Author: Kanayan Tamar

                                        Tuesday, 

Armenian Judicial Reform Largely Backed By Council of Europe Watchdog


Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with Gianni Buquicchio, 
President of the Venice Commission, Yerevan, October 31, 2018.

Legal experts from the Council of Europe have given a largely positive 
assessment of judicial reforms planned by the Armenian government, while 
warning against aggressive attempts to change the composition of Armenia’s 
Constitutional Court.

In a report made public late on Monday, the Council of Europe’s Venice 
Commission praised the government for abandoning its initial plans for a 
mandatory “vetting” of all judges and embracing less radical measures 
recommended by European experts.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian demanded such a vetting on May 20 following a 
Yerevan court’s decision to free Robert Kocharian, a former Armenian president 
facing coup and corruption charges. He said many Armenian judges must be 
replaced because they are connected to the country’s “corrupt” former 
leadership and not trusted by the public.

Pashinian’s government watered down the planned judicial reforms after holding 
talks with officials from the Venice Commission and other Council of Europe 
bodies later in May. Under a reform package approved by it on October 3, 
Armenian judges will be subjected instead to “integrity verifications” by the 
Commission on Preventing Corruption. The latter will scrutinize their financial 
declarations and launch disciplinary proceedings against judges suspected of 
having dubiously acquired assets

The Venice Commission welcomed the government’s decision to abandon the 
“headstrong approach” initially advocated by Pashinian and opt for “more 
tailor-made solutions.”

“The overall assessment of the legislative amendments contained in the Package 
is clearly positive,” says the report jointly drawn up by the commission as 
well as the Council of Europe’s Directorate of Human Rights. “The proposed 
mechanisms increase the accountability of judges and are more efficient to 
prevent corruption, without, at the same time, disproportionately encroaching 
on the judges’ independence.”


Armenia -- Supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian block the entrance to 
the Constitutional Court buildin in Yerevan, May 20, 2019.
The Venice Commission at the same time voiced misgivings about a separate 
government bill offering Constitutional Court members financial incentives to 
resign before the end of their mandate.

The bill was circulated in early August shortly after Pashinian implicitly 
demanded the resignation of most of the court’s nine judges, who were installed 
by Armenia’s previous governments. Those include Hrayr Tovmasian, the court’s 
chairman facing growing government pressure to step down.

The bill was criticized by some Armenian legal experts and opposition leaders. 
They said that it amounts to a legal “bribe.” The Armenian Justice Ministry 
dismissed the criticism, saying that some eastern European countries introduced 
similar measures when they reformed their judiciaries.

The Venice Commission concluded that early retirement proposed to the high 
court judges can be acceptable only if it is “strictly voluntary” and “not 
designed to influence the outcome of pending cases.”

“It would be unacceptable if each new government could replace sitting judges 
with newly elected ones of their choice,” it warned.

“The potential simultaneous retirement of several and even as many as seven out 
of nine justices might hamper the effective functioning of the Court,” added 
the commission. “The Venice Commission therefore recommends that the Armenian 
authorities revise the proposed scheme so that this concern is alleviated.”




Armenian Government Mulls Asset Seizures

        • Tatevik Lazarian

Armenia -- Deputy Justice Minister Srbuhi Galian speaks in Yerevan, October 15, 
2019.

In what it calls an anti-corruption measure, Armenia’s Justice Ministry has 
drafted a bill that would allow authorities to confiscate private properties 
and other assets deemed to have been acquired illegally.

The bill would allow prosecutors to investigate individuals in cases where the 
market value of their assets exceeds their legally declared incomes by at least 
50 million drams ($105,000). The prosecutors would be able to ask courts to 
nationalize those assets even if their owners are not found guilty of 
corruption or other criminal offenses.

“I want to stress that confiscation of illegally acquired property could be 
carried only on the basis of a court verdict,” Deputy Justice Minister Srbuhi 
Galian told reporters on Tuesday.

Galian said the bill, which will be sent to the government for approval next 
week, would target “assets that do not correspond to legal incomes” of current 
and former state officials as well as other persons. She said the Justice 
Ministry wants to set the financial threshold for their seizure at 50 million 
drams to make sure that “ordinary citizens” are not worried about the measure.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly advocated legal mechanisms for 
asset forfeiture as part of his declared anti-corruption agenda. Still, he 
stressed as recently as on October 9 that his government has avoided any 
“redistribution of property” in Armenia since taking office in May 2018.

Pashinian indicated that the government will avoid confiscating dubiously 
acquired assets de facto owned former senior government officials but 
registered in other persons’ names. “We can’t [do that] because even if you 
confiscate a fake property everyone will think that the same could also happen 
to them,” he said at a meeting with businesspeople in Yerevan.




PM Hails ‘Armenian Support For Georgia’

        • Naira Nalbandian

Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L) and his Georgian counterpart 
Giorgi Gakharia inspect an Armenian honor guard at a welcoming ceremony in 
Yerevan, .

Georgia’s new Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia praised Armenia for recognizing 
Georgian sovereignty over two breakaway regions during his first official visit 
to Yerevan on Tuesday.

