Wednesday,
Armenian Editor Wins Court Battle Against Investigators
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- Knar Manukian, editor-in-chief of "Zhoghovurd" daily, speaks to
RFE/RL, Yerevan, March 18, 2019.
Armenia’s Court of Cassation has declared illegal a lower court’s decision to
give a law-enforcement agency access to the recordings of phone calls of a
newspaper editor facing criminal proceedings.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) launched the proceedings against Knar
Manukian shortly after her “Zhoghovurd” daily published a year ago leaked
testimonies by ex-President Serzh Sarkisian and other former officials
interrogated over the 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan.
The SIS repeatedly questioned Manukian in connection with that it sees as
illegal revelations, prompting accusations of harassment from the independent
publication. After Manukian refused to disclose the source of the leak, the SIS
asked a district court judge in Yerevan to allow it to obtain her cellphone
records. The judge granted the request.
Manukian appealed against that decision after an SIS investigator informed her
that he has the transcripts of her phone conversations with two other persons
suspected of leaking the testimonies.
In a January 2020 ruling, the Court of Appeals backed the editor’s claim that
the district court judge’s authorization of the disclosure of her phone calls
was illegal.
Prosecutors filed an appeal against the ruling in the higher Court of Cassation
in February. The court rejected the appeal in what Manukian hailed on Wednesday
as a victory for all Armenian journalists.
“We aimed to prove that the SIS and the Office of the Prosecutor-General broke
the law and we succeeded in doing that,” Manukian told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service. “The current authorities must make an appropriate evaluation of the
actions of the SIS and prosecutors.”
The editor again made clear that she will not disclose the source of the
sensitive information published by her paper. “I would rather face the strictest
punishment, including arrest, than reveal my sources,” she said.
Manukian was most recently interrogated by the SIS in December. A few days later
unknown intruders broke into the empty offices of “Zhoghovurd” and caused havoc
there. They did not steal anything, according to the newspaper staff.
Taguhi Tovmasian, the paper’s founder who is currently a parliament deputy
representing the ruling My Step alliance, suggested that the intruders “looked
for information.” Tovmasian described the overnight break-in as a serious threat
to press freedom in Armenia. Nobody has been detained in connection with it.
Court Again Refuses To Free Kocharian
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Judge Anna Danibekian announces her decision to reject fresh demands
for former President Robert Kocharian's release from jail, Yerevan, .
A court in Yerevan on Wednesday rejected fresh demands for former President
Robert Kocharian’s release from prison which were backed by three former
Armenian prime ministers.
Former Prime Ministers Vazgen Manukian, Khosrov Harutiunian and Karen Karapetian
appeared before the court last Friday to guarantee in writing that Kocharian
will demonstrate “proper behavior” and not go into hiding or obstruct justice if
set free. A former Karabakh premier, Anushavan Danielian, also signed such a
statement and handed it to the presiding judge, Ann Danibekian.
In addition, Kocharian’s lawyers submitted two petitions demanding his release
on health grounds or on bail. They insisted that he risks being infected with
coronavirus in a Yerevan prison.
Danibekian rejected all of those petitions, effectively siding with prosecutors
strongly opposed to the release of the 65-year-old ex-president prosecuted on
coup and corruption charges.
One of Kocharian’s lawyers, Aram Orbelian, condemned the judge’s decision,
saying that it “has nothing to do with justice” and represents further proof of
his client’s “political persecution” ordered by the Armenian government. He said
he and the other defense lawyers will likely appeal against the decision.
Armenia -- Supporters of former President Robert Kocharian protest outside a
court in Yerevan, June 19, 2019.
Danibekian had repeatedly refused to free Kocharian pending the outcome of his
ongoing trial since taking over the high-profile case from another judge, Davit
Grigorian, last August.
Grigorian was controversially charged with forgery and suspended in July 2018
two months after ordering Kocharian’s release. The ex-president was arrested
again in June.
Kocharian, who governed Armenia from 1998-2008, was hospitalized on April 28. He
underwent surgery at Yerevan’s Izmirlian Medical Center on Tuesday for the
second time in seven months.
The hospital’s director, Armen Charchian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that is
was connected with what he described as a more difficult operation which
Kocharian had in October. He did not go into details.
Kocharian’s son Levon said after the October surgery that the ex-president had a
benign tumor.
Kocharian and three other former senior officials stand trial on charges mostly
stemming from the 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan. He rejects all charges
leveled against him as politically motivated.
EBRD Expects 3.5% GDP Contraction In Armenia
• Emil Danielyan
Armenia - Workers at a tech company based in the Engineering City in Yerevan,
August 22, 2018.
