Friday,
Riots Reported In Armenian Prisons
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- The Nubarashen prison in Yerevan.
Inmates of Armenia’s largest prison and other penitentiary institutions rioted
for unclear reasons on Thursday evening.
In a late-night Facebook post, Justice Minister Rustam Badasian said that the
“manifestations of disobedience” were swiftly put down by prison
administrations subordinate to the Armenian Ministry of Justice.
“At the moment the situation is under the Ministry’s control, there is no
[further] disobedience,” he wrote. “In case of possible [violent] developments
actions commensurate with the situation will be taken within the bounds of my
powers.”
Badasian did not say whether any prisoners or prison guards were injured in the
violence. Nor did he give any reasons for the violence.
According to media reports, the protesting inmates of Yerevan’s Nubarashen
prison and several other jails resisted government efforts to root out
underworld rules that have long regulated prison life in Armenia, Russia and
other ex-Soviet states. They were particularly angered by a crackdown on
so-called “zone overseers” named by crime bosses, said some media outlets.
Last week, the government approved a bill aimed at eliminating what it
describes as a “criminal subculture” in Armenia. It would criminalize the
creation of and membership in groups “carrying a criminal subculture” and
outlaw underworld ranks granted to crime figures.
Holders of the highest of these ranks are known as “thieves-in-law” in the
former Soviet Union. The latter lead “overseers” of criminal activity in
prisons or various regions of a country.
Under the government bill, anyone receiving or granting such ranks would face
between seven and ten years’ imprisonment. Having ties to such individuals
would also be deemed a criminal offense.
Artur Sakunts, a human rights activist, on Friday hailed the government’s
stated efforts to end the unofficial prison and underworld rules. He expressed
confidence that the crackdown will be successful.
“Nobody can expect to be in a privileged position by virtue of being a
representative of a criminal subculture or the underworld,” he told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service. “This is not going to happen.”
Pashinian In Fresh Meetings On Key Mining Project
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) meets with Edward Sellers,
interim chief executive of Lydian International, Yerevan, September 6, 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met with his political allies, environmental
activists and the chief executive of a Western mining company on Friday to
discuss the future of its controversial project to develop Armenia’s Amulsar
gold deposit.
Pashinian briefed parliament deputies from his My Step alliance on the status
of the stalled project and answered questions from them. He declined to talk to
journalists after the three-hour meeting behind the closed doors.
Alen Simonian, a senior My Step figure and deputy speaker of the Armenian
parliament, gave no details of what Pashinian told his loyalists. He said that
the participants of the meeting did not arrive at any “conclusion.”
“The prime minister’s position is known,” Simonian told the press. “As for his
remarks, they were about the existing situation.”
Pashinian went on to hold separate meetings with activists opposed to the
project and Edward Sellers, the interim chief executive of the British-American
company Lydian International that had received in 2016 a government license to
mine gold at Amulsar.
Lydian has had no access to the planned mining site ever since several dozen
environmental protesters started blocking all roads leading to it in June 2018.
The latter want the Armenian authorities to ban the project, saying that it
would wreak havoc on the environment. Lydian maintains that it would use modern
technology that would prevent such damage.
According to a government statement, Pashinian told the activists from Jermuk,
a resort town over 10 kilometers north of Amulsar, that he believes a solution
to the dispute should be based on “Armenia’s balanced interests.” The statement
did not say whether he told them the government is planning to enable Lydian to
resume its operations or on the contrary pull the plug on the
multimillion-dollar project.
Pashinian’s press office also reported few details of his talks with Sellers.
It said they discussed the results of an independent environmental audit of
Lydian’s project commissioned by the government and conducted by a Lebanese
consulting firm, ELARD.
ELARD sent a written report to Armenia’s Investigative Committee about a month
ago. According to the law-enforcement body, the report concluded that gold
mining at Amulsar will pose only “manageable” risks to the environment if
Lydian takes “mitigating measures” recommended by ELARD.
Pashinian echoed that assessment on August 19 when he signaled his intention to
restore Lydian’s access to Amulsar. But he then decided to ask ELARD experts to
personally explain their findings at a video conference held ten days later.
The experts said they cannot definitively evaluate environmental dangers of the
project Lydian because had submitted flawed and incomplete information to
Armenian regulatory authorities. Lydian responded by accusing them of
misleading Pashinian’s government.
Pashinian said at the end of the Skype call that the government might require
Lydian to go through a fresh licensing process which would probably take
months. The government has announced no decisions to that effect yet.
Radical Group Warns Pashinian Over Amulsar
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia- Zhirayr Sefilian, leader of the Sasna Tsrer party, speaks to RFE/RL,
Yerevan, September 6, 2019.
The leader of Sasna Tsrer, an Armenian party whose members stormed a police
station in Yerevan in 2016, on Friday warned Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
against giving the green light to a large-scale mining project opposed by
environmentalists.
Zhirayr Sefilian said a government decision to allow a British-American company
to restart the project disrupted by protesters over a year ago would be
exploited by Pashinian’s bitter political foes branded by him as a Russian
“fifth column.”
“The fifth column is praying and waiting for Nikol Pashinian to reactivate the
Amulsar mine as soon as possible,” Sefilian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
“The fifth column has very well calculated that … the people would not allow
[mining at Amulsar] and that there would be a clash between the people and
police forces there.”
He claimed that heavy-handed police actions against the protesters would deal a
huge blow to Pashinian’s popularity and lead to his downfall.
Sefilian admitted that the Amulsar issue was on the agenda of Pashinian’s
unexpected meeting with him and another Sasna Tsrer figure, Garegin Chukaszian,
held late on Thursday. “We urged Mr. Pashinian yesterday not to make mistakes
on this issue,” he said. “If he makes a mistake on Amulsar that will mean his
political death. We made this clear to him yesterday.”
