Author: Liana Toganian

 11:17, 31 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 31, ARMENPRESS. 4 new cases of the novel coronavirus have been detected in the Republic of Artsakh, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 236, the ministry of healthcare said today.

The total number of recoveries has reached 167.

The number of active cases is 68.

Currently 119 people are quarantined.

No death cases have been registered in the Republic.

So far, 5691 COVID-19 tests have been conducted.

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:13,

YEREVAN, JULY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Constitution of Armenia provides a two-month period to the Constitutional bodies for nominating candidates for the Constitutional Court judges, Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan told reporters at a briefing.

“This two-month period is already going on, which means that the Constitutional bodies will start presenting candidates in the nearest future”, he said.

On July 22 Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan signed the law, adopted by the Parliament on June 3, on making changes and amendments to the Law on the Constitutional Court.

“Now the Law must be published in the official bulletin and will enter into force from that moment”, the Speaker said.

On June 30 the Parliament adopted the bill submitted by the ruling My Step faction which sets a pension for the judges of the Constitutional Court whose powers have been suspended based on the recent changes. After the adoption of the bill President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian announced that he would not sign it.

On June 22 the Parliament adopted the bill on the Constitutional amendments submitted by a group of the ruling My Step faction MPs, which proposes to replace the Constitutional Court President and those judges of the Court which have served no less than 12 years. The Constitutional amendments have entered into force. Hrays Tovmasyan is no longer the President of the Constitutional Court, and the powers of three judges of the Court – Felix Tokhyan, Hrant Nazaryan and Alvina Gyulumyan have been suspended. The three new judges of the Court must be elected within two months.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Ucom expresses position to SCPEC Armenia

 18:30, 6 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. The State Commission of the Protection of Economic Competition of the Republic of Armenia approached “Ucom” CJSC to clarify Ucom’s position on the merger of “VEON Armenia” CJSC and “Team” LLC through the acquisition of 100% share by the latter on June 26.

ARMENPRESS reports Ucom issued a statement over the situation, which runs as follows,

‘’Let us note, that on June 8, 2020 “Team” LLC has submitted an application to the SCPEC of Armenia with a request to allow the above-mentioned transaction. On July 1, 2020 “Ucom” CJSC presented its position on the transaction, stating, in particular, that the merger is subject to rejection on several grounds.

In particular, according to the position of “Ucom” CJSC, the actions taken by “Team” LLC and its management should be qualified as unfair competition (including unscrupulous competition by using Ucom’s undisclosed confidential information). Hence, the conclusion of the discussed transaction contradicts Articles 11 and 16 of the RA Law on Protection of Economic Competition, and the merger is subject to rejection by the SCPEC.

The Position establishes and substantiates that Hayk Yesayan, former Director General at Ucom, as well as Alexander Yesayan, former Deputy Director and Strategic Director at Ucom (who is an acting member of the Board of Directors of “Ucom” CJSC), have breached the fiduciary duty towards Ucom as well as, when negotiating the deal with “VEON Armenia” CJSC and presenting the signed memorandum to SCPEC, they used confidential information (including details of the deal with VEON, which is named a doctrine of misappropriation of corporate opportunities in the legislation and jurisprudence of a number of countries). Thus, we find that as a result of the revelations and use of confidential information belonging to Ucom by the Yesayans, “Team” LLC was able to negotiate and sign a memorandum within just a month, and is going to acquire the shares of “VEON Armenia” CJSC, while similar deals’ negotiations last for months, if not longer. These actions, as justified in the Position, are both unfair competition and prohibited.

“Ucom” CJSC presented factual circumstances confirming the above-mentioned statements to the RA SCPEC. Moreover, a comparative legal analysis/ case study of the experience of the countries with similar legal regulations was presented as an additional argument confirming the justifications given in Position. The provided information underlines that such manifestations are not unique and are condemnable both in Armenia and abroad.

“Ucom” CJSC states that it intends to defend its violated rights, both in relevant bodies of Armenia and abroad, and is currently discussing with the legal services team and foreign lawyers the possible legal proceedings to commence abroad’’

 11:59, 7 July, 2020

STEPANAKERT, JULY 7, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan received Armenia’s Minister of Education, science, culture and sport Arayik Harutyunyan, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The President of Artsakh highly valued the level of partnership between the partner structures and stated that the coordinated work of the two ministries is the imperative of the day, and in this context the engagement of the Artsakh specialists to the discussion stages of the upcoming reform programs is very important. He said the current difficulties in the education sector created new challenges, and new approaches are necessary for finding alternative solutions to them.

The Armenian minister thanked the President of Artsakh for the warm welcome, stating that the issues voiced will be included in the joint working discussions between the two ministries.

The meeting was also attended by Artsakh’s minister of education, science and culture Lusine Gharakhanyan.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan