Thursday,
Former Parliament Speaker Goes On Trial
Armenia -- Former parliament speaker Ara Babloyan is interviewed by RFE/RL,
Yerevan October 26, 2019
A court in Yerevan began on Thursday the trial of former parliament speaker Ara
Babloyan and one of his former aides who are facing criminal charges rejected by
them as politically motivated.
Babloyan and Arsen Babayan were charged last October with abusing their powers
and forging documents to help Armenia’s former leadership install Hrayr
Tovmasian as chairman of the Constitutional Court in March 2018. Babayan was
arrested but freed on bail three weeks later.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) indicted the two men as Tovmasian faced
growing government pressure to resign. It claimed that the former Armenian
parliament elected him court chairman in breach of the country’s constitution.
The SIS said that Babloyan illegally accepted and announced the resignation of
Tovmasian’s predecessor, Gagik Harutiunian, before receiving a relevant letter
from him. It said that Babayan, who was the deputy chief of the parliament staff
at the time, backdated the letter to enable Tovmasian to head the Constitutional
Court before the entry into force of sweeping amendments to the Armenian
constitution.
The amendments introduced a six-year term in office for the head of Armenia’s
highest court. Tovmasian, 49, became chief court justice under the previous
constitution which allows him to hold the post until the age of 70.
Both suspects strongly deny the accusations. Babloyan maintains that
Harutiunian’s letter of resignation was dated March 1, 2018 and that he received
and signed it on March 2, 2018, not three days later, as is claimed by the SIS.
In a statement issued ahead of the first court hearing in the case, Babayan
charged that he and the former speaker are subjected to “crude political
persecution” and will expose during their trial “pathetic and blatant
violations” of the due process committed by investigators.
The SIS and prosecutors deny any political motives behind the criminal case.
Yerevan Requests Council Of Europe Advice On High Court ‘Crisis’
• Ruzanna Stepanian
France -- Prime Minister NIkol Pashinin meets with Venice Commission President
Gianni Buquicchio, Strasbourg, April 11, 2019
In a surprise move, Justice Minister Rustam Badasian has asked the Venice
Commission of the Council of Europe to advise his government on its standoff
with Armenia’s Constitution Court.
Seven of the court’s nine judges installed by former Armenian governments have
faced strong pressure from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration to
resign. Pashinian has accused them -- and Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr
Tovmasian in particular -- of maintaining ties to the “corrupt former regime”
and impeding judicial reforms.
Tovmasian and opposition figures have dismissed these claims, saying that
Pashinian is simply seeking to gain control over the country’s highest court.
Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio has repeatedly expressed serious
concern at the government’s “open conflict” with the Constitutional Court. “I
call again on all sides to exercise restraint and to de-escalate this worrying
situation in order to ensure the normal operation of the constitution of
Armenia,” he said in a February 3 statement that followed Pashinian’s renewed
verbal attacks on Tovmasian.
A few days later, Pashinian’s political team decided to hold a referendum on
April 5 on draft constitutional changes that would end the powers of Tovmasian
and the six other judges refusing to resign.
The two opposition parties represented in the Armenian parliament criticized the
proposed amendments, saying that they run counter to other articles of the
constitution. They also urged the authorities to send them to the Venice
Commission for examination.
Pashinian’s political allies countered, however, that the authorities are not
obliged to consult with the Council of Europe’s legal watchdog.
For his part, the prime minister implicitly criticized the Venice Commission on
February 20. He said the Strasbourg-based watchdog must answer “some questions”
raised by the Armenian authorities before it can scrutinize the constitutional
changes sought by them.
Armenia -- Justice Minister Rustam Badasian at a press conference, April 1, 2020.
The Armenian Justice Ministry announced late on Wednesday that Badasian has sent
to the Venice Commission “questions regarding the resolution of the ongoing
crisis over the Armenian Constitutional Court.”
A ministry statement did not specify those questions. It said they were
contained in a letter sent by the minister to Council of Europe Secretary
General Marija Pejcinovic Buric.
Badasian shed little light on the questions when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian
service on Thursday. He said only that the government is seeking European
“expert opinion” on existing constitutional provisions relating to the tenure of
Constitutional Court judges.
The appeal to Strasbourg came amid growing uncertainty about the conduct of the
referendum which was postponed when Pashinian’s government declared a state of
emergency on March 16 to contain the spread of coronavirus in Armenia.
Under Armenian law, no elections or referendums can be held during the state of
emergency. The government on Thursday extended it by another month, until June
13.
Badasian did not exclude that the authorities may eventually cancel the
referendum and try to end the “constitutional crisis” through the parliament
controlled by Pashinian’s My Step bloc. “No option can be ruled out given the
impact of coronavirus on all areas of life, and the holding of elections and
referendums obviously cannot be an exception,” he said.
Armenian Ministers Self-Isolate After Staffers Catch COVID-19
• Susan Badalian
Armenia -- Health Minister Arsen Torosian gives a press conference, April 10,
2020.
Armenia’s Health Minister Arsen Torosian and Minister for Local Government and
Infrastructures Suren Papikian have isolated themselves after officials from
their ministries tested positive for coronavirus.
