Wednesday,
Former Ruling Coalition Party Warns Yerevan Municipality Over ‘Poor Work’
• Artak Khulian
A protest by Armenian Revolutionary Federation members in front of the Yerevan
municipality building, Yerevan, 31Jul2019
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaktsutyun), an
extra-parliamentary opposition party that was represented in the previous
government as a junior coalition partner, held a rally in front of the Yerevan
Mayor’s Office on Wednesday to express its dissatisfaction with what it sees as
the poor work of the city authorities.
ARF members argued that no visible changes have been made in the city since the
pro-government My Step alliance got a landslide victory in municipal elections
last September and its top candidate Hayk Marutian later become mayor.
The party warned that if no improvement is achieved soon it will demand the
resignation of the mayor. As the sign of warning dozens of protesters in front
of the municipality building held ‘yellow cards’ in their hands.
“We see that waste disposal is getting worse day by day,” said ARF Yerevan City
Committee representative Ara Rostomian, casting doubts over the efficiency of
the municipality in trying to solve the issue.
The ARF believes the city authorities have failed to fulfill their election
promises concerning issues of elevators, transportation, landscaping and
garbage disposal.
“I don’t exclude that they mean well and want to change the situation. The
problem here is that maybe they lack professionalism to be able to tackle all
these problems correctly,” said Rostomian, adding that they would not be
holding the protest unless at least some progress was made on some of the major
issues facing the city.
The municipality does not accept the view that no positive developments have
taken place in the city during the past 10 months. According to a city
official, they are dealing with waste disposal, elevator and transportation
issues and solutions will be provided soon.
“I acknowledge that in any case there may be complaints and naturally there are
lots of problems in the city, but these problems are being solved with very
clear steps and a chosen strategy,” Hakob Karapetian, a spokesman for Yerevan’s
mayor, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am). “During this period at
least fundamental changes have been introduced and these changes are yielding
results even today and will give a much more multiplicative effect in the
coming months and years. In particular, citizens may notice the lack of
obstacles to obtaining permits in the field of construction and urban
development. I mean that if applications are rejected, it is done only on legal
grounds.”
No Arrest Sought For Indicted Kocharian Trial Judge
Judge Davit Grigorian (file photo)
No arrest is being sought for an Armenian judge involved in the trial of former
President Robert Kocharian who is currently charged with forgery in connection
with a separate case, the Special Investigation Service told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service (Azatutyun.am) on Wednesday.
On May 18, Judge Davit Grigorian, who presided over the hearings in the
ex-president’s case, controversially ordered Kocharian released from prison
pending the outcome of the trial.
He later suspended the trial, questioning the legality of coup charges brought
against the former leader and referred the case to the Constitutional Court.
Prosecutors appealed against both decisions, which were condemned by political
allies and supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Armenia’s Court of
Appeals overturned them on June 25, which led to Kocharian’s re-arrest.
On July 27, Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council allowed for the investigation of
Judge Grigorian following a petition submitted by the Prosecutor-General’s
Office. The oversight body also decided to suspend the judge’s powers pending
the investigation.
Three days later the Prosecutor-General’s Office released more details of the
criminal case, saying that Grigorian committed official forgery of protocols of
hearings at which he was not even physically present. It again categorically
denied that attention to the case that was first addressed in February was
conditioned by Grigorian’s ruling in the Kocharian trial.
Grigorian’s lawyer Yervand Varosian said his client did not admit to the charge
of forgery. He also said that Grigorian believes that “the charge is a direct
consequence of his two decisions in the [Kocharian] trial.”
Supporters of Kocharian and other critics of the current government claim that
actions of the law-enforcement agencies against Grigorian amount to pressure on
the judiciary that undermines its independence.
Ruling Bloc Lawmaker Spurns Kocharian’s Call For ‘Opposition Consolidation’
• Gayane Saribekian
Former President Robert Kocharian attends a Court of Appeals hearing in
Yerevan, July 24, 2019
A lawmaker representing the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian-led ruling alliance
has dismissed as ludicrous assumptions by imprisoned former president Robert
Kocharian that early elections are inevitable in Armenia and that the current
government will fail to be reelected in such elections.
In a recent interview with the Golos Armenii newspaper Kocharian, who is
currently in pretrial detention on charges stemming from his alleged role in
the 2008 post-election crackdown on the opposition, also called for
consolidation of opposition groups to that effect. “The country needs a broad
consolidation of healthy forces,” the ex-leader said. “In the fall the process
of consolidation and formation of partnership in the opposition field will be
completed and political struggle will acquire a systemic and large-scale
nature.”
“I think that the issue of power will be decided in early elections. With such
a quality of governance this government will not last long and has no prospects
of reelection. Voters will be fed up with populists and will be more particular
in their choice,” Kocharian stressed.
My Step parliamentary faction member Hrachya Hakobian, meanwhile, said that
only individuals and groups left out of the current political processes or cut
off financial sources can rally around a Kocharian-led opposition.
“Let all those who are rejected by our society join together to become one
whole rejected group. It changes nothing. There is no risk in it, as our
society remembers all too well what it had to go through during his
[Kocharian’s] government… There is only one way for our society to become
consolidated when it comes to Kocharian, and that is that he must be imprisoned
for life,” the lawmaker said, adding that only individuals and groups who want
to sink into political obscurity can have their names linked to Kocharian.
Hakobian also dismissed the former president’s assumption that Armenia will see
early parliamentary elections soon. “I don’t know what books Kocharian reads in
prisons and what dreams he sees there that he began to talk about early
elections and even says that in such elections the current government will fail
to be reelected. I want to understand what books he reads in prison. Maybe he
was given a collection of fairytales there,” he said.
