Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Armenian Soldier Wounded In Karabakh
January 13, 2021
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Armenian soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint on the road
leading to Kalbacar, near the village of Charektar, November 25, 2020
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army said that one of its soldiers was shot
and wounded by Azerbaijani forces on Wednesday.
The Defense Army said that the 20-year-old soldier, Vartan Kirakosian, was
rushed to a Karabakh hospital and underwent “successful” surgery there.
“His condition is assessed as serious but stable,” read a statement issued by it.
The statement added that the army has launched an investigation into the
“blatant violation” of the Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the
war in Karabakh on November 10.
Azerbaijan did not immediately comment on the reported incident. Russian
peacekeeping forces deployed in Karabakh also did not react to it as of
Wednesday evening.
The Russian Defense Ministry insisted on Tuesday that “the ceasefire regime is
being observed along the entire Line of Contact” in and around Karabakh.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazian
spoke by phone later on Wednesday. Statements on the phone call issued by their
press offices did not mention the reported shooting.
They said Lavrov and Ayvazian discussed the implementation of fresh agreements
reached by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a trilateral meeting held in
Moscow on Monday.
In particular, Aliyev and Pashinian reaffirmed their plans to open the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border for commercial traffic as part of the truce accord
that was brokered by Putin.
In a phone call reported on Wednesday, Putin briefed Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan on the results of the Armenian-Azerbaijani summit hosted by him.
According to the Kremlin, the two leaders also discussed “some aspects” of the
upcoming opening of a Russian-Turkish center that will monitor the ceasefire
regime in the Karabakh conflict zone.
Controversial Ex-Prosecutor Set To Join Armenian Judicial Watchdog
January 13, 2021
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Gagik Jahangirian, a parliament deputy from the opposition Armenian
National Congress (HAK), at a news conference in Yerevan, 26Sep2012.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc moved on Wednesday to install a
former senior prosecutor long criticized by human rights groups as a member of a
state body overseeing Armenian courts.
Gagik Jahangirian criticized judges defying law-enforcement bodies as he was
formally nominated for a vacant seat in the Supreme Judicial Council.
Jahangirian served as Armenia’s chief military prosecutor from 1997-2006 and was
accused by civil activists of covering up crimes and abetting other abuses in
the Armenian armed forces throughout his tenure. He always denied those
allegations.
My Step’s parliamentary group announced the nomination after meeting with
Jahangirian in the National Assembly.
“We consider Mr. Jahangirian a professional in his field and that was key [to
his nomination,]” the bloc’s parliamentary leader, Lilit Makunts, told reporters
after the meeting.
Under Armenian law, Jahangirian needs to be backed by at least 80 members of the
132-seat parliament in order to join the council empowered to nominate, sanction
and even fire judges. My Step controls 83 parliament seats.
Pashinian’s team made the decision despite not only Jahangirian’s controversial
reputation but also his past feud with the prime minister. The two men publicly
traded insults and recriminations when they were members of the country’s former
parliament. In particular, Pashinian accused Jahangirian in 2015 of having
secret ties to then President Serzh Sarkisian.
Jahangirian deflected questions about his past relationship with Pashinian when
he spoke to journalists.
“I’m not becoming a member of the [ruling] political team,” he said. “I’m going
to do professional work. I will be happy to be also nominated by the opposition
Prosperous Armenia Party and the Bright Armenia Party.”
Jahangirian was handpicked for the vacant post amid growing tensions between
Armenia’s government and judiciary. Some commentators have suggested that
Pashinian expects him to help increase government influence on the courts.
In recent months Armenian judges have refused to allow law-enforcement
authorities to arrest dozens of opposition leaders and members as well as other
anti-government activists. Virtually all of those individuals are prosecuted in
connection with angry protests sparked by the Pashinian administration’s
handling of the autumn war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinian charged last month that Armenia’s judicial system has become part of a
“pseudo-elite” which is trying to topple him after the disastrous war. Ruben
Vartazarian, the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, rejected the
criticism.
By contrast, Jahangirian said on Wednesday that he does not regard Pashinian’s
remarks as pressure on the judiciary and strongly disagrees with some court
rulings. He specifically denounced judges refusing to allow the pre-trial arrest
of individuals facing coup charges.
Armenian President Hospitalized After COVID-19 Diagnosis
January 13, 2021
Armenia - President Armen Sarkissian meets with youth activists in Yerevan,
December 30, 2020.
President Armen Sarkissian has been taken to hospital for treatment one week
after being diagnosed with COVID-19, his office said on Wednesday.
“The disease still has a complicated course,” the office said in a statement.
“President Sarkissian has symptoms typical of that condition, including a fever
and double pneumonia.”
Sarkissian’s office first reported the diagnosis on January 5. It said the
67-year-old president showed the symptoms and tested positive for the
coronavirus following foot surgery which he underwent in London on January 3.
Sarkissian is a former British citizen who lived in London for nearly three
decades prior to becoming Armenia’s largely ceremonial head of state in April
2018.
The presidential press service said on January 8 he will return to Armenia
“immediately after the stabilization of his condition.”
It is not clear whether Sarkissian, who has consistently observed physical
distancing rules during his official engagements, was infected with COVID-19 in
Armenia. He travelled to Britain late last month and spent New Year’s Eve with
his sons and grandchildren living in London.
Both Armenia and the United Kingdom have been hit hard by the coronavirus
pandemic. More than 163,000 coronavirus cases and at least 2,951 deaths have
been officially confirmed in the South Caucasus country of about 3 million to
date.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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