Wednesday,
Pashinian Concerned About Soaring Coronavirus Cases
Armenia -- Hospital beds placed in the lobby of Yerevan's largest concert hall
in preparation for a possible surge in coronavirus infections, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Wednesday described as “very worrying” the
continuing rapid spread of coronavirus in Armenia but argued against changing
his government’s strategy of coping with the epidemic.
Pashinian said the Armenian authorities should only make “some adjustments” to
their “decentralized” fight against the virus which places a great deal of
responsibility on ordinary citizens.
The Ministry of Health reported earlier in the day at least 3 more deaths and
230 new COVID-19 infections, which brought to 5,271 the total number of
confirmed cases in the country of about 3 million. The official death toll from
the virus reached 67.
Citing the growing number of cases, Health Minister Arsen Torosian announced on
Tuesday that the authorities will have to stop in the coming days hospitalizing
or isolating most people testing positive for COVID-19.
“Our calculations show that if we don’t change anything we will have about
10,000 cases … by the end of May and that figure could reach 20,000 in
mid-June,” Pashinian said at a meeting of an interagency commission coordinating
government measures against the virus.
The authorities, he went on, should therefore “review the quality and scale of
measures” already taken by them.
“We should first and foremost understand how we are going to make more effective
the fight against coronavirus which we believe is most effective,” he said.
“Namely, the decentralized struggle whereby as many forces and citizens as
possible should be involved in the fight against coronavirus at the level of
individual responsibility.”
Pashinian has repeatedly urged Armenians to do so by practicing social
distancing and taking other precautions recommended by the health authorities.
Some opposition figures and other critics of the Armenian government have
responded by accusing him of trying to dodge responsibility for the authorities’
lax enforcement of stay-at-home orders and failure to contain the epidemic.
As part of a nationwide lockdown imposed in late March, the government seriously
restricted people’s movements and ordered the closure of most nonessential
businesses. It began relaxing these restrictions already in mid-April. The daily
numbers of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the country have steadily increased
since then.
Critics say that the authorities lifted the lockdown too soon and are now paying
the consequences. They cite the example of many other countries, notably
neighboring Georgia, which have kept lockdown restrictions in place for at least
two months and are now reporting very low infection rates.
Pashinian dismissed such comparisons, claiming that Armenia has at the time
suffered less financial and economic damage from the virus than some of those
countries. “We should carry on with our tactics and not underestimate
socioeconomic problems vis-à-vis health problems,” he said. “On the other hand,
the aggravation of the health crisis could further deepen economic problems and
make it harder to solve them.”
A government statement on the meeting chaired by Pashinian said the government
commission discussed “further actions” in the fight against the virus. But it
did not report concrete decisions made by the ad hoc body.
Former Judge In Kocharian Case To Stand Trial
Armenia -- District court judge Davit Grigorian leaves the courtroom after
ordering former President Robert Kocharian's release from prison, May 18, 2019.
A Yerevan district court judge who controversially ordered former President
Robert Kocharian’s release from prison a year ago will go on trial soon on
charges strongly denied by him.
The official Armenpress news agency reported on Wednesday that prosecutors have
formally endorsed the forgery charges brought against the suspended judge, Davit
Grigorian, by Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS). It said the
criminal case has already been sent to court.
Grigorian presided over the ongoing trial of Kocharian and three other former
officials when it got underway in May 2019. A few days later, he not only agreed
to free the ex-president but also suspended the trial, questioning the legality
of coup charges brought against him.
The decisions angered political allies and supporters of Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian. Heeding Pashinian’s calls, hundreds of them blocked the entrances to
court buildings across Armenia. Pashinian demanded a mandatory “vetting” of all
Armenian judges, saying that many of them remain linked to the country’s
“corrupt” former leadership.
Armenia -- Supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian block the entrance to a
district court building in Yerevan, May 20, 2019.
Kocharian was arrested again in June hours after Armenia’s Court of Appeals
overturned Grigorian’s decisions. Three weeks later, SIS officers searched and
sealed the judge’s offices and confiscated his computer. Later in July, a state
body overseeing the Armenian judiciary suspended Grigorian and allowed the SIS
to prosecute him.
Grigorian denied the ensuing accusations of document forgery carrying up to two
years in prison. His lawyers described it as government retribution for the
ex-president’s release. Law-enforcement authorities categorically denied,
however, any connection between the Kocharian case and Grigorian’s prosecution.
