Wednesday,
Prosecutors Refuse To Free Kocharian
• Anush Muradian
Armenia - The main entrance to the Office of the Prosecutor-General in Yerevan.
Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General on Wednesday refused to release
former President Robert Kocharian from custody pending investigation into the
2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.
It rejected an appeal from Kocharian’s lawyers as well as 46 members of the
Armenian parliament. The latter guaranteed in writing that he will not flee
prosecution if set free.
A spokeswoman for the prosecutors, Arevik Khachatrian, said they believe that
the Special Investigative Service (SIS), a law-enforcement body overseen by
them, has sufficient grounds to keep the former president under pre-trial
arrest. His release would not guarantee “the unfettered course of the
investigation,” said Khachatrian.
Kocharian’s lawyers declined to immediately comment on the prosecutors’
decision.“When we get [a copy of] that decision, we will analyze and examine it
and then present our position, first and foremost in the form of an official
document,” one of them, Hayk Alumian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
The rejection of the appeal was condemned by deputy parliament speaker Eduard
Sharmazanov, one of the deputies who signed the petition. The vast majority of
those lawmakers are affiliated with the former ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (HHK).
“There is no justice in ‘new Armenia,’” charged Sharmazanov. “Political orders
rule ‘new Armenia.’”
“What would Kocharian do [if he was freed?] Would he flee? Kocharian didn’t
flee the Turks during the war [in Karabakh.] Why would he flee us?” he said.
A native of Karabakh, Kocharian governed the unrecognized republic during and
after the 1991-1994 war. He went on to serve as Armenia’s president from
1998-2008.
The 63-year-old ex-president stands accused of illegally using the armed forces
against opposition protesters who demanded a rerun of a disputed presidential
election held in February 2008.Eight protesters and two police personnel were
killed when security forces broke up those demonstrations on March 1-2, 2018.
Kocharian denies the accusations as politically motivated. But his arrest on
July 27 has been welcomed by political allies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
and former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, the main opposition candidate in the
2008 ballot. Pashinian played a key role in Ter-Petrosian’s 2007-2008
opposition movement.
Kocharian’s lawyers and the 46 deputies have also submitted the same petitions
to Armenia’s Court of Appeals. The court is scheduled to open hearings on them
on Thursday.
Rights Campaigners Urge Release Of Jailed Activist
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - Shant Harutiunian (L) clashes with another man during an
anti-government demonstration in Yerevan, 5 November, 2013.
Armenian human rights activists have called on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
to help ensure the release of a well-known political activist who was jailed
for organizing a violent anti-government demonstration in Yerevan in 2013.
In a joint letter to Pashinian, they described Shant Harutiunian as a political
prisoner who received disproportionately harsh punishment in an unfair trial.
A veteran nationalist activist, Harutiunian was arrested while leading several
dozen supporters who tried to march towards then President Serzh Sarkisian’s
offices in what they called a “revolution of values.” Riot police used force to
stop the crowd armed with sticks and homemade stun grenades from approaching
the presidential palace after rallying in Yerevan’s Liberty Square.
Harutiunian and a dozen other arrested men went on trial in June 2014, with
virtually all of them pleading not guilty to accusations of hooliganism brought
against them. They were sentenced to between 1 and 7 years in prison.
Harutiunian was given a 6-year jail term.
Pashinian pledged to help free all “political prisoners,” presumably including
Harutiunian, when he swept to power in May in a wave of peaceful mass protests
that brought down Sarkisian’s government.
According to Harutiunian’s lawyer, Inessa Petrosian, the jailed activist wants
to be formally acquitted and rejects other legal options for his release,
including a pardon.
“He expects the guilty verdict to be struck down,” Petrosian told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service. “At the same time he does not want that initiative to emanate
from himself.”
The lawyer said Pashinian should specifically tell Prosecutor-General Artur
Davtian to ask the Court of Appeals to acquit her client.
The court upheld the guilty verdicts in February 2015.
Armenian, Russian Troops Hold Joint Drills
Armenia - Armenian and Russian troops hold joint military exercises.
The Armenian and Russian armies are holding joint military exercises in Armenia
reportedly involving more than 3,000 soldiers and hundreds of tanks, armored
vehicles and artillery systems.
In a statement, Russia’s Southern Military District said the “joint
tactical-special exercises” began at two shooting grounds on Monday and will
continue until August 15. The participating troops have already simulated a
joint operation against a hypothetical invader, it said, adding that they were
backed up by warplanes, including MiG-29 fighter jets of the Russian military
base stationed in Armenia.
The Armenian Defense Ministry did not issue statements on the exercises as of
Wednesday.
Armenia and Russia have held such drills on a regular basis, highlighting their
close military ties. In 2014, their militaries targeted an imaginary invading
force codenamed “Ottomania,” a clear reference to neighboring Turkey.
Armenian leaders have repeatedly said that Armenia hosts Russian troops on its
territory primarily because of a perceived security threat from Turkey, rather
than Azerbaijan. From Yerevan’s perspective, the Russian military base in
Armenia precludes Turkey’s direct military intervention on Azerbaijan’s side in
the event of another full-scale war for Nagorno-Karabakh.
The latest wargames began three weeks after the Russian base held an exercise
around a village in Armenia’s northwestern Shirak province which scared many
local residents. The villagers had not been notified about the drill beforehand.
Although the commanders of the Russian base apologized for the incident, Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian condemned it as a “provocation against Armenia’s
sovereignty.” By contrast, Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said a few
days later that Armenian officials are also responsible for the scare.
Press Review
“Aravot” blasts 46 members of Armenia’s parliament who have called for former
President Robert Kocharian’s release from prison, saying that they have thus
become “political kamikazes” and ruined their “political dignity.” “Democracy
in Armenia has no alternative and there will be no proscription lists here,”
writes the paper. “Forget about that. But Armenian politics is not a garbage
dump. It has filters that will inevitably be working.”
Lragir.am reports that a similar petition was also signed on Tuesday by over a
dozen members of Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament. The online publication believes
that the move was agreed with Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president. It notes
that the new Armenian government backed Sahakian when he recently faced
protests by local residents demanding his resignation. It says that Sahakian
has failed to deliver on his pledges to carry out major reforms in Karabakh.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that the chief of the Armenian police, Valeri Osipian,
said on Tuesday that his agency will go to great lengths to help ensure the
freedom and fairness of elections in the country. “The police chief told police
officers to be vigilant for neutralizing manifestations [of electoral fraud]
and stressed that police officers displaying inactivity on this issue would be
strictly punished,” says the paper. It says that the police have never received
such explicit orders and warnings before. Osipian’s remarks are another
indication that “serious changes have occurred in Armenia,” concludes the paper.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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