“Armenia supports us on the question of our territorial integrity, which is 
very important for us and for which we are grateful,” Gakharia said after talks 
with his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinian.

“I think that we should maintain this positive dynamic and strengthen mutual 
support on international platforms,” he told reporters.

Gakharia, who was elected prime minister by the Georgian parliament last month, 
did not elaborate on the Armenian support cited by him. Johnny Melikian, a 
Yerevan-based Georgia analyst, suggested that he referred to Yerevan’s decision 
in June to abstain in a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution on the 
conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Siding with Russia, Armenia’s former government voted against similar 
resolutions drafted by Georgia in previous years. For its part, Tbilisi has 
backed pro-Azerbaijani resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“There used to be consensus in the 1990s,” Melikian told RFE/RL’s Armenian 
service. “Tbilisi and Yerevan understood that they should not vote against each 
other. This changed in the 2000s under [then Georgian President Mikheil] 
Saakashvili. Deepening relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey, they adopted a 
more pro-Azerbaijani foreign policy.”

“This move [by Armenia] showed Tbilisi that we support them and expect the same 
kind of assistance from them if Azerbaijan or another state comes up with an 
anti-Armenian document on Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said.

Speaking at a joint news briefing with Gakharia, Pashinian said 
Georgian-Armenian relations must not be hampered by “external factors. “We 
discussed regional conflicts in this context,” he said.

“I reaffirmed our position that every conflict is unique and solutions to 
conflicts should therefore stem from their essence,” added Pashinian. “In this 
regard we stressed the importance of maintaining balanced positions on issues 
sensitive to each other.”

Georgian-Armenian economic ties were also high on the agenda of the talks, with 
both prime ministers singling out bilateral cooperation on energy and 
transport. Gakharia noted “good progress” in that area.

According to official Armenian statistics, Georgian-Armenian trade rose by over 
5 percent to $92 million in the first eight months of this year.




Four Men Charged Over Attack On Pro-Opposition Publication


Armenia -- The entrance to the offices of the Hayeli.am publication, Yerevan, 
October 5, 2019.

The Investigative Committee said on Tuesday that it has indicted four 
government supporters who reportedly attacked the offices of an online 
publication critical of the Armenian authorities.

The young men threw eggs and plastered offensive posters at the entrance to the 
Hayeli.am offices in Yerevan on October 5 in protest against what they called a 
pro-Azerbaijani headline of an article published by the news website.

The article was about Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s public reaction a 
statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in 
August. “Aliyev’s belated but ‘strong’ response to Pashinian,” read the 
headline.

The attackers said during the incident that Hayeli.am must no longer be able to 
operate. They also stressed the fact that its editor, Anzhela Tovmasian, is the 
sister of Hrayr Tovmasian, the chairman of Armenia’s Constitutional Court 
facing growing government pressure to resign.

The attack was condemned by Armenia’s leading political forces. The Hayeli.am 
staff described it as an act of “political persecution.”

The four men, all of them known as ardent supporters of Pashinian, were 
questioned by the police the day after the incident.

In a statement, the Investigative Committee said that they have been charged 
with obstructing the work of journalists, a criminal offense in Armenia 
punishable by up to one year of community service and fines ranging from 
200,000 to 400,000 drams ($420-$840). The law-enforcement body added that it is 
continuing the investigation.

On Monday, Anzhela Tovmasian claimed to be receiving more threats from the 
suspects and demanded that the Investigative Committee provide her with 
security guards.




Press Review


“Haykakan Zhamanak” admits that most Armenians expected “more rapid and more 
radical changes” when they brought Nikol Pashinian to power in last year’s 
“Velvet Revolution.” “But even the most disaffected people cannot deny that 
positive changes have occurred in the country,” writes the paper linked to 
Pashinian. It says that only former government officials and their allies deny 
that because not only have they lost their positions and “businesses operating 
in privileged conditions” but may also end up in prison. It says that they as 
well as media outlets “lavishly financed” by them are now “poisoning the public 
consciousness” with false reports and “manipulations.”

“Zhamanak” comments on the Constitutional Court’s refusal to oust its embattled 
chairman, Hrayr Tovmasian. The paper describes as the decision as a major blow 
to the pro-government majority in Armenia’s parliament, which appealed to the 
court’s judges to replace Tovmasian. It says Tovmasian and Armenia’s former 
leadership thus “achieved a political success and further strengthened their 
positions in the Constitutional Court.”

Lragir.am welcomes Armenia’s decision to continue its “humanitarian mission” in 
Syria despite the Turkish military incursion into the country’s northeastern 
regions mostly controlled by Kurdish forces. “That is also a signal to the 
involved world powers and regional players about Yerevan’s determination and 
predictability as a partner,” writes the pro-Western publication. “At the same 
time that it allows Armenia to expect from partner entities adequate 
predictability towards Armenian interests and security in the new realities in 
the region which has entered a turbulent phase.”

“Zhoghovurd” says the Turkish invasion is part of Ankara’s continuing efforts 
to “weaken Syria” and expand its regional influence. “The aim is to realize the 
Turkish dream to bring their country at the forefront of the Middle East,” 
writes the paper.

(Lilit Harutiunian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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