Author: Jane Topchian

Aram Harutyunyan: Nikol Pashinyan’s rule has a ‘Bayraktar effect’ on Armenia

Jane Topchian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 24 2021

Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan appear to have 'Bayraktar effect' on Armenia, the Chairman of National Unity party Aram Harutyunyan told a press conference on Wednesday. Harutyunyan recalled the PM's favorite phrase about 'laying down on asphalt`, adding people can now perceive what the PM meant. 

"In reality, he laid our soldiers down on asphalt. He led some 5-6 thousand sons to death and buried," said Harutyunyan, recalling also the PM's speech in parliament on September 17, where Pashinyan stated  that whatever the outcome of the war would be we should not recognize ourselves as defeated.

Harutyunyan also pointed to the title of the book authored by Pashinyan "The Other Side of the Earth"  which, per him, is no coincidence. "He turned the country upside down and eliminated all our achievements, yet we have the chance today to  pull ourselves together and recover," stressed the speaker.

Armenian movement leader: Surveillance cameras at Yerevan cafe can show that Artur Mkrtchyan was there at that hour

Jane Topchian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 21 2021
11:56, 21.02.2021

Green Future environmental movement leader Vahagn Varagyan posted the following on his Facebook page:

“After the comment that I posted on my Facebook page yesterday in regard to Chairperson of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction Artur Mkrtchyan, various human rights activists and journalists have been asking me questions about the incident that took place yesterday. With full responsibility and clearly aware about the grave crime, I insist that yesterday at around 10:00-11:00 p.m. Chairperson of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction Artur Mkrtchyan screamed the following during a telephone conversation at Triumph Café located at Isahakyan Street.: “Who cares if they have minor children and they can’t be deprived of liberty by law, they swore at the director of the National Security Service, they need to be sentenced, do whatever has to be done to sentence them, boy.”

Not only my friends who were with me, but also the surveillance cameras in the café can affirm the fact that Artur Mkrtchyan was at Triumph Café at that hour and was mixed up and walking from one table to the next while talking on the phone. Moreover, it is suffice to check to see which person with three minor children was arrested by the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction yesterday after 10 p.m., and it will be clear as to which person was unlawfully arrested by the direct assignment of Artur Mkrtchyan. I am ready to be interviewed by any investigative body in regard to these facts. At the same time, I ask everyone to view this Facebook post as a report on crime.”

  https://news.am/eng/news/629825.html  


Attorney: Armenian citizen Aram Sargsyan arrested under case regarding fake Facebook user

Jane Topchian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 21 2021
12:10, 21.02.2021

The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled to arrest citizen Aram Sargsyan, who was detained under the criminal case launched in regard a fake Facebook user. Sargsyan’s attorney Benik Galstyan posted the following on his Facebook page:

“Last night at 2:50 a.m. Judge Vahagn Melikyan ruled to arrest my client Aram Sargsyan.

I was surprised by the court’s decision since, during the court hearing, the assumptions of the National Security Service were completely refuted, and the court approved my claims that Aram Sargsayn has nothing to do with the acts ascribed to him and has nothing to do with the so-called accomplices. I take full responsibility and say that the judge went to the consultation room being fully convinced of these circumstances. However, my client, who has three minor children aged 4, 13 and 15, is currently at a penitentiary institution. I’ll find out how this happened. I’ll also find out how Chairperson of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction Artur Mkrtchyan is linked to this incident.

Another thing I would like to add is that my client has never been involved in community or political activities and, like him, many others can also be arrested.”

9094 troops wounded in action in Artsakh War, says Armenian prosecution

Jane Topchian

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 16:48, 18 February, 2021

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. 9094 servicemen of the Armenian military were wounded in action during the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh War, the general prosecution announced today at a consultation on the military prosecution’s activities.

The final death toll isn’t yet available because of the ongoing identification of bodies and the search operations.

But the prosecution noted that in 2020 the bodies of 3389 servicemen were identified.

Speaking on the criminal cases related to the war, Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan said that it is necessary for a deep, comprehensive and fully objective investigation to give legal assessments to the Turkey-backed Azerbaijani war of aggression, the gross violations of international humanitarian law against servicemen, civilians and towns of Armenia and Artsakh, the Azeri crimes against humanity and use of prohibited munitions, as well as deployment of international terrorists by Azerbaijan.

Other issues related to the military were also discussed at the meeting.

Defense Minister V. Harutyunyan said that revealing all circumstances concerning the war is of urgent necessity.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Attorney: Armenia National Security Service officers threw my client to floor and videotaped the act

Jane Topchian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 19 2021
22:38, 19.02.2021

Attorney Mikayel Shkhimyan posted the following on his Facebook page:

“A little while ago, with the purpose of staging a show in the building of the National Security Service (NSS), officers of the NSS threw my client to the ground in the obscenest way and videotaped him (my client is Mher Avagyan had come to the NSS building with me, his son is a veteran of the 44-day war in Artsakh and continues his military service, defending the borders of Armenia in the sector near Nakhchivan).

I will report other violations committed within the scope of the political case that has been launched.”

Various public and political figures are being apprehended and taken to the NSS for a few hours now. Earlier, masked officers of the NSS apprehended co-founder of Quartet Media, political analyst Karen Bekaryan in his house and took him to the NSS. Officers also conducted a search in the office of former chief of staff of the National Assembly Ara Saghatelyan and two other offices near that office, after which Saghatelyan was taken to the NSS. Azerologist Anzhela Elibegova was also apprehended.

