Category: 2019

                                        Tuesday, 

Indicted General Sent Back To Prison

        • Marine Khachatrian

Armenia - General Manvel Grigorian attends an event organized by the Yerkrapah 
Union, 5 March 2018.

Armenia’s Court of Appeal on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s recent decision 
to release Manvel Grigorian, a retired army general prosecuted on corruption 
charges, from custody on bail, paving the way for his renewed arrest.

“This means that Manvel Grigorian will be arrested today,” a senior prosecutor, 
Vahagn Muradian, told reporters. He hailed the high court’s decision as “legal 
and substantiated.”

Grigorian was taken back to a prison in downtown in Yerevan a few hours later.

Grigorian was first arrested in June when security forces raided his properties 
in and around the town of Echmiadzin. They found many weapons, ammunition, 
medication and field rations for soldiers provided by the Armenian Defense 
Ministry. They also discovered canned food and several vehicles donated by 
Armenians at one of Grigorian’s mansions.

The once powerful general, who served as deputy defense minister from 
2000-2008, denies the accusations of illegal arms possession and embezzlement 
leveled against him.

A district court in Yerevan ordered Grigorian’s release on health grounds on 
December 21. The 62-year-old suffers from a number of serious illnesses, 
reportedly including cancer.

Armenian prosecutors were quick to appeal against that court order. 
Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian insisted on December 24 that Grigorian’s 
illnesses are “not incompatible with incarceration.” The suspect could obstruct 
justice if he remains at large, said Davtian.

Grigorian’s lawyers subsequently objected to the choice of a Court of Appeals 
judge dealing with the case. The judge, Arsen Nikoghosian, twice rejected their 
demands to abandon the case before ordering Grigorian’s renewed arrest.

One of the defense lawyers, Arsen Mkrtchian, charged that the decision was 
“made under pressure” and “has nothing to do with the law, jurisprudence and 
common sense.”

Grigorian’s release from pretrial detention provoked a series of angry 
demonstrations in Echmiadzin, the general’s place of residence until his 
arrest. Hundreds of local residents repeatedly blocked a nearby highway to 
demand that he be sent back to prison.



Pashinian ‘Ready’ For Renewed Cooperation With Dashnaktsutyun


Armenia - The Armenian Revolutionary Federation holds an election campaign 
rally in Yerevan, November 26, 2018.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has expressed readiness to again “cooperate” 
with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) three months after 
forcing its members out of his government.

He made the offer in a written appeal to the delegates of Dashnaktsutyun’s 
ongoing congress in Nagorno-Karabakh made public on Tuesday.

Pashinian paid tribute to the pan-Armenian party’s 129-year-long history, 
saying that it has been “heroic” and “at times contradictory and 
controversial.”He also praised Dashnaktsutyun’s “exceptional” role in the 
worldwide Armenian Diaspora.

“On behalf of myself and Armenia’s newly elected parliament majority, I declare 
that we are ready for cooperation with Dashnaktsutyun,” read the message 
publicized by the party. “We will also be open to your proposals and criticism.”

Dashnaktsutyun was part of Armenia’s former government ousted during last 
spring’s “velvet revolution.” It received two ministerial posts in a new 
government formed by Pashinian in May. The popular prime minister fired his 
Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated ministers in October, accusing their party of 
secretly collaborating with former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party.

The Dashnaktsutyun congress got underway in Stepanakert on January 16. It is 
attended by representatives of the party’s chapters in Armenia and other 
countries around the world having sizable Armenian communities. They were due 
to debate Dashnaktsutyun’s new political strategy after its failure to win any 
seats in Armenia’s new parliament elected on December 9.

The weeklong congress began with an announcement by Dashnaktsutyun’s longtime 
top leader, Hrant Markarian, that he will not seek reelection to the party’s 
main decision-making body. Markarian was reportedly blamed by dissident 
Dashnaktsutyun figures for the party’s poor showing in the elections.

Markarian and other Dashnaktsutyun leaders criticized Pashinian during the 
election campaign. The premier reacted angrily to Markarian’s criticism in one 
of his campaign speeches.

In his message, Pashinian said he hopes that Dashnaktsutyun -- which remains 
influential in the Diaspora communities in the Middle East, the United States 
and France -- will gain a “young spirit” and come up with “fresh ideas” after 
its congress.



Armenian Governor Admits ‘Mistake’ Over Bonus Payments

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia-Garik Sargsian, governor of Ararat province, speaks to RFE/RL in 
Yerevab, .

The governor of Armenia’s southern Ararat province, Garik Sargsian, admitted on 
Tuesday that he made a mistake in paying himself and his senior staffers lavish 
bonuses late last month.

Sargsian and two other provincial governors came under fire from media, 
opposition politicians and even some pro-government lawmakers on Monday after 
it emerged that they got yearend bonuses roughly equivalent to their monthly 
salaries.

The Hetq.am publication revealed that Sargsian received the largest payment: 
690,000 drams ($1,420). His monthly salary is about 660,000 drams. His senior 
aides were also paid more than they earn in a single month.

Minister for Local Government Suren Papikian, who supervises provincial 
administrations, said the bonuses should not have exceeded the salaries. But he 
defended the two other governors and their subordinates, saying that the extra 
financial rewards were legal.

“We admit our mistake,” Sargsian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. The Ararat 
governor said that in an effort to make amends he and 14 senior members of his 
staff have decided to donate a part of their January wages to a low-income 
family living in the region.

Also expressing concern over the bonuses was Varuzhan Hoktanian, a programs 
director at the Armenian affiliate of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency 
International. He said that some of the rewarded officials were appointed to 
the provincial administrations just a few months ago and should not have 
qualified for any bonuses.

