council at the initiative of Armenia over which Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Ambassador Armen Papikyan delivered a statement, the Armenian MFA told Armenpress.

The Ambassador drew the attention of the participating states to the ECHR ruling on “Makuchyan and Minasyan vs Azerbaijan and Hungary” case issued on 26.05.2020.

Armenpress presents the Ambassador’s statement:

“The purpose of introducing this current issue is to inform the participating States of the essence and details of the case and thus expose the latest attempts of the authorities of Azerbaijan at manipulation and disinformation, and denial of any wrongdoing in case of Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani military officer convicted of premeditated brutal murder of Armenian military officer in 2004, thus justifying and endorsing the glorification of that despicable hate crime.

The case in question was brought to the Strasbourg Court by Makuchyan and Minasyan v. Azerbaijan and Hungary (application no. 17247/13) after Ramil Safarov, who was convicted by the court in Hungary to serve a life-time sentence for decapitating by an axe of Armenian military officer Gurgen Margaryan while in his sleep and attempted murder of another Armenian officer during the NATO/PFP courses in Hungary back in 2004.

On 13 April 2006 the Budapest High Court found Ramil Safarov guilty of the exceptionally cruel and premeditated murder of Gurgen Margaryan and of preparation for murder of Hayk Makuchyan. Based on the conclusions of the Hungarian court the crimes were committed with vile motives and exclusively because of the Armenian nationality of the victims.

On 31 August 2012 Safarov was transferred to Azerbaijan to continue serving his sentence there, was pardoned by the President of Azerbaijan immediately upon his landing in Baku, was given a hero welcome by the Government of Azerbaijan, its state officials including Mr. Ayaz Guliyev, the then Azerbaijani parliamentarian, Member of the OSCE PA and currently the Vice President of the same august body as well as Ms. Ganira Pashaeva, Member of the Azerbaijani Delegation to PACE at that time. Moreover, next day, on 1 September 2012 Safarov was promoted to the rank of major by the Minister of Defence during the course of a public ceremony. On 6 December 2012 he was provided use of a flat belonging to the State housing fund and he was also awarded eight years of salary arrears. 

I am giving all these details in order for the participating States to clearly see that people who are trying today to convince the international community of their commitment to peace and tolerance, are in fact the same people who glorified the murderer who committed a heinous hate crime.

On 26 May 2020 the European Court of Human Rights in its ruling concluded that the actions of Azerbaijan to grant an impunity for a serious crime perpetrated by the axe murderer Ramil Safarov have no justification. “The Court considered that Azerbaijan had assumed responsibility for the enforcement of R.S.’s prison sentence upon his transfer, and from that point on, it had been called upon to provide an adequate response to a very serious ethnically-biased crime for which one of its citizens had been convicted in another country. Instead of enforcing R.S.’s sentence, however, he had been set free and treated as an innocent or wrongfully convicted person and bestowed with benefits.”

The measures taken by the high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan, including a specially dedicated page to Safarov opened on the President of Azerbaijan’s website led to impunity which was coupled with the glorification of his extremely cruel hate crime. Safarov had in effect been granted impunity in Azerbaijan for the crimes committed against his Armenian victims. The Court concluded that Azerbaijan was in violation of its obligation under Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights (Rights to Life) to effectively deter the commission of offences which put others’ lives at risk.

Moreover, the Court found sufficient evidence to conclude that Safaorv’s pardon and other measures in his favour had been racially motivated, whereas the ethnic bias of his crimes had already been fully investigated during Court proceedings in Hungary. 

Moreover, the Court noted the statements by Azerbaijani officials calling Safarov a patriot and a hero. “It deplored the fact that the majority of those statements had expressed particular support for the fact that R.S.’s crimes had been directed against Armenian soldiers and considered that the very existence of the website suggested that he had been pardoned because of the ethnic nature of his attack.”

Attempts by the Azerbaijani Government to deny the factor of ethnicity of the victim were not sufficient “to refute the overwhelming body of evidence from the applicants that the various measures leading to R.S.’s virtual impunity, coupled with the glorification of his extremely cruel hate crime, had had a causal link to the victims’ Armenian ethnicity.” Therefore, the Court found that Azerbaijan was in violation of Article 14 (Prohibition of Discrimination) in conjunction with Article 2 (Right to Life).

The Safarov transfer and subsequent an immediate release and glorification caused an outrage and wide-spread condemnation from countries all over the world, from such international organizations as the EU, Council of Europe. The European Parliament adopted a resolution in this regard, and various Parliamentary Assemblies reacted to this case.

As this Delegation underlined earlier, if we fail to condemn Azerbaijan’s position on this issue, we would condone the words and the actions of Azerbaijan as it implicitly condones such acts itself. Fanning the flames of hatred, state sponsored and propagated Armenophobia in and by Azerbaijan provides a pretext, a reason, a motivation, better yet, a license to those who are inclined to operate outside the law, thinking they are doing national duty.

It is symptomatic that such brutality is being referred to by Azerbaijan as an "incident", thus encouraging self-appointed avengers to commit such despicable acts of vengeance operating outside the law. The Azerbaijani Government has never expressed any remorse regarding this ethnically motivated hate crime by the murderer whose words were "My job is to kill all [Armenians], because until they live, we will suffer".

The action of Azerbaijan clearly demonstrates that this country cannot be regarded as a reliable partner in bilateral and multilateral relations, particularly when it comes to delivering on such commitments as fighting hate crimes.

This whole case discloses the real face of Azerbaijani authorities, whose actions, encouragements, distortions, exaggerations, manipulations and disinformation, in short, their effective hate propaganda became an obstacle to peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The prevailing level of hostility towards Armenians could not contribute to creation of an environment conducive to peace. The Safarov case vividly illustrates that under no circumstances Azerbaijani authorities can be entrusted with the responsibility of providing security to any part of the Armenian people. Therefore, under no circumstances the people of Artsakh cannot be left without secure lines of defense”.