The SIS released details of the indictment last week. It claimed that with the
help of his secretary Grigorian drew up and signed bogus court protocols to
cover up his failure to hold in September 2018 two hearings on separate
petitions submitted by an Armenian citizen and a state agency.
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian attends the first court hearing in
his trial in Yerevan, May 13, 2019.
In a July 2019 statement, Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General said that
the unnamed citizen lodged a complaint against the judge and accused him of
committing forgery in February 2019. It said both the SIS and a prosecutor
overseeing the law-enforcement body refused to launch a formal inquiry at the
time.
According to the statement, in May 2019 the same person appealed to
Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian and presented “more substantiated arguments” in
support of their allegations. Davtian decided to open a criminal case against
the judge on June 28, there days after Kocharian was arrested again.
Another district court judge, Anna Danibekian, took over Kocharian’s
high-profile trial in August. She has since repeatedly refused to release him
pending the outcome of the trial. The ex-president rejects the coup and
corruption charges leveled against him as politically motivated.
Kindergartens Reopen In Armenia
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia -- Children in a kindergarden.
Kindergartens across Armenia reopened on Wednesday following the lifting of
virtually all coronavirus-related restrictions imposed by the government two
months ago.
The government last week allowed them to resume their work while deciding to
keep the country’s schools and universities closed. It said this will help many
parents of young children return to work.
The government at the same time set specific safety rules for the state-run and
private kindergartens. Under those rules, the parents must leave children at the
entrance to pre-school institutions and are not allowed to enter them under any
circumstances.
Kindergarten staff must not only ensure the parents’ compliance with these
requirements but also measure children’s temperatures twice a day, minimize
physical contact with and among them, and disinfect and ventilate their premises
on a daily basis.
“We have drawn lines for the parents so that they observe social distancing,”
said Gayane Khudoyan, a nurse at the Kindergarten No. 5 located in the center of
Yerevan. “The last line is the point of separation of a parent and a child. The
parent must stand there while I measure the kid’s temperature. If the kid has a
fever we will immediately send them home.”
Most parents appear to have been unconvinced by these precautions so far. Only
eight children were brought to Khudoyan’s kindergarten in the morning.
Another kindergarten located in the city’s western Davitashen district reported
on Wednesday an attendance rate of 10 percent. More than 400 children are
enrolled in it.
The Armenian authorities began lifting their lockdown restrictions in mid-April
despite a growing number of coronavirus cases recorded by them.
The Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday morning at least 3 more deaths and
230 new COVID-19 infections which brought to 5,271 the total number of confirmed
cases in the country of about 3 million.
The official death toll from the virus thus reached 67. The figure does not
cover the deaths of 27 other people infected with COVID-19. The ministry claims
that those deaths were primarily caused by other, pre-existing illnesses.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the
continuing rapid spread of the virus. He warned that the authorities may have to
“re-impose the strictest possible restrictions” soon.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Tuesday,
Armenian President Signs Bill On Asset Seizures
Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian (R) and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
attend a conference in Dilijan, June 8, 2019.
President Armen Sarkissian has signed into law a controversial government bill
allowing the confiscation of private properties and other assets deemed to have
been acquired illegally, while warning against its “unscrupulous enforcement” by
the authorities.
The bill passed by the Armenian parliament last month allows prosecutors to
investigate individuals in case of having “sufficient grounds to suspect” that
the market value of their assets exceeds their “legal incomes” by at least 50
million drams ($103,000). Should the prosecutors find such discrepancies they
can ask courts to nationalize those assets even if their owners are not found
guilty of corruption or other criminal offenses.
The latter will have to prove the legality of their holdings if they are to
retain them. They will also be given the option of reaching an out-of-court
settlement with the prosecutors, which would require them to hand over at least
75 percent of their assets in and outside Armenia to the state.
The government says that current and former state officials facing corruption
charges will be the main targets of the legal mechanism for asset forfeiture.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly portrayed it as a major
anti-corruption measure that will help the authorities recover “wealth stolen
from the people.” Pashinian has indicated in recent weeks his intention to use
it against the country’s former rulers and their cronies repeatedly branded by
him as “plunderers.”
The two opposition parties represented in the parliament have backed the bill in
principle while proposing various amendments to it and voicing other
reservations.