Armenia’s economy will shrink by 3.5 percent this year due to the coronavirus
pandemic, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on
Wednesday.
“The global uncertainty and decreasing demand resulting from the coronavirus
crisis, combined with volatility in commodity prices, will affect the economy
directly via a decrease in exports, which are dominated by copper and other
mining products, and indirectly through economic links with Russia, including a
likely downturn in remittances,” the EBRD said in its latest report on regional
economies.
“Prolonged measures of social containment and low mobility would hurt Armenia’s
tourism sector, which is largely dependent on visits from Armenians abroad,”
added the report.
The London-based development bank also predicted that the Armenian economy will
recover from the coronavirus crisis and grow by 5.5 percent already next year.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a video conference with EBRD
President Suma Chakrabart, April 27, 2020
The Armenian government and the International Monetary Fund forecast last month
a less drastic economic contraction. Still, the IMF cautioned that a 1.5 percent
drop in the country’s GDP projected by it is a “baseline scenario” which assumes
that the pandemic will fade in the second half of 2020.
A senior IMF official told RFE/RL’s Armenian service afterwards that the fund
will likely disburse soon $280 million in emergency loans designed to help
Armenia fight against coronavirus and mitigate its economic consequences.
The government plans to borrow a total of around $540 million from the IMF and
other international lenders for cushioning the impact of the unfolding economic
recession. Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian has said it needs such loans to
offset a major shortfall in tax revenues and to continue financing coronavirus
relief measures.
These wide-ranging measures are expected to cost the state budget 150 billion
drams ($310 million). Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Wednesday that the
government has already spent 73 billion drams on cash handouts to various
categories of the population as well as loan subsidies and grants to businesses
and farmers.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian estimated last week that the government’s
aid programs have already benefited 360,000 individuals and 24,000 businesses
hit hard by coronavirus-related economic disruptions.
The Armenian economy expanded robustly from 2017 through the first quarter of
this year. According to official statistics, economic growth accelerated to 7.6
percent in 2019.
The EBRD report says it was primarily driven by a significant increase in
household consumption and further boosted by rising exports. “The increase in
consumption was led by household credit, up by 30 percent in 2019, and by a 10
per cent increase in money transfers from abroad,” it says.
Pashinian Warns Of Fresh Lockdown Amid Soaring COVID-19 Cases
Armenia -- People on a street in Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Wednesday that his government may
re-impose lockdown restrictions after the daily number of coronavirus cases
registered in Armenia reached a new record high.
The Armenian Ministry of Health reported 180 new cases and one more death
earlier in the day. The total number of people who have tested positive for
coronavirus thus reached 3,718 while the official death toll rose to 48.
The ministry has also reported the deaths of 21 other individuals infected with
COVID-19. It claims that they died as a result of other, pre-existing conditions.
“For several days running more than 100 coronavirus cases are registered [on a
daily basis,] which means that anti-epidemic rules are widely not followed in
our country,” Pashinian said in a live Facebook transmission.
“If new infections continue rising at this rate we will have to again impose
restrictions, and the purpose of the restrictions will be to prevent a situation
where citizens in need of medical aid are left without medical aid,” he warned.
“But we all can avoid that situation through personal responsibility.”
“I am asking you to strictly follow anti-epidemic rules,” he added, urging
Armenians to maintain physical distancing, avoid touching their faces with
unwashed hands and use only clean tableware.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and members of his government attend a
parliament session, Yerevan, May 6, 2020.
Pashinian already called for these safety precautions as the Armenian government
began easing in mid-April a nationwide lockdown imposed in late March. Although
the daily number of confirmed COVID-19 infections rose in the following weeks,
the government lifted all restrictions on people’s movements’ and allowed the
vast majority of all businesses to resume their work by May 4.
Pashinian declared on May 3 that the onus is now not only on his government but
also on ordinary citizens to stop the spread of the virus.
Critics accused the prime minister of trying to dodge responsibility for the
Armenian authorities’ failure to contain the epidemic. They said the authorities
never properly enforced the lockdown, ended it too soon and are now paying the
consequences.
Pashinian defended the government’s “decentralized tactic of fighting against
coronavirus” in his latest address to the nation. But he also complained: “I can
now see people in the streets shaking hands … standing very close to each other
and talking. This is a big problem and at this pace [of the disease spread] we
could face a very serious crisis.”
Health Minister Arsen Torosian warned on May 4 that the number of coronavirus
cases in Armenia could quadruple by the end of this month. During a weekend
inspection of the country’s largest hospital treating COVID-19 patients,
Torosian noted the virtual absence of vacant hospital beds at its intensive care
unit.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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