Month: October 2019

Taking into account some important events and developments that have taken place in recent days and, of course, the domestic political context, I have appealed to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, with the request to dismiss the Chairman of the Public Council, Vazgen Manukyan.

A member of the National Assembly wrote about this on his Facebook page Arman Babajanyan:

In the letter published by him, it is detailed why Manukyan should be relieved of his post. According to Babajanyan, Manukyan makes political statements, he recently founded a socio-political club called Vernatun, whose members are politicians who held various key positions during the tenure of former RA presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan. According to Babajanyan, this contradicts the Law on Public Service, which states that the members of the Public Council and the president do not have the right to engage in political activities.

It should be noted that earlier the newspaper wrote that Vazgen Manukyan is going to resign in the near future. It is noteworthy that Manukyan’s resignation was written by “Zhamanak” newspaper, which, as is known, belongs to Arman Babajanyan.

“It is possible that the Chairman of the Public Council, Vazgen Manukyan, will submit his resignation. Making such a decision may be due to the fact that Manukyan has been acting from the opposition positions for a long time, criticizing the policy pursued by the authorities. It is true that the Public Council and its chairman do not have to agree with the government in everything, but presenting the public’s point of view and opposition activity are different things,” the newspaper specifically wrote.

Former Speaker of the National Assembly Ara Babloyan is currently in the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia. The SIS did not comment on the question of whether it is possible for Babloyan to be charged, HJ writes.  

Let’s remind that on the basis of the sufficient evidence obtained during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case under investigation at the CSI, Arsen Babayan was charged yesterday with the features provided for in Article 38-300, Part 1 and Article 314, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. Within the framework of the same criminal case, Ara Babloyan, former Speaker of the National Assembly of RA, was involved as a suspect, on the suspicion of usurping the power.

According to the SIS report, Arsen Babayan has created false grounds for taking over the powers of the Constitutional Court in order to publish the statement of the Speaker of the National Assembly Ara Babloyan about the resignation of the President of the Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunyan, signed on March 2, 2018, which in turn became the basis for the termination of the latter’s powers, and later for the process of nominating and appointing Hrayr Tovmasyan to that vacant position.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today received Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria Ekaterina Zakharieva.

The Prime Minister noted that high-level meetings of a dynamic nature contribute to the development of political dialogue between the two countries and the realization of new opportunities for revitalizing economic ties. In this context, Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the importance of holding the session of the Armenian-Bulgarian intergovernmental commission in March this year and the business forum within its framework.

“Armenia attaches importance to the deepening of cooperation with Bulgaria both bilaterally and within the EU framework. The European Union is one of the most important partners of Armenia’s democratic reform agenda, and the strengthening of relations with Bulgaria, the exchange of experience with Eastern European countries follows from that logic,” the head of government said, expressing gratitude to Bulgaria for the rapid ratification of the RA-EU Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the role of the Armenian community in Bulgaria in strengthening bilateral ties.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria also noted that the high-level official contacts and discussions between the two countries, which have been quite active recently, testify to the mutual importance attached to Armenian-Bulgarian ties.

“Bulgaria supports Armenia’s democratic development agenda, the expansion of the RA-EU partnership and is ready to share its accumulated experience in the reform process. It is no coincidence that Bulgaria was one of the first EU countries to ratify the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement,” Ekaterina Zakhariyeva noted.

The Prime Minister of Armenia and the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria referred to the process of visa liberalization with the European Union, talked about the importance of democratic reforms, the fight against corruption, the judicial system, and the importance of exchanging experience in the process of structural reforms. The perspectives of initiatives of regional significance were also discussed.

The interlocutors discussed issues of development of trade and economic ties. In the context of recording a new level of economic cooperation, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the launch of direct air communication, which will contribute to the activation of business contacts, tourist visits, as well as considered the projects in the fields of transport, information technology, infrastructure and other sectors as promising. Ekaterina Zakhariyeva agreed with the RA Prime Minister, noting that direct air communication will promote the development of mutual trade, investment, and tourism ties. An agreement was reached on these and the above-mentioned subject results about things to do.

The parties exchanged ideas on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The Prime Minister expressed gratitude for Bulgaria’s balanced position and emphasized that Armenia sees the settlement of the conflict through peaceful negotiations within the framework of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group. Ekaterina Zakhariyeva reaffirmed Bulgaria’s balanced position regarding the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and noted that Bulgaria supports the peace negotiation process under the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship mandate.

The Republic of Armenia is closely following the developments taking place within the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement, including the work of the last summit of the heads of states and governments of the Non-Aligned Movement held on October 25-26, 2019 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.  This was stated in the statement issued by the RA Foreign Ministry regarding the Final Document adopted at the 18th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Baku.

“We condemn the fact that Azerbaijan, the host of the summit and the current chairman of the Movement, once again chose to abuse its membership in the Movement by promoting misleading, extremely biased claims about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the Summary Document of the Summit.