But other, more hardline opposition groups and figures have condemned the bill
as unconstitutional and accused Pashinian of planning a far-reaching
“redistribution of assets” to cement his hold on power. They claim that this
will only discourage Armenian and foreign entrepreneurs from investing in the
country.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian likewise warned that the bill could scare
away investors and lead to capital flight from Armenia when the government
discussed and approved it in December.
Some of the critics, among them supporters of the former government, urged
Sarkissian last month to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the bill’s
conformity with the Armenian constitution.
The president decided to sign the bill into law, however. In a lengthy
explanatory note released on Monday, his office said that “numerous” Armenian
non-governmental organizations, legal experts and even foreign investors have
voiced concern over the legislation and its possible negative impact on the
domestic business environment. It said the presidential administration has
discussed those concerns with Justice Minister Rustam Badasian and received
“clarifications” from him.
“The president of the republic attaches great importance to the fight against
crime,” read the statement. “At the same time, it is expected that the law must
be implemented in strict conformity with the legitimate aim of its passage.”
“An unscrupulous enforcement of the law could undermine trust in the state and
jeopardize its effectiveness,” it said.
Sarkissian’s office specifically warned the authorities against arbitrarily
accessing and using citizens’ personal data, breaching bank secrecy or hampering
business activity and competition.
The statement did not clearly explain why Sarkissian chose not to request a
Constitutional Court judgment on the legality of asset seizures sought by the
government.
Meanwhile, Pashinian met with Badasian later on Monday to discuss practical
modalities of the law’s implementation. The justice minister, who is the main
author of the legislation, confirmed that the process will be handled by a new
division that will be set up within the Office of the Prosecutor-General in the
coming months.
Kocharian Has Another Operation
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian is brought to a courtroom in
Yerevan, May 8, 2020.
Armenia’s jailed former President Robert Kocharian underwent surgery on Tuesday
for the second time in seven months.
Kocharian’s office said that the operation went according to plan and that he is
now in a “satisfactory” condition. It did not reveal the medical condition he
suffered from.
Kocharian, who is standing trial on corruption and coup charges strongly denied
by him, was already operated on at Yerevan’s Izmirlian Medical Center in
October. He was again the taken to the private hospital on April 28 for what one
of his lawyers described as a “post-operative checkup.”
Earlier this spring, Kocharian spent more than three weeks in another hospital
after complaining of blood pressure fluctuations. He was sent back to prison on
April 3.
Kocharian’s lawyers have since repeatedly demanded his release from custody on
health grounds, saying that he risks being infected with coronavirus. They say
that 65-year-old is in a COVID-19 high-risk group because of his age and health
problems.
The lawyers reiterated their demands on Friday when a Yerevan court resumed the
high-profile trial of Kocharian and three other former officials prosecuted on
charges mostly stemming from the 2008 post-election unrest in the Armenian
capital.
Three former Armenian prime ministers also attended the court hearing to ask the
presiding judge, Anna Danibekian, to free Kocharian pending the outcome of the
trial. Danibekian is scheduled to respond to these petitions on Wednesday.
Kocharian rejects all charges leveled against him as politically motivated.
Government Won’t Rule Out Renewed Coronavirus Restrictions
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia -- A COVID-19 patient and a medic at the intensive care unit of Surp
Grigor Lusavorich hospital, Yerevan, . (A photo by the Armenian
Mnistry of Health)
The government could re-impose restrictions on people’s movements if coronavirus
cases continue to spread in Armenia, a senior official said on Tuesday.
“We may again tighten restrictions if need be,” Vahan Hunanian, a spokesman for
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Hunanian said that the government has still not decided whether to extend a
coronavirus-related state of emergency which ends on Thursday. “When a final
decision is made we will announce it,” he added.
The government declared the state of emergency on March 16 and imposed a
nationwide lockdown a few days later in a bid to contain the coronavirus
epidemic. It began easing the resulting restrictions already on April 13.
The lockdown was largely lifted by May 4 despite increased daily numbers of new
COVID-19 infections and Health Minister Arsen Torosian’s warnings that the
authorities will soon be unable to hospitalize or isolate all infected people.
The Armenian Ministry of Health reported 146 coronavirus cases on Tuesday
morning, raising the country’s total to 3,538. It also said that one more person
died from the virus in the past 24 hours. The official death toll from the
epidemic thus reached 47.
The ministry has also reported the deaths of 19 other individuals infected with
the COVID-19. It claims that they died as a result of other, pre-existing
conditions.
