13:45, 1 February, 2020
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS. Sweden informed the General Secretariat of the European Council and the Council of the EU on January 31 about finishing the domestic procedures for the ratification of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU, ARMENPRESS reports press secretary of the Armenian foreign ministry Anna Naghdalyan wrote on her Facebook page.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
16:03, 1 February, 2020
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS. The State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) has published the results of the sugar market study.
In the period of January-October 2019, 8 million kg of sugar was imported to Armenia by 47 companies. The imported sugar was mainly of Ukrainian origin. In the same period Armenia produced 59.8 million kg of sugar.
The SCPEC informed ARMENPRESS that the shares of the imports by companies have changed. The share of the leading sugar importing companies has declined. The share of imports by ''Alex Holding'' and ''Alex & Holding'' has declined from 67% to 49%, while sales have declined from 95% to 88%.
The study also shows that in 2017-2019, the retail and wholesale prices of sugar decreased as well, from an average of 387 drams to 292 drams.
The SCPEC recorded that sugar market in terms of both imports and sales has been highly centralized.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
11:44, 1 February, 2020
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani troops violated the ceasefire regime nearly 200 times on Artsakh-Azerbaijan contact line in the period of January 26-February 1, during which over 1150 bullets were fired in the direction of Armenian border guards from different caliber weapons.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of Artsakh, the front line units of the Defense Army of Artsakh keep full control of the situation and continue to make necessary measures for protecting their military positions.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
14:15, 1 February, 2020
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS. High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia Zareh Sinanyan is in Georgia on a working visit.
ARMENPRESS reports during his 5-day visit Sinanyan will meet with the Armenian MPs of the Georgian parliament, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia Ketevan Tsikhelashvili and Governor of Samtskhe-Javakheti region Besik Amirkhanashvili.
The High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia will visit Armenian scientific, educational, cultural centers, schools and churches in Tbilisi, Akhaltska and Akhalkalaki and will meet the representatives of the Armenian community.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
16:34, 1 February, 2020
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian delegation at PACE has issued a written statement on Baku massacres, which has been signed by a number of PACE parliamentarians representing different countries and political groups.
The statement recalls the atrocities against Armenians in Azerbaijani capital, Baku, 30 years ago and urges to condemn xenophobia and racisim in the area of the Council of Europe.
ARMENPRESS reports the National Assembly of Armenia has published the text of the statment, which runs as follows,
“We, the undersigned, declare the following:
On 13-19 January 1990, hundreds of thousands of Armenians living in Baku, Azerbaijani SSR, faced a large scale series of pogroms, the manifestations of Azerbaijani policy of systematic attacks against the ethnic Armenian population. Hundreds of Armenians were murdered, mutilated, persecuted, displaced. Under the threat of extermination, around 250 000 Armenians were forced to flee Azerbaijan.
The Baku massacres became the culmination of the State policy of racism and xenophobia against Armenians (armenophobia). Contrary to the facts recorded by the international community, human rights organisations and the European Parliament (Resolutions of 1988, 1990, 1991), the Azerbaijani authorities deny those crimes and evade responsibility. 30 years after those outrages, there is no respect and compassion for the victims of Armenian massacres in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijanis who tried to speak about the pogroms are officially considered betrayers.
Regarding this, we:
– commemorate the memory of the Baku pogroms victims;
– condemn any manifestation of racism and xenophobia;
– reaffirm that crimes against humanity have no statute of limitations and emphasise that condemnation of past crimes is the most important guarantee for preventing new ones;
– deplore that the organisers and perpetrators of the pogroms have not yet been brought to justice’'.
The trap cameras located in Arevik National Park have spotted another Caucasian Leopard in south of Armenia. The footages of the leopard were published by “Zangezur” Biosphere Complex. For the first time the trap cameras of the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) fixed the presence of the Caucasian Leopard in the country in 2015. Later in 2019, rangers from Arpa Protected Landscape of Armenia’s Vayots Dzor province spotted the rare leopard during their regular observation and recorded a video of him.
The Caucasian or Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), is one of the most endangered species living in the Caucasus. This leopard subspecies can be found in the South Caucasus countries, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Some experts estimate there are less than 1300 leopards left in wild.
