Thursday,
Armenian Government Funds Election Monitoring In Karabakh
• Gayane Saribekian
Nagorno-Karabakh -- A football pitch for children and an Armenian church in
Shushi (Shusha), September 6, 2018.
Armenia’s government allocated on Thursday 33.7 million drams ($70,000) in
funding to two civil society groups for monitoring upcoming local elections in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Voters there will elect on September 8 the mayors of the capital Stepanakert
and other Karabakh towns and villages as well as local councils.
The mayoral race in Stepanakert is expected to be particularly tight, with five
candidates participating in it. The city’s incumbent mayor, Suren Grigorian, is
not seeking reelection.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stressed the importance of the funding provided
by his government to the Stepanakert office of the Yerevan-based Union of
Informed Citizens (UIC) and Transparency International’s affiliate organization
in Armenia. Both groups will use the money for organizing election monitoring
missions in Karabakh.
“As I said [recently,] the government of Armenia and I personally believe that
Armenia must help to create additional safeguards in order to guarantee the
free expression of the Artsakh people’s will,” Pashinian said at a cabinet
meeting in Yerevan. “This action is part of those measures, which is
unprecedented, if I’m not mistaken.”
Vahram Tokmajian, the head of the UIC’s Karabakh branch, expects the upcoming
polls to be watched by a record-high number of local monitors.
“I think that this is very good, for Artsakh (Karabakh) in the first instance,”
Tokmajian said of the government’s decision. “We will have monitors in around
40 polling stations, while our partner organization will deploy them in 40
other polling stations.”
“We will also have mobile groups that will tour various precincts. On top of
that, we will hold courses for local monitors,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service.
Karabakh is also scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections
early next year. The region’s incumbent president, Bako Sahakian, is not
eligible for another term in office. He has been in power since 2007.
Neither Sahakian nor Pashinian has endorsed any potential presidential
candidates so far. Speaking at an August 5 rally in Stepanakert, Pashinian said
the Armenian government will act as a “guarantor” of the freedom and fairness
of next year’s Karabakh elections.
European Body ‘Ready’ To Advise Armenian Court On Kocharian Case
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian talks to his lawyers during a
Court of Appeals hearing, Yerevan, June 14, 2019.
Armenia’s Constitutional Court said on Thursday that the Council Europe’s
Venice Commission has agreed to advise it on the legality of coup charges
brought against former President Robert Kocharian.
Kocharian was charged last year under Article 300.1of the Armenian Criminal
Code dealing with violent seizure of power. The accusation stems from the 2008
post-election street clashes in Yerevan which left ten people dead.
In separate appeals, Kocharian and a district court judge in Yerevan asked the
Constitutional Court earlier this year to determine whether the Criminal Code
clause conforms to the Armenian constitution. The high court agreed to hold
hearings and rule on the appeals.
The court decided in July to ask the Venice Commission and the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) for an “advisory opinion” on the issue. It therefore
suspended the consideration of the appeals pending formal responses from the
two Strasbourg-based bodies.
In a short statement, the Constitutional Court said that the Venice
Commission’s secretary, Thomas Markert, has notified its chairman, Hrayr
Tovmasian, that the Council of Europe body is “prepared to provide an advisory
opinion.”
It is not yet clear when the commission’s recommendations could be sent to
Yerevan. The ECHR has also not indicated any dates for the possible release of
its opinion on the Kocharian case.
The Constitutional Court’s decision to appeal to Strasbourg was announced one
day after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian launched a scathing attack on
Tovmasian. In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Pashinian accused
him of cutting political deals with former President Serzh Sarkisian to
“privatize” Armenia’s highest court. Tovmasian rebutted the attack, warning the
government against trying to force him and his colleagues to resign.
Press Freedom Groups Object To Armenian Government Bill
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- The main government building in Yerevan, March 29, 2018.
Armenian media freedom groups expressed concern on Thursday about a government
bill that would make it a crime to publicly call for or justify violence in the
country.
Under the bill involving amendments to the Armenian Criminal Code drafted by
the Justice Ministry, such statements would be punishable by fines and up to
three years in prison. The ministry called for a public debate on the proposed
amendments when it publicized them last week.
In their written objections submitted to the ministry, civic groups dealing
with mass media said the bill is too vague and could place unjustified
restrictions on the freedom of expression.
Shushan Doydoyan, who leads one of those organizations, the Center for Freedom
of Information, said the Justice Ministry should have specifically defined and
criminalized instead “hate speech” targeting ethnic, religious and sexual
minorities and other categories of the population.
“Criminal liability is a very exceptional restriction of the right to freely
express oneself and it must therefore be applied only in exceptional
circumstances,” Doydoyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “In our view, the
exceptional circumstances are only hate speech against which the state can take
action. But that intervention must have clearly defined grounds.”
Yeghishe Kirakosian, a senior legal aide to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian,
insisted earlier that the bill is aimed at doing just that. “This bill is aimed
at preventing hate speech and any propaganda of violence,” he said.
The bill appears to stem from angry remarks made by Pashinian at a June 6
cabinet meeting in Yerevan. The prime minister ordered law-enforcement
authorities to clamp down on groups which he said are advocating political
violence as part of a “hybrid war” waged against his government.
Pashinian did not name those groups or individuals linked to them. He only
spoke of “forces directly or indirectly connected to the former corrupt
system.” The remarks prompted sarcastic reactions from several prominent
members of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and other bitter
critics of the current government.