Both men did not attend Thursday’s weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan during
which their self-isolations were first announced by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran
Avinian. There was no word on the number of infected ministry officials.
A spokeswoman for Papikian, Armine Muradian, said that he tested negative for
the virus on Wednesday. “The minister [Papikian] and other employees are in
self-isolation at the moment because of having been in contact with
[coronavirus] carriers,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Armenia -- Minister for Local Government Suren Papikian speaks at a news
conference in Yerevan, February 26, 2020.
“There are confirmed cases within the ministry [of health,] the circle of
[infected officials’] contacts has been ascertained, and epidemiological actions
are continuing,” said Torosian’s spokeswoman, Alina Nikoghosian. “That is why
Health Minister Arsen Torosian self-isolated and had a coronavirus test this
morning. We are now waiting for the result.”
Torosian announced later in the day that his test has come back negative. “I
have no symptoms,” he wrote on Facebook. “I will reduce my physical contacts to
almost zero in order not to harm anyone.”
Torosian found himself in hot water last week after a photograph of him sitting
in close proximity to other people at an open-air Yerevan café was widely
circulated on social media. Critics of the Armenian government said that the
health minister, who regularly urges citizens to practice social distancing and
issues warnings about grave consequences of the epidemic, set a bad example for
the country’s population.
Nikoghosian dismissed the criticism on May 7, arguing that the government
allowed cafes and restaurants with outdoor terraces to reopen on May 4. She said
that the minister simply held a working “discussion” with his deputies at the
café adjacent to the ministry building.
The Ministry of Health said on Thursday morning that the total number of
confirmed coronavirus cases in Armenia rose by 142 to 3,860 in the past 24
hours. The ministry also reported another fatality which brought the official
death toll from the disease to 49.
Citing the increased number of cases, Deputy Health Minister Lena Nanushian
acknowledged that the authorities are increasingly finding it impossible to
trace all people who have come into contact with those infected with the virus.
Nanushian also could not say whether Armenia has passed the peak of the COVID-19
epidemic.
Armenia Again Extends Coronavirus State Of Emergency
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia -- A police vehicle parked outside the Armenian government headquarters
at Yerevan's deserted Republic Square, March 25, 2020.
The government on Thursday extended a state of emergency in Armenia by another
month while lifting the last remaining restrictions on business activity which
were aimed at containing the coronavirus epidemic.
The state of emergency was declared on March 16. A few days later, the
government also issued stay-at-home orders and closed most nonessental
businesses. The lockdown was largely lifted by May 4 despite increased numbers
of new coronavirus cases reported by the Armenian health authorities on a daily
basis.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian insisted that the government still needs the
state of emergency in order to be able to quickly seal off local communities hit
by COVID-19 outbreaks and take other extraordinary measures against the virus.
He said it may also decide to re-impose lockdown restrictions if the spread of
the disease continues unabated.
“If it turns out that we have more than 1,500 [COVID-19] patients in need of
medical treatment [in hospital] -- and we are inevitably approaching that number
and will surpass it -- we will have no choice but to revert to the restrictions
regime,” Pashinian told a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
In his words, only some 600 of the more than 2,200 people presently infected
with the virus are showing major symptoms and treated in hospitals.
According to the Ministry of Health, the total number of confirmed coronavirus
cases in Armenia rose by 142 to 3,860 in the past 24 hours. The ministry also
reported another fatality which brought the official death toll from the disease
to 49.
The figure does not include the deaths of 21 other individuals infected with
COVID-19. The ministry claims that they died as a result of other, pre-existing
conditions.
Armenia -- Workers disinfect an ambulance outside Surp Girgor Lusavorich
hospital in Yerevan, April 8, 2020.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, the government’s “commandant” in charge of
enforcing emergency rule, announced later in the day that starting from May 25
the authorities will make it mandatory for everyone to wear a face mask in the
streets and other public spaces. “Those who violate the rule will be fined by
the police,” he told the Armenian parliament.
Armenians are currently required to wear masks as well as gloves only when
entering shops, banks and other businesses. There is ample evidence of
widespread non-compliance with this requirement.
Avinian also said that the government has decided to lift next Monday its ban on
public transport in Yerevan and other urban centers and to reopen kindergartens,
shopping malls, indoor restaurants and cafes and gyms. He made no mention of
schools and universities that were also shut down in March.
Pashinian has repeatedly stated in recent weeks that ordinary citizens must
share with their government “responsibility” for containing epidemic by
practicing physical distancing, not touching their faces with unwashed hands and
using only clean tableware. He again complained on Thursday that many of them
are still not taking coronavirus seriously.
The prime minister also stressed the importance of a “very strict” enforcement
of government restrictions by the Armenian police and other state bodies.
“We had a discussion with the police chief on this topic yesterday,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we are not sure that the restrictions that were previously
imposed by the office of the [state of emergency] commandant were enforced
strictly enough.”
Critics of the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis say the lax
enforcement is a key reason why the virus has continued to spread rapidly in the
country. They also say that the lockdown was all but lifted too soon.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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