Construction of new residential settlement for displaced citizens launched in Artsakh

Jane Topchian

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 12:19,

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Construction of a new residential settlement has launched in the territory located between Astghashen and Patara villages of Artsakh’s Askeran region, spokesperson of the Urban Development Ministry of Artsakh Marta Danielyan told Armenpress.

“The new settlement, which is for our citizens displaced from Jraghatsner, Moshkhmhat, Madatashen and Sghnakh villages of Askeran, will have a total area of over 644,000 square meters. The first of the planned 116 private houses will be ready within next few months: the construction of the settlement will be completed by December 2022. The houses will have 2-4 rooms. Each private house will be provided with 1500 square meters of land. A market will also be built near the main road”, she said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Wendy Morton highlights ceasefire in NK and unblocking regional infrastructures

Jane Topchian

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 20:06,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. President of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan received Wendy Morton, United Kingdom's Minister for European Neighborhood and the Americas, who highlighted the establishment of the ceasefire regime in Nagorno Karabakh and the unblocking of the regional infrastructures. Ararat Mirzoyan hoped that the United Kingdom, as a partner country which is a member of the UNSC, will make all possible efforts for the speedy return of the POWs according to the principle of ''all for all''.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the National Assembly of Armenia, greeting the guest, the President of the parliament noted that the partnering relations between the two countries need to be further activated, which can be greatly fostered by the activation of inter-parliamentary interactions.

Referring to the situation over Nagorno Karabakh, Ararat Mirzoyan emphasized that for the implementation of the November 9 trilateral declaration and preservation of the regional peace the speedy return of the Armenian POWs and other detainees is priority for the Armenian side. Ararat Mirzoyan added that the negotiations on the status of Artsakh under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs remains on the agenda of the Armenian side.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the reform agenda of Armenia, as well as the process and achievements of the program ''New Armenia, modern parliament'' carried out in the National Assembly of Armenia by UK funding.

Armenpress: PM Pashinyan presents details about earthquake consequences

Jane Topchian

PM Pashinyan presents details about earthquake consequences

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 16:52,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia NIkol Pashinyan presented some details over the earthquake registered in Armenia.

‘’According to preliminary data, there are no devastations. One house has been damaged in Yerevan’s Erebuni district and one citizen received slight injuries. According to preliminary information, the epicenter of the earthquake was nearby Parakar village of Aramavir Province’’, the PM wrote on his Facebook page.

The Seismological Service of the Emergency Situations of Armenia registered an earthquake at 15:29 local time 8 km south-east from Yerevan at a depth of 10 km with a magnitude of 4.7. The Modified Mercalli Scale (MMI) was 6-7. The earthquake was felt in Yerevan at an MMI of 5-6 and 3-4 in Aragatsotn, Ararat, Shirak, Armavir and Vayots Dzor Provinces.

Photos by Tatev Duryan





Polish politician pens letter to Macron, asks to help hold Aliyev liable for war crimes against Armenians

Jane Topchian
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 8 2021
– Public Radio of Armenia

Polish politician and lawyer Tomasz Lech Buczek has sent a letter to French president Emmanuel Macron, asking to intervene to hold Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev liable for the war crimes against Armenians committed during the Artsakh War.

In addition, he has attached 150 copies of the brochure on Azerbaijan’s war crimes.

The letter reads:

Dear Mr. President,

I am asking you to intervene in the case of bringing to criminal liability the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, who, as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, committed documented crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the Armenians during the Karabakh conflict in 2020 on the basis of: Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims (1949) with Additional Protocols (1977), The Hague Declarations on the Prohibition of Gaseous Missiles and Expanding or Flattening in the Human Body (1899), Fourth Hague Convention on the Principles of War on Land (1907), Protocol on ban on the use of chemical and gas weapons (1925).

I am asking Your Excellency, the President, to designate a place for trial of Azerbaijani criminals on French territory.

I am also asking for a ban on İlham Aliyev, his entire family and Azerbaijani dignitaries to enter France and the European Union.

To the letter I adds a few copies of my publication about Azerbaijan’s War crimes against the Armenians – Karabakh 2020.

Tomasz Lech Buczek earlier sent letter and brochures to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Azerbaijani Forces Must be Banned from Syunik Roads, Says Rights Defender

Jane Topchian

February 11,  2021



An Azerbaijan soldier on a road in Syunik Province

The presence of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the communities or on the roads connecting the municipalities in the Syunik Province, as well as any of their movement through those roads must be banned, said Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan on Thursday.

“They [Azerbaijani forces] are there despite their gross violations of the rights of peaceful civilians and servicemen of Armenia and Artsakh, ethnic cleansing and mass destruction of peaceful communities, constant institutional Armenophobia, torture and ill treatment, illegally holding prisoners of war, new war threats, the ‘determination’ of borders with mechanical approaches through gross violations of the international rules,” said Tatoyan.

“The presence of these Azerbaijani servicemen, first of all grossly violate the rights of the border residents of Armenia or are seriously endangering them,” added Tatoyan explaining the seizure of property and indiscriminate firing of weapons.

“Therefore, no matter what happens, their presence or movement is illegal, has no legal precedence and contradicts the foundations of the human rights system in the international law,” explained the human rights defender, who said that his office carries out its responsibilities based on this fundamental concepts on all fronts.