Minister Urges Trust In Expert Opinion On Amulsar Project
• Naira Nalbandian
• Karine Simonian
Armenia - Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian is about to present the
government's draft budget for 2019 to parliament deputies in Yerevan, 13
November 2018
Expert opinion must be decisive for the future of a large-scale gold mining
project in Armenia that was disrupted by protesters last year, Finance Minister
Atom Janjughazian said on Thursday.
“I believe that one must rely on specialists and the results of audits and be
guided by that,” Janjughazian told reporters when asked whether he believes the
Armenian government should allow the Anglo-American company Lydian
International to develop the Amulsar gold deposit.
“A one-sided evaluation of any issue carries risks. No issue can be examined in
a one-sided manner because there can always be a disadvantage alongside an
advantage,” he said without elaborating.
The minister did not explicitly mention a recent environmental audit of the
Amulsar project which was commissioned by the Armenian government and conducted
by a Lebanese consulting firm, ELARD. In its final report publicized last week,
ELARD essentially concluded that the project will not pose serious
environmental risks if handled properly. In particular, it said that gold
mining and smelting operations are very unlikely to contaminate mineral water
sources in the nearby spa resort of Jermuk or rivers and canals feeding
Armenia’s ecologically vital Lake Sevan.
Citing the findings of the ELARD audit, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
indicated on Monday his government’s intention to enable Lydian to complete the
construction of the Amulsar mine and produce gold there.
The construction was halted in June 2018 when several dozen protesters began
blocking all roads leading to Amulsar, saying that mining operations there
would inflict serious damage on the environment. Lydian, which claims to have
already invested more than $350 million in the project, dismisses these
concerns, saying that it will use modern and safe technology.
Janjughazian commented cautiously on the economic impact of Lydian’s renewed
operations. “Both the functioning and non-functioning of any economic entity
cannot fail to have an impact,” he said. “In case of its functioning, any
positive movement generates positive expectations and thereby increases the
[economic] potential. Conversely, there are negative expectations in the event
of non-functioning.”
“So not only the direct but also indirect impact is important here,” added
Janjughazian.
Deputy Economy Minister Avag Avanesian said on Tuesday that mining at Amulsar
would speed up economic growth in Armenia, boost the country’s tax revenue and
result in thousands of new jobs.
Other officials, notably Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, have warned that
the Armenian government will be taken to an international court of arbitration
and risk huge financial penalties if it pulls the plug on the project without
strong legal grounds.
Nevertheless, environment protection activists and some opposition politicians
remain strongly opposed to the U.S.-backed project. Some parliament deputies
representing Pashinian’s My Step alliance have also spoken out against it.
But other pro-government lawmakers support the government’s apparent
Amulsar-related plans. One of them, Babken Tunian, the chairman of the Armenian
parliament committee on economic issues, on Thursday dismissed calls for a
referendum on Amulsar made by senior members of the opposition Prosperous
Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun parties.
“Sometimes voters can be mistaken over a concrete issue because of not having
sufficient knowledge of or information about it,” Tunian wrote on his Facebook
page.
Also backing Lydian’s renewed activities was Hanrapetutyun, a pro-Western party
that was allied to Pashinian until last year. “It’s not every day that $400
million is invested in the Armenian economy, and failure to take advantage of
that would definitely have severe consequences,” said the Hanrapetutyun leader,
Aram Sarkisian.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Jermuk and nearby villages making up a single
administrative unit spoke of a “very difficult situation” existing in the
community. “Jermuk has never been in such a situation before,” Vartan
Hovannisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian. He said he wants to see more government
guarantees that gold mining will not harm Jermuk’s tourism industry.
Hovannisian said he maintains regular contacts with both the protesters
blocking the Amulsar roads and Lydian executives. “I’m between the devil and
the deep sea,” he complained. “The issue has started having very bad
manifestations.
“These [protesters] have vowed not to open the roads. But the prime minister
has said that they can’t fail to open them. This is creating a problem.”
The mayor also said that Pashinian is planning to visit Jermuk and speak to
local residents concerned about the Amulsar project in the coming days or weeks.
Press Review
“If people had the right to block streets to ‘reject Serzh’ then they have the
same rights when rejecting the exploitation of the Amulsar mine,” writes
“Aravot.” In this regard, the paper criticizes authorities for not allowing
activists protesting against the gold mine to enter a public park located
inside the parliament compound in Yerevan. It says that the activities of
Armenian environment protection groups “deserve respect” and must not be
hampered. The paper says at the same time that opponents of the Amulsar project
must not attempt to “muzzle” and “blackmail” those who support it. “The Amulsar
issue is not only an ecological but also legal, political and economic one,” it
says.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” notes that “many members of the ruling team have gone
underground and are not uttering a word regarding Amulsar.” “Since when has
silence become a sign of being principled?” asks the paper linked to Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian. “The real reason [for their silence] is simple fear.
Those who are in favor of the mine’s exploitation are afraid of making that
clear in public lest they be branded ‘traitors’ on Facebook, while those who
are against the project fear the authorities’ ire. If they are scared of
Facebook reactions how will they behave over more serious issues that could
emerge later?”
“Zhamanak” wonders if the Amulsar controversy will lead to the breakup of
Pashinian’s My Step alliance. The paper notes that some parliament deputies
representing My Step have spoken out against the government’s apparent plans to
allow a Western mining company to restart the project disrupted over a year
ago. “My Step’s parliamentary group is a multi-layered team formed by the
[2018] revolution for which the Amulsar issue is only the first political
test,” it says. “Many, many other [contentious] issues are going to arise soon.
This is not an apocalyptic prediction but the inevitable reality of governing a
state that is located in a tough region and has serious security challenges.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
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