Wednesday,
Pashinian Defends One-Year Track Record
• Karlen Aslanian
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian gives a press conference in Yerevan,
May 8, 2019.
Nikol Pashinian strongly defended his and his government’s track record on
Wednesday as he marked the first anniversary of his election as Armenia’s prime
minister with another marathon news conference.
Pashinian presented a list of what he called 100 concrete achievements of his
rule, which began after mass protests that brought down the former Armenian
government. In particular, he claimed to have eliminated electoral fraud and
“systemic” government corruption and established broader rule of rule in the
country.
“As a result of my government’s activities, nobody is privileged before the law
in Armenia and citizens’ political and civil rights are protected and fully
exercised,” Pashinian told the news conference that lasted for more than five
hours. “We have consistently carried out a separation of the judicial and
executive branches and ensured judicial independence.”
Pashinian also insisted that his administration is already delivering on his
repeated pledges to carry out an “economic revolution” that will significantly
boost living standards in Armenia. He cited its efforts to improve the business
environment and combat widespread tax evasion.
The government has collected 62 billion drams ($129 million) in additional
revenues as a result of its yearlong crackdown on tax fraud, Pashinian said,
adding that most of that money will be spent this year on road construction and
other capital projects.
ARMENIA - Newly elected Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinian (L) greets
supporters during a meeting in Republic Square in Yerevan, Armenia May 8, 2018
In Pashinian’s words, the new authorities in Yerevan have also recovered 32
billion drams ($66 million) worth of cash and other assets that had been
“plundered” from the state by former officials and their relatives. He implied
that this figure includes $30 million effectively confiscated from former
President Serzh Sarkisian’s indicted brother Aleksandr.
Pashinian’s political opponents, notably Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK),
and other critics take a dim view of his tenure. They say that he has failed to
improve the socioeconomic situation in the country.
“In my view, this past year has been a year of losses for Armenia, in terms of
security, the economy and the public’s expectations,” the HHK spokesman, Eduard
Sharmazanov, claimed on Wednesday.
Sharmazanov argued that the Armenian economy grew faster in 2017 than in 2018.
“[Pashinian] was talking about an investment boom, we don’t have an investment
boom,” he. “He was talking about an economic miracle, a ‘magic wand’ and,
later, an economic revolution and exponential growth, which we don’t have
either.”
Commenting on such criticism, Pashinian again hit out at Sarkisian and other
members of the former ruling regime. He said they stand no chance of ever
returning to power because Armenians are well aware that they had enriched
themselves and their families while in power.
The 43-year-old premier, who led last spring’s “velvet revolution,” also
dismissed claims about his declining popularity. He said if general elections
were held now his My Step bloc would fare even better than it did in the last
polls held in December. My Step won 70 percent of the vote at the time.
Kocharian Sees ‘Powerful’ Opposition Emerging In Armenia
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian gives an interview to the Russian
NTV channel, Yerevan, 28Aug2018.
Armenia’s imprisoned former President Robert Kocharian has predicted the
emergence of a new and “powerful” opposition force in the country and said he
will be involved in it.
In written comments to the Reuters news agency published on Wednesday,
Kocharian also reiterated that grave criminal charges leveled against him are
politically motivated.
“This process will certainly lead to the creation of a powerful political force
capable of challenging the authorities very soon,” he said, writing from a
detention center in Yerevan where he is being held.
Asked if he will be personally involved in the emerging opposition, he replied:
“Yes, of course.” But he did not give details about what form that involvement
could take.
Kocharian, who served as president from 1998-2008, announced his return to
active politics shortly after spending about a month in jail last summer. He
was again arrested in December.
Kocharian and two retired army generals will go on trial soon on charges of
overthrowing the constitutional order in the wake of a disputed presidential
election held in February 2008. They are specifically accused of using the
armed forces against opposition supporters that protested against alleged vote
rigging.
Eight protesters and two police servicemen were killed in street clashes that
broke out in Yerevan late on March 1, 2008. Kocharian declared a state of
emergency in the Armenian capital on that night. He completed his second
presidential term and handed over power to Serzh Sarkisian, the official
election winner and his preferred successor, in April 2008.
Armenia - A man walks past burned cars on a street in Yerevan where security
forces clashed with opposition protesters, 2 March 2008.
Kocharian again defended the decisions he took during the 2008 protests. “Order
was restored only after the introduction of the state of emergency and thanks
to it,” he said. “Not doing that would have meant official inaction on the part
of the president.”
Sarkisian resigned in April 2018 amid mass protests against his attempt to
extend his decade-long rule. The protest leader, Nikol Pashinian, was elected
prime minister in May.
Looking back at the peaceful protests, Kocharian said they were caused by
“accumulated discontent in the society and desire for change”, but were not a
revolution.
“I would not call it a revolution as fundamentally nothing has changed in the
country, except for the appearance of a big share of aggression in the society,
and populism and dilettantism in the leadership,” he said in written answers to
questions Reuters had sent to him.