Hasmik Ghazinian, an epidemiologist, said that the number of cases and
fatalities is continuing to rise rapidly because the lockdown restrictions were
not strict enough and were not taken seriously by many Armenians. “The
restrictions that were put in place were not really restrictions,” she said.
Some restrictions such as a ban on public transport and the closure of schools
and universities remain in force. Also, supermarkets, other shops and small
businesses must require customers to wear face masks and gloves. Many of them do
not comply with this requirement.
Ghazinian suggested that supermarkets’ failure to enforce social distancing and
hygiene rules is one of the main causes of the continuing spread of the virus.
Opposition Party Boycotts Armenian Parliament After Violence
• Tatevik Lazarian
Armenia -- Empty seats of deputies from the opposition Bright Armenia Party
boycotting sessions of parliament, Yerevan, .
Deputies representing the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK) continued to
boycott on Tuesday sessions of the parliament in protest against the violent
conduct of their pro-government colleagues which they say is encouraged by Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian.
They walked out of the National Assembly last Friday following a brawl involving
LHK leader Edmon Marukian and several deputies from Pashinian’s My Step bloc.
One of those lawmakers, Sasun Mikaelian, punched Marukian while the latter spoke
on the parliament in the presence of Pashinian and government ministers.
Pashinian deplored the violence but effectively blamed it on the LHK. Marukian’s
party charged in response that he thereby “justified, legitimized and
encouraged” violence against his political opponents. It also demanded the
resignation of Mikaelian and two other My Step deputies who also hit Marukian
during the fight.
The ruling bloc responded by saying that they will resign from the parliament
only if Marukian and two other LHK deputies quit too.
Marukian shrugged off the proposal in a video address livestreamed on Facebook
overnight. He claimed that Pashinian wants to get rid of his “last opponents” in
the parliament.
“Why should we hand our mandates?” said Marukian. “Who did we punch? Sasun
Mikaelian must definitely give up his mandate because he has nothing to do with
politics.”
“We are victims of violence whereas you are its perpetrators and initiators,” he
added, appealing to the ruling bloc.
“They are not victims, they are a party to the conflict,” countered Lilit
Makunts, the bloc’s parliamentary leader.
“I am calling on my esteemed colleague to return to the political field and to
put the work of the National Assembly back on a substantive track,” she told
reporters.
Makunts also said that My Step has “drawn our conclusions” from the ugly
incident and expects the same from the opposition party.
None of the 17 deputies representing the LHK showed up for Tuesday’s session of
the 132-member parliament. The boycott led speaker Ararat Mirzoyan to postpone a
planned debate on two LHK bills by two months.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
15:09, 8 May, 2020
YEREVAN, MAY 8, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the liberation of Shushi, President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian hosted Hero of Artsakh, Commander of the operation of Shushi’s liberation Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.
“The liberation of Shushi is of great importance for all of us. After the liberation of Shushi everyone knew that it’s over, we wound win the war”, the President said. “Various assessments were given to what had happened 28 years ago, but in my consciousness you are the symbol of the liberation day of Shushi. Of course, it would be better if our other friends were present here. Each fighter of Yerablur is a hero, no matter the state has declared him a national hero or not. They all are heroes. In order for the victory to be constant, we need to work every day for both Armenia and Artsakh to be strong, powerful with the economy, state structure and the Army. We must have a powerful Armenia and a powerful Artsakh”.
In turn Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan thanked for the appreciation and reception and stated that the victory of Shushi was thanks to the unity of the Armenian people. “We carried out a nationwide fight, it was not only the Army. It was the victory of our people’s unity. In future as well we need that unity for future victories”, he said.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Armenia’s minister of education has announced there will be no end-of-year celebrations for graduating high school students around the country. Known as the “last ringbell”, the high school commencements have a long tradition in Armenia’.
“If we go ahead big events such as these’, we’ll have a contamination. If young people become infected, they might spread the virus to their family members,” explained the Minister of Education Arayik Harutyunyan.
Harutyunyan presented the details about the end of the 2019-2020 academic year and the organization of the 2020-2021 year during a live broadcast on April 27.
Harutyunyan confirmed that the academic year will end with distance learning.
In the coming academic year, during September and October, there will be additional teaching days to fill in the gaps. There are also discussions about starting the school year a week earlier.
General educational exams will also not be held.
Since the declaration of the state of emergency in the country on March 16 due to the coronavirus outbreak, public cultural events are prohibited.