Hakobian believes that former ruling elites represented by former president
Kocharian, his successor Serzh Sarkisian and other senior members of the former
ruling Republican Party of Armenia have no chance of returning to power. “And
not only in the near future, but ever,” the My Step lawmaker underscored.
Environmentalists Raise Concerns Over Oil-Soaked Non-Flying Storks In Armenia
• Susan Badalian
Oil-soaked white storks near the village of Hovtashen, Armenia
Environmental activists and zoologists in Armenia have been raising concerns
after dozens of white storks drenched in some greasy substance and unable to
fly have been spotted walking around several rural communities in the Ararat
valley.
Residents of the village of Hovtashen in Armenia’s Ararat province have told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) that at first they thought the birds
had covered themselves in dust in order to protect themselves from summer heat.
“But it turned out it wasn’t dust, but that some oil had stuck to them,” says
Khachik Sharoyan, a middle-aged resident of the village located some 15
kilometers to the south of capital Yerevan.
The oily substance has harmed the birds’ feathers and now they cannot get off
the ground even to reach their nests that are some eight meters above the
ground.
“The birds can’t fly. They can’t get their food and feed their young. These
birds are going to die,” says head of the Center of Bird Lovers NGO Silva
Adamian.
Since the environmental alarm over the non-flying white storks was first
sounded in Armenia nearly two weeks ago volunteers have visited the place to
wash the birds and have actually managed to get some of them flying again
albeit still low to the ground and at short distances.
Volunteers are raising donations and in the coming days plan more trips to
Hovtashen and other villages affected by the problem.
Meanwhile, two oil-soaked white storks have been taken to a Zoological
Institute laboratory in Yerevan where specialists have established that the
substance in question is of vegetable or animal origin.
The contamination may come from the Hrazdan River that flows through the rural
communities where white storks have been affected.
Experts suspect that the river may have been polluted with oily substance by
one of the many fish farms situated in the area. No particular entity has yet
been named as the source of pollution.
Environmental Inspectorate officials say they will refer the case to
law-enforcement agencies. But while environmentalists insist that a criminal
investigation should be launched in connection with the harm caused to white
storks, under Armenia’s legislation, criminal liability is envisaged only for
mass extermination of storks, while harming or even killing one stork will
entail a fine of only an equivalent of $1 and $2, respectively.
“This is an omission in the law, as till today it did not occur to anyone that
storks can be harmed in Armenia,” says Environmental Inspectorate
representative Artur Beglarian. “For example, we have a Caucasian heath-cock
which is in the Red Book and harming it will entail a fine of an equivalent of
over $600.”
Zoology Institute worker Lyuba Balian says that cleaning white storks off the
greasy substance is not an easy job. She says they have tried different
solutions to achieve best results. They also monitor the behavior of the storks
they clean to see if it changes. “In cleaning the bird one has to be very
careful not to damage the feathers with the water flow,” Balian says.
Meanwhile, Towards Sustainable Systems NGO head Karen Aghababian along with
volunteers continue to wash the white storks on the spot, trying to clean their
feathers and put them back on the wing. “We continue to monitor the situation
to make sure that the birds can have at least a short flight so that they do
not become prey and can go to places where they can find food,” he says.
Many residents of Hovtashen, where there are some 30 stork nests with three or
four birds in each, also participate in the monitoring activities. “People are
very caring because it is their storks,” Hovtashen mayor Suren Mkrtchian says.
But Mamikon Ghasabian, head of the Vertebrates Laboratory at the Zoology and
Hydro-Ecology Scientific Center, warns that specialists, volunteers and
villagers have only until this fall to help the migratory birds get back on the
wing or else they may not survive Armenia’s harsh winter.
“Can they reach Africa this way? Isn’t it a disaster? We cannot say how many of
them will die on the way [to Africa] and what will happen to them. Their fate
is uncertain,” says Ghasabian.
Press Review
The editor of “Aravot” writes: “Every time former president Robert Kocharian
speaks about his political ambitions I almost automatically get the desire to
defend the current government. But in any case Armenia needs a strong
opposition, preferably not represented by pro-Kocharian forces.” The daily’s
editor goes on to say that Kocharian is one of those responsible for “the
absence of a political system in Armenia” since, he contends, elections were
rigged during his presidency and the authorities started to use ‘information
terror’ against dissidents.
Lragir.am writes: “Talking about a new opposition system being formed against
the current government in Armenia, in an interview with the Golos Armenii
newspaper former president Robert Kocharian said: “I think that the ‘consensus
minus one’ formula is already a formed political reality and the process will
become more active.” According to Kocharian, the system will also lead to the
radicalization of the parliamentary opposition, as, otherwise, they will lose
their electorate. The second president in fact warns Prosperous Armenia Party
Chairman Gagik Tsarukian and Bright Armenia Party leader Edmon Marukian about
consequences of being left out of his political vision.”
“Zhoghovurd” comments on the statement by the State Revenue Committee (SRC)
regarding a criminal investigation of the waste management company, Sanitek,
which is in charge of garbage collection in Yerevan. The paper writes: “This
information raises a number of questions. First, it turns out that a criminal
case has been launched on an unknown fact and then complex inspections were
appointed. It would be more logical if those inspections were appointed before
the institution of the case. We can assume that there were some inspections
that revealed that the company evaded taxes, and in that case it is interesting
what was found out if not an administrative protocol was drawn up first but a
criminal case was launched at once. But if an administrative protocol had been
drawn up, why no information was reported on that?... As for the quality of
Sanitek’s work, everyone is dissatisfied with it, but even so, the case against
the company should not be legally vulnerable, since as a foreign investor
Sanitek may seek justice in international arbitration, and then the case of the
SRC may become an occasion for the Yerevan municipality to lose a lot of money
in court.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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