Month: February 2021

The Representative of Armenia before the European Court of Human Rights reports the following:

“On , the European Court of Human Rights announced its decision on Complaint No 36606/08 “Samadov vs Armenia”. Under this case, the applicant had property that allegedly belonged to him by right of ownership in the territory of Kalbajar and had abandoned it in 1993.

The applicant had submitted a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in 2008, that is, more than six years after Armenia ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. Moreover, more than 15 years had passed since compulsory displacement from the house that allegedly belonged to the applicant by right of ownership.

In such circumstances, the European Court of Human Rights, even by taking into consideration the refugee status of the applicant, deemed submission of the complaint six years after ratification of the Convention to be too late. The European Court of Human Rights has declared the complaint unacceptable."

Since the end of the war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), more than 700 boys born in Armenia have been named after National Hero of Armenia Monte Melkonian, which is unprecedented. In response to an inquiry from Armenian News-NEWS.am, the Civil Status Acts Registration Agency informed that, based on the data in the unified electronic governance system, in the period between 2016 and February 1, 2021, 1,816 children have been named after Monte. Newborn boys were more often named after Monte after the war in April 2016.

In 2020, the number of boys named after Monte has doubled compared to the previous year. This unprecedented indicator is conditioned by the military operations that took place in Artsakh. In particular, whereas 162 boys were named after Monte in January-June 2020, 577 boys were named after Monte in the second semester, and this is three-and-a-half times more than the number in the first quarter.

After Armenia’s declaration of independence, the name Monte became widely popular in Armenia and the Diaspora. Monte means a peak. One of the military schools of the Armed Forces of Armenia is named after Monte Melkonian, and there are streets named after him in Armenia and Artsakh. Several songs commemorating Monte have been composed and performed, several dozens of documentary films devoted to Monte Melkonian have been produced.

Masked officers of the National Security Service of Armenia took co-founder of Quartet Media, political analyst Karen Bekaryan from his apartment, but aren’t letting his attorney enter the National Security Service. Bekaryan’s attorney, Gor Mikayelyan told Tert.am that he still hasn’t been able to meet with his client.

“I can’t contact the investigator since the latter isn’t answering my calls. The officers told me the investigator will answer all my questions,” Mikayelyan said.

Asked if this might be a working procedure, the attorney said the following: “No, there is no need for that. The National Security Service is simply doing this intentionally in order to deprive Bekaryan of his right to have an attorney.”

Quartet Media co-founder, political analyst Karen Bekaryan’s colleagues and supporters have gathered near the building of the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia to support him.

Earlier, masked officers of the NSS had apprehended him in his house.

“It’s clear that we’re dealing with political persecution. The NSS is trying to neutralize the people who were implementing real propaganda during the war and whose objective was to counter the Azerbaijanis. I personally met Karen Bekaryan during the war in Artsakh. He was working 24 hours a day to provide the Armenian public with information. By being here, we supporters are expressing our discord and shaming the NSS for doing this,” co-founder of Legal Way NGO Ruben Melikyan told reporters.

Earlier, masked officers of the NSS apprehended co-founder of Quartet Media, political analyst Karen Bekaryan in his house and told his attorney that they were conducting a search in the house within the scope of a criminal case launched by the NSS and concerning the publication of information through fake users’ pages during the war.

Attorney Davit Avagyan posted the following on his Facebook page:

“I am near the National Security Service of Armenia. Azerologist Anzhela Elibegova was apprehended from her workplace and taken to the Investigation Department of the National Security Service. The officers haven’t been letting me enter the building to meet my client and provide legal aid for more than forty minutes, and this is a gross violation of my client’s right to defense. I declare that any procedural action that has been committed in the absence of the attorney selected by my client is unlawful.”

Attorney Mikayel Shkhimyan posted the following on his Facebook page:

“A little while ago, with the purpose of staging a show in the building of the National Security Service (NSS), officers of the NSS threw my client to the ground in the obscenest way and videotaped him (my client is Mher Avagyan had come to the NSS building with me, his son is a veteran of the 44-day war in Artsakh and continues his military service, defending the borders of Armenia in the sector near Nakhchivan).

I will report other violations committed within the scope of the political case that has been launched.”

Various public and political figures are being apprehended and taken to the NSS for a few hours now. Earlier, masked officers of the NSS apprehended co-founder of Quartet Media, political analyst Karen Bekaryan in his house and took him to the NSS. Officers also conducted a search in the office of former chief of staff of the National Assembly Ara Saghatelyan and two other offices near that office, after which Saghatelyan was taken to the NSS. Azerologist Anzhela Elibegova was also apprehended.

Azerologist Anzhela Elibegova and constitutional expert Gohar Meloyan, who had been apprehended and taken to the National Security Service, exited the building of the National Security Service a little while ago.

“I have absolutely no idea what is going on and why I was taken to the National Security Service. The officers seized my mobile phone and my office computer, in which there was information, including information about Azerbaijan’s war crimes that I was going to submit to the Human Rights Defender,” Anzhela Elibegova told reporters.

Gohar Meloyan added that first the officers searched their offices and then took them to the National Security Service where the investigators refused to show the court decision by which they could conduct a search.

Meloyan said she still doesn’t understand why she was apprehended and only added that she and Elibegova were interviewed as suspects, but refused to testify.

Karen Bekaryan, Ara Saghatelyan and Mher Avagyan are detained. This is what co-founder of Legal Way NGO Ruben Melikyan told reporters in front of the building of the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia a little while ago.

“I just talked to Ara Saghatelyan’s attorney, who told me that investigative actions are underway. Ara Saghatelyan and Karen Bekaryan are detained under three articles, and Mher Avagyan is detained under one article,” Melikyan said, adding that the detainees’ attorneys have declared that they will file appeals against the lawfulness of the detention after the investigative actions.

“This is simply embarrassing, it is political persecution,” Melikyan concluded.

Earlier, masked officers of the NSS apprehended co-founder of Quartet Media, political analyst Karen Bekaryan in his house and took him to the NSS. The officers also conducted searches in the office of former chief of staff of the National Assembly Ara Saghatelyan and two other offices near that one, after which Saghatelyan was apprehended and taken to the NSS.

Attorney Mikayel Shkhimyan reported on his Facebook page that, in his presence, the officers of the NSS threw his client Mher Avagyan to the ground in the obscenest way and videotaped him.

Azerologist Anzhela Elibegova and constitutional expert Gohar Meloyan were also apprehended and taken to the NSS. They were released a little while ago.