Critics have accused the 64-year-old ex-president and his former allies of
cracking down on democracy, corruption and mismanagement during their time in
power. They have denied those allegations.
Pay Rise For Yerevan Mayor, Aides Shelved
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutian arrives for a session of the city
council, May 8, 2019.
Yerevan’s Mayor Hayk Marutian shelved on Wednesday his controversial plans to
sharply raise his and his top subordinates’ salaries.
Under a bill drafted by his office, Marutian’s monthly salary would rise from
575,000 drams to 1.2 million drams ($2,500). It calls for similarly drastic pay
rises for his deputies and other high-ranking members of the mayor’s staff. A
much larger number of other, lower and mid-ranking municipal workers would have
their salaries raised by only around 30 percent.
Citing this disparity, the two opposition groups represented in the city
council were quick to reject the bill after it was made public last week. Some
of the council members representing the ruling My Step alliance also strongly
objected to it at a meeting with Marutian held on Monday.
Marutian defended his plans, saying that they are primarily aimed at benefiting
1,700 or so people working for the municipal administration. He said that he
would have liked to keep his own salary unchanged but is legally not allowed to
do that. He insisted that the uneven wage increases are also mandated by
Armenian law.
Nevertheless, the well-to-do former TV comedian decided to remove the
controversial bill from the agenda of a council session which was due to debate
and vote on it.
“I want everyone to be convinced that this is the kind of document which we
want to have … We will widely discuss it, inform our population and then come
back to this auditorium,” he told the council controlled by My Step.
Davit Khazhakian, a leader of the opposition Luys bloc, again accused Marutian
of mismanagement and said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is also responsible
for it. Khazhakian singled out a worsening situation with garbage collection in
Yerevan.
The 42-year-old mayor rejected the “populist” claims, saying that he needs more
time to address “a problem that hadn’t been solved for 20 years.”
Marutian further claimed that the Yerevan municipality was “Armenia’s most
corrupt agency” when he took over it in October as a result of My Step’s
victory in snap municipal elections. “I can tell you for sure that systemic
corruption in the mayor’s office does not exist anymore,” he declared.
Judges Censured For Not Dealing With Kocharian Case
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- A sign at the entrance to the Supreme Judicial Council.
A state body overseeing the Armenian judiciary on Wednesday took disciplinary
action against two judges who recently refused to deal with the high-profile
criminal case against former President Robert Kocharian.
The judges of a district court in Yerevan, Nelly Baghdasarian and Harutiun
Manukian, were assigned to rule on petitions regarding Kocharian pre-trial
arrest which had been filed by his lawyers and prosecutors. They both decided
to recuse themselves from the case. Baghdasarian attributed her decision to
questions about her impartiality raised by the prosecution, while Manukian
cited health reasons.
The Supreme Judicial Council sanctioned them at the request of Armenia’s
General Assembly of Judges. It accused Baghdasarian of serious misconduct and
formally reprimanded her. For his part, Manukian received a more lenient
“warning.”
Gevorg Danielian, a member of the council, said neither judge had “sufficient
grounds” to avoid taking up the case.
Kocharian stands accused of “overthrowing the constitutional order” in the wake
of a disputed 2008 presidential election. He and two retired Armenian army
generals are due to go on trial soon. They deny the charges as politically
motivated.
Another Yerevan judge, Vartan Grigorian, refused to preside over the trial last
week, citing a conflict of interest. He argued that he used to work for one of
Kocharian’s lawyers, Ruben Sahakian.
Danielian dismissed suggestions that Armenian judges are reluctant to deal with
the politically sensitive case. “The behavior of two or three judges is not
enough to express an opinion about the entire judicial system,” he told
reporters.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” says that Nikol Pashinian has had achievements and made mistakes
since becoming Armenia’s prime minister one year ago. The paper says those
mistakes were not intentional. “The main achievement is that after a nearly
20-year hiatus we again have a totally legitimate government in Armenia as a
result of the velvet revolution,” it says. “A government which was elected by
the will of the people, in free and fair elections, and is now accountable to
the people.” The lack of such legitimacy was the root cause of the country’s
problems, according to the paper.
“Aravot” says that quite a few Armenians believe that “little has changed in
the past year.” “But I am convinced that several important things have changed
in the positive sense,” writes the newspaper editor, Aram Abrahamian. In
particular, he says, unlike his predecessors, Pashinian is backed and trusted
by the majority of people, and the current Armenian parliament was formed in
free and fair elections. “As a consequences of these two changes, the public’s
and media’s ability to hold the authorities in check have increased,” continues
Abrahamian. “This represents a huge potential … for change. But for various
reasons this potential is being used insufficiently.”
“Zhamanak” reports that a new judge has been assigned to preside over the trial
of former President Robert Kocharian after one of his colleagues decided to
recuse himself from the high-profile case. The paper highly critical of
Kocharian wonders if the judge, Davit Grigorian, will “dare” to take up the
case. It says that many judges appointed during Kocharian’s and Serzh
Sarkisian’s rule are suffering from a “psychological complex” and hopes that
the upcoming trial will contribute to judicial independence in the country.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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