To remind, 2019 was declared a Year of the Caucasian Leopard in Armenia aimed at contributing to the broader coverage of the leopard which is on the verge of extinction through the organization of assemblies, films and exhibitions as well as raising the public awareness. According to 2018 data, around 7-9 leopards are registered in Armenia, their habitats being Ararat, Vayots Dzor and Syunik regions.
The third Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (ECC) has started its work with number of new members. As the Commission reported in a released statement, Mikhail Myasnikovich has been named as the new Chairman of the Board.
Two of the three new members of the Board are from Armenia. Former Deputy Minister of Economy Artak Kamalyan has been named as the new member of the Board – minister in charge of Industry and Agroindustrial Complex, while former deputy minister of High-Tech Industry Gegham Vardanyan will act as minister in charge of Internal Markets, Information Support, Information and Communication Technologies.
To note, the Board of the Commission operates as a cabinet government, with 10 members of the Commission ("commissioners"). There are two members per member state. The Chairman of the Commission is former Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan.
Court of Appeal denied the motion to arrest Armenian maternity hospital chief Razmik Abrahamyan accused of arranging illegal adoptions of Armenian children by foreigners. The Court confirmed the first instance court ruling to release him. The decision was announced on Saturday under presiding Judge Andranik Mnatsakanyan.
“The petition on the pre-trial preventive measure filed by prosecutors was denied, and the judge kept the ruling of the first instance court unchanged,” Abrahamyan’s attorney Samvel Dilbandyan told reporters.
Razmik Abrahamyan, Director of Republican Institute of Reproductive Health, Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology (Republican Maternity Hospital) is charged with involvement in the scheme of arranging the illegal separation of children from parents in a previous agreement with a group of people under Part 2.2 of Article 167 of Armenia’s Criminal Code and accepting bribes in return for the transaction under Part 3 of Article 200 of the same code (Commercial Bribe).
Strong police troops raided homes and offices of money laundering suspects across Germany and Belgium Thursday in an attempt to track a money trail flowing from an Azerbaijani laundromat operation to shell companies in the Baltic, the Frankfurt Prosecutor’s Office confirmed.
One current and one former member of the German parliament (Bundestag), accused of bribing public officials, were targeted in the raids, while a third suspect is Belgian citizen, OCCRP reported, citing Law360 news outlet.
The German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the police have been investigating CDU (Christian Democratic Union) member of parliament, Karin Strenz, and former CSU (Christian Social Union) MP Eduard Lintner. Both are suspected of “ bribery of public officials.”
Along with the police action, the German Bundestag reportedly lifted immunity for Strenz and also for the leader of the right-wing AfD (Alternative for Germany) parliamentary group Alexander Gauland. No connection between Gauland and the Azerbaijani laundromat case was mentioned, instead it was explained that his immunity was stripped due to “tax evasion” charges.
Strenz allegedly received at least €22,000 (US$24,270) to lobby for the Azerbaijani regime and the money was channeled through a lobbying company Lintner owned. Both were members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at the time of the crime, between 2008 and 2016.
Allegations against Lintner, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, are more serious. He is believed to have received around €4 million ($4.4 million), from 2008 to 2016, from the Azerbaijani regime which was flushing millions through British letterbox companies with Baltic accounts, trying to buy political backing in the West.
Lintner’s role, according to the report, was to bribe other PACE members for positive statements about the elections and against the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, despite the fact that PACE is committed to protecting human rights.
The identity of the third suspect, charged with money laundering, was not revealed. He is reportedly a Belgian citizen and was accused of making his law firm and his bank accounts available for payments from Azerbaijan.
Former Director of Armenia’s National Security Service, Major-General Artur Vanetsyan was questioned at the Investigative Committee on Thursday, its spokesperson Nairia Harutyunyan confirmed to Panorama.am.
According to her, Vanetsyan, who also headed the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA), was questioned as a witness as part of the criminal investigations into alleged abuses in the FFA and the 2018 wiretapping case involving him and Special Investigative Service Head Sasun Khachatryan.
“Vanetsyan’s mobile phone has been examined as part of the wiretapping case,” she said, refusing to elaborate on the results.