Having the status of an observer state in the Non-Aligned Movement, Armenia could not in any way engage or endorse the process, which clearly demonstrates the manipulative intent of the host state to abuse the platform. Armenia regrets that the wording of the Summary Document on Nagorno-Karabakh contradicts the principles underlying the Movement.

The authorities of Azerbaijan, which have committed mass atrocities against Armenians in Azerbaijan and Artsakh, have consistently pursued a policy of intolerance and hatred, including through the public glorification of criminals convicted of murdering Armenians, who have continuously attempted military aggression against Artsakh, are directly and directly responsible for creating risks that threaten the existential security of the people of Artsakh.

They once again demonstrated their lack of commitment to the only format with an international mandate for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the peace process under the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group, using their experience of “conference sales” in order to disrupt the current negotiation process. Armenia firmly supports the inalienable rights of the people of Artsakh to freely determine their political status without restriction and coercion, to freely ensure their economic, social and cultural development. Armenia continues to be the only guarantor of the security of the people of Artsakh.

Armenia calls on the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement to show responsibility and respect for the negotiations and to act in accordance with the spirit, logic and path of the peace process, based on the norms and principles of international law, the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, including the right of peoples to equality and self-determination, which is one of the key principles of a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the statement said.

On October 28, a delegation led by the head of the flight safety service of the Russian Armed Forces arrived in Armenia to participate in bilateral discussions.

This is reported by the RA Ministry of Defense.

On September 19, 2019, the Penitentiary Service sentenced life convict N. He submitted a negative report on the conditional release of Hunanyan from serving his sentence.

On October 23, 2019, the Probation Service also submitted a negative report.

The press service of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Justice informs about this.

Taking into account the fact that the reports presented by 2 services were negative, the administration of the penitentiary institution on October 28, 2019 accepted N. Decision not to present to the court the issue of paroleing Hunanyan from serving the sentence or replacing the unserved part of the sentence with a milder punishment. It can be appealed to the Court of First Instance within ten days after receiving the decision.

Notice: If the decision of the administration of the penitentiary institution is not appealed, the matter can be considered again after the adoption of the relevant decision, one and a half years later, if the convict submits an application no earlier than 40 days before the expiration of the specified period.

In the case of appealing the decision of the administration of the penitentiary, if the court refuses parole from serving the sentence, the issue can be reconsidered after the final judicial act enters into legal force, after three years, if the convict submits an application no earlier than 40 days before the expiration of the specified period.

The Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia informs that a ban has been placed on the visits of Arsen Babayan, the former deputy of the staff of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.

“Deputies of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia published in mass electronic media on the evening of October 25 Gevorg Gorgisyan and Ani Samsonyan In connection with the video with the participation of the RA Ministry of Justice, the Penitentiary Service of the RA Ministry of Justice clarifies that the meeting of the deputies with Arsen Babayan, the accused in the criminal case under investigation by the RA Special Investigation Service, the inmate of the “Vardashen” Penitentiary Institution of the RA Ministry of Justice, was prohibited on the basis of the decision of the body implementing the criminal proceedings, by which a restraining order was placed on the detained person A. on Babayan’s meetings,” the statement said.

In the period between October 20 and 26, in the contact zone of the Artsakh-Azerbaijani conflict troops, the enemy violated the cease-fire regime more than 170 times, firing about 1,500 shots from different caliber firearms at the Armenian position guards.

The vanguard military units of the Defense Ministry are in control of the operational-tactical situation and continue to confidently carry out the combat task set before them.

The World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report does not contain any inaccuracies regarding Armenia, Valentina Saltine, a senior specialist in the development of the private sector of the World Bank, said in a conversation with “Voice of America”, commenting on the statement of the President of the Central Bank of Armenia, Artur Javadyan, that a certain mistake was made in the ranking table of the report, which, if corrected, would place Armenia in the 37th position in the ranking table, instead of the current 47th.

“From our point of view, there is no inaccuracy or error regarding Armenia. This year, we have just slightly revised and reformulated the assessment of protection indicators for small-cap investors. We didn’t add any new elements, we just made some corrections.”

In particular, according to Saltine, in order to receive additional points for the protection of investors with a small share, the country needs to have at least 10 private companies selling voting shares in the stock market, while there are only 7 such companies in the Armenian stock market, of which only three are private.

“It’s not something the government can easily do on its own. It certainly cannot force other companies to go public. It is something that should happen naturally, and the government can create conditions for it by passing laws,” the representative of the World Bank said.

At the same time, Valentina Saltain pointed out the achievements recorded by Armenia during the past year, which are aimed at creating a favorable atmosphere for business implementation. It is the improvement of the process of obtaining the right of construction, the reforms of the tax sector and the digitization of cross-border trade declarations.

“Generally, Armenia is doing very successfully. The issues in some areas are mainly related to legislative changes and it takes time to feel the impact of these changes.”

Three of Armenia’s four immediate neighbors – Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey – are in a better position than Armenia in terms of ease of doing business, while Iran ranks 127th.

In terms of ease of doing business in 2020, the World Bank recognized New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong as leaders. The situation is worse in Venezuela, Eritrea and Somalia.