Sefilian stressed that his party, which got 1.8 percent of the vote in the
December 2018 parliamentary elections, remains opposed to the Amulsar project.
“We will not allow the opening of any new metal mines,” he said.
Asked whether Sasna Tsrer will protest if Pashinian’s government decides to
restore the Lydian International company’s access to Amulsar, he said: “Of
course, and we will protest and at the same time try to ensure that Mr.
Pashinian does not issue wrong orders.”
The Lebanese-born politician dismissed speculation that he and his associates
have actually pledged not to hamper the Amulsar project as part of a secret
deal with Pashinian.
Some of those associates led a 31-member armed group, also called Sasna Tsrer,
which seized a Yerevan police base in July 2016 to demand than then President
Serzh Sarkisian free Sefilian and step down. Sefilian had been arrested a month
before the attack.
The gunmen laid down their weapons after a two-week standoff with security
forces which left three police officers dead. All but two of them were set free
pending the outcome of their trials shortly after Sarkisian was toppled in last
year’s “Velvet Revolution” led by Pashinian.
The two Sasna Tsrer members remaining behind bars stand accused of killing the
policemen. They deny the accusations.
In February, Sefilian warned that Sasna Tsrer will “force” the authorities to
free the “rebels.” Leaders of the pro-government majority in the Armenian
parliament denounced the threat.
Yerevan Denies Friction With Moscow
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian speaks at a news conference in
Yerevan, September 6, 2019.
Russia’s refusal to extradite indicted former Armenian officials and Armenia’s
decision to grant asylum to a Russian anti-government activist is not a sign of
discord between the two allied nations, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian
said on Friday.
“Interstate relations between Russia and Armenia have quite strong foundations
and we don’t have any differences here,” told a news conference. “We have some
processes of legal nature but at the interstate level are able to maintain the
important agenda at the heart of which is our intention to deepen our allied
relations.”
“There is and there can be no interconnection between these issues,” said
Mnatsakanian.
It emerged on Tuesday that the Armenian Migration Service has granted asylum to
a Russian anti-government activist who moved to Armenia in January after
serving a four-year prison sentence in Russia. The government agency said the
activist, Vitaly Shishkin, could be persecuted for his political views in
Russia.
Shishkin reportedly used to be a senior member of a Russian nationalist
movement that challenged President Vladimir Putin and was banned as extremist
in 2015. He was arrested in 2014 and subsequently sentenced him to four years
in prison on charges of calling for “mass disturbances” and spreading hate
speech. A Russian human rights group recognized Shishkin as a political
prisoner.
Yerevan’s decision came almost one month after the Russian authorities refused
to extradite Mihran Poghosian, a former senior Armenian official facing
corruption charges in Armenia.
Moscow also refused late last year to extradite Mikael Harutiunian, a former
Armenian defense minister wanted by the Armenian authorities on coup charges.
It argued that Harutiunian is a Russian citizen.
Harutiunian as well as another retired Armenian general, Yuri Khachaturov, and
former President Robert Kocharian were charged in July 2018 with illegally
using Armenian army units against opposition protesters in March 2008. The
Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the accusations as politically motivated.
Late last week Putin made a point of again congratulating Kocharian on his
birthday anniversary. The Russian president described his former Armenian
counterpart as a “true friend of Russia” who had “made a great contribution to
developing today's Armenia.”
Press Review
“Aravot” looks at new anti-corruption bodies and legislation introduced by the
current Armenian government. “God willing, all this will bear fruit,” writes
the newspaper editor, Aram Abrahamian. “In this regard, I do not doubt the
sincerity of the prime minister [Nikol Pashinian] and his entourage. But let us
frankly answer one question: do we still have ministers, parliament deputies or
other senior officials who are engaged in business?” Abrahamian maintains that
there are still many officials who “continue to make money through
entrepreneurship.” This, he says, calls into question the success of the
government’s anti-corruption drive.
“Zhoghovurd” says that selective justice also remains a problem in Armenia.
“But while this practice was guided from the highest echelons of power, from
Serzh Sarkisian or Robert Kocharian, in the past, Nikol Pashinian is definitely
not sponsoring anyone,” writes the paper. “It’s just that he is surrounded by
people who sponsor one or another individual.” In particular, it claims, the
chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, General Artak Davtian, has ensured
that his son performs compulsory military service in “privileged conditions” at
an army unit deployed in southeastern Armenia. It calls for Davtian’s
resignation.
In the same commentary, “Zhoghovurd” also questions legal grounds on which
Health Minister Arsen Torosian had been exempted from military service. “He
must be ousted from the state apparatus for desertion despite enjoying the
backing of the prime minister’s press secretary, Vladimir Karapetian,” it says.
Lragir.am reacts to the establishment of a special anti-corruption court in
Ukraine. The pro-Western publication complains that in Armenia the authorities
only recently started working on a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy. “The
absence of radical steps in Armenia has enabled representatives of the former
regime to speak of selective justice and claim that this looks more like
commerce: you pay and get out [of prison,]” it claims.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” dismisses talk of a “heated political autumn” in Armenia.
The pro-government paper says that people making such a forecast, notably
allies of former President Serzh Sarkisian, are misjudging the public mood. It
says that they are wrong to think that Armenians unhappy with the state of
affairs in their country could back the former regime. “Such a thing is
impossible,” it says. “Therefore, even if there is a heated autumn it will be
about more quickly solving crimes committed in the past and punishing the
former rulers with more drastic measures.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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