Hoktanian also said the payments may fuel suspicions that the officials were 
rewarded for covertly campaigning for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step 
alliance in the recent parliamentary elections.

Sargsian, who is a senior member of My Step, ruled out such a possibility. “I 
don’t think that we committed a criminal act or that there was some corruption 
scheme at play here.”

Asked whether he had expected the criticism, the governor said: “Not at all 
because in the past nobody paid attention to what the governors did … We had 
millionaire governors who probably did not even know whether the plastic cards 
with their salaries are kept by their children, assistants or mistresses.”



Armenian, Azeri Leaders In Fresh Talks


Switzerland - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L) and Azerbaijan's 
President Ilham Aliyev meet in Davos, .

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham 
Aliyev met in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday for what they described as 
“informal” talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

A short statement by Pashinian’s office said they “exchanged views” on the 
current state of the Karabakh negotiation process and “further discussions.”

In a separate Facebook post, the Armenian leader said the meeting held on the 
sidelines of the World Economic Forum lasted for about 90 minutes.

Aliyev’s press service issued a virtually identical statement cited by the 
Trend news agency.

Aliyev and Pashinian spoke to each other for the first time on the sidelines of 
a summit of former Soviet republics held in Tajikistan in September. There has 
been a significant decrease in ceasefire violations around Karabakh and along 
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border since then.

The two leaders talked again during another ex-Soviet summit that took place in 
Russia in early December. Aliyev said afterwards that the year 2019 will see a 
“new impetus” to the Karabakh peace process.

The Russian RIA Novosti news agency quoted Aliyev as saying in Davos earlier on 
Tuesday that his previous conversations with Pashinian were “useful.”

For their part, the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have met for 
four times in the last six months. The U.S., Russian and French mediators 
seemed particularly encouraged by the most recent of those meetings which took 
place in Paris on January 16.

In a joint statement, the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group said Foreign 
Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian and Elmar Mammadyarov “agreed upon the necessity 
of taking concrete measures to prepare the populations for peace.” They said 
another Aliyev-Pashinian encounter could “give a strong impulse to the dynamic 
of negotiations.”

With virtually no details of the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations made public 
so far, it remains unclear whether the two sides have narrowed their 
differences on how to end the protracted conflict.



Pashinian Meets Brazil’s New President


Switzerland - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L) and Brazil's 
President Jair Bolsonaro (C) meet in Davos, .

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Brazil’s new President Jair 
Bolsonaro reportedly called for closer relations between their countries when 
they met in Switzerland on Tuesday.

The two leaders discussed bilateral ties on the sidelines of the annual World 
Economic Forum held in the Swiss town of Davos.

“They highly appraised the state of Brazilian-Armenian friendly relations and 
stressed the importance of expanding the areas of cooperation,” Pashinian’s 
office said in a statement. It gave no other details.

Bolsonaro, who is known for his far-right views, took office on January 1 two 
months after winning presidential elections.

Armenia has long maintained warm relations with Brazil as well as neighboring 
Argentina and Uruguay cemented by the existence of sizable Armenian communities 
in the three South American nations.

There are up to 100,000 ethnic Armenians living in Brazil. Most of them are 
descendants of survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey.

The Brazilian Senate recognized the genocide in 2015 in a “resolution of 
solidarity with the Armenian people.” The resolution also praised Armenians for 
their “economic, social and cultural” contributions to Brazil.

Armenia opened an embassy in the capital Brasilia in 2010. In 2016, then 
President Serzh Sarkisian attended the ground-breaking ceremony for the 
construction of a new embassy building there. The construction was financed by 
Brazilian Armenian philanthropist Hilda Diruhy Burmaian, who is also Armenia’s 
honorary consul in Sao Paulo.

Sarkisian’s predecessors, Robert Kocharian and Levon Ter-Petrosian, also 
visited South America’s largest country while in office.

Brazil opened an embassy in Yerevan in 2006. A square in the Armenian capital 
was named after Brazil in 2003.



Press Review



“Aravot” comment on controversy caused by several Armenian provincial governors 
who paid themselves lavish yearend bonuses. “By rewarding themselves and their 
staffers the governors clearly did not break any laws,” the paper writes in an 
editorial. “This practice has definitely existed before. But there were also 
many other [questionable] practices in the government system before the 
revolution, and tens of thousands of people took to the streets to reject them. 
Now it is necessary to spread the kind of practices that will not contradict 
the slogan ‘I serve the Republic of Armenia.’ Public requirements towards 
government officials are now stricter because we, the taxpayers, entrust them 
with our money. They must be flawless in terms of not only the law but also 
moral and ethical norms.”

“The authorities need to realize one simple thing: the rule of law is not the 
only difference from the former regime which the public wants to see,” writes 
“Zhamanak.” “The public also wants to see differences in culture, value system, 
behavior and mentality. Just because something is not illegal does not mean 
that it will be legitimate in the public’s eyes. The authorities’ task is not 
just to stick to the letter of the law but also to set the bar high for 
value-based public cohabitation and mental standards.”

“Every step taken by the new authorities, including on financial transactions, 
is at the center of public attention,” comments “Past.” “And that is natural. 
Stereotypes associated with the former authorities have not been completely 
rooted out, and the behavior of the [current] authorities still keeps those 
stereotypes alive. The problem is not the bonuses themselves but the fact that 
the authorities continue to carelessly waste the political capital given to 
them. The public expects to see a qualitatively new kind of elite for which he 
it naturally has set strict requirements.”

(Lilit Harutiunian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org