Monday,
Armenian Probe Of ‘Syrian Mercenaries’ Completed
Armenia -- The entrance to the Investigative Committee building in Yerevan.
An Armenian law-enforcement agency has completed a criminal investigation into
two Syrian men who were captured during last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army claimed to have captured the men during fierce
fighting with Azerbaijani forces stopped by a Russian-mediated ceasefire
November 10. They were handed over to Armenia to face a string of criminal
charges, including terrorism.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee reiterated on Monday that the Syrians,
identified as Muhrab al-Shkheri and Yusef al-Haji, are mercenaries who were
recruited to “terrorize civilians” in Karabakh and commit other war crimes. The
committee said it has asked a prosecutor overseeing the probe to formally
approve its findings and pave the way for their trial.
It was not clear if the arrested suspects will plead guilty to the accusations.
In their testimonies shown on Armenian television late last year, they admitted
being recruited and paid by Turkey. Armenian officials portrayed that as further
proof that scores of Syrian mercenaries fought in Karabakh on Azerbaijan’s side.
The Armenian claims have been backed by France and, implicitly, Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron accused Turkey of recruiting jihadist fighters
from Syria for the Azerbaijani army shortly after the outbreak of large-scale
hostilities in and around Karabakh on September 27. Russia also expressed
serious concern about the deployment of “terrorists and mercenaries” from Syria
and Libya in the Karabakh conflict zone.
Azerbaijan denied the presence of any foreign mercenaries in its army ranks. It
dismissed the Syrians’ televised confessions as a fraud.
Multiple reports by Western media quoted members of Islamist rebel groups in
areas of northern Syria under Turkish control as saying in late September and
October that they are deploying to Azerbaijan in coordination with the Turkish
government.
Armenian authorities said in December that the captured Syrians are not
prisoners of war and cannot be covered by the ceasefire agreement that calls for
the exchange of all POWs and civilian captives held by the conflicting parties.
Armenian President Objects To ‘Unconstitutional’ Bill On Courts
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - President Armen Sarkissian at a meeting in Yerevan, March 26, 2021.
President Armen Sarkissian has refused to sign into law a government-backed bill
which Armenian opposition groups regard as a threat to judicial independence.
Sarkissian also asked Armenia’s Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of
the package of amendments to several laws giving more powers to a state body
that nominates judges and can sanction or fire them.
The amendments passed by the parliament late last month would empower the
Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to intervene in trials by changing judges
presiding over them or evaluating their fairness. They would also limit the
number of petitions that can be filed by lawyers during court hearings. In
addition, citizens would be allowed to file complaints to the SJC against judges
dealing with their cases.
Pro-government lawmakers said during a parliament debate on the bill that it is
meant to strengthen due process of law. Opposition parliamentarians claimed the
opposite, saying that the authorities are seeking more leverage against judges
not willing to execute their orders.
Some judges and legal experts have also expressed concern about the bill, saying
that it is at odds with articles of the Armenian constitution which define the
SJC’s mission.
Sarkissian likewise suggested that the bill is unconstitutional when he
announced on Monday his decision not to sign it into law and to appeal to the
Constitutional Court. In a statement, Sarkissian’s office said the amendments
are “contentious” in terms of their conformity with constitutional provisions on
separation of powers and independence of the Armenian courts.
The president made the decision after holding a series of meetings with Justice
Minister Rustam Badasian, senior lawmakers, members of the SJC, lawyers and
civil society members.
Armenia - The Supreme Judicial Council meets in Yerevan, July 18, 2019.
Taron Simonian, a senior member of the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK),
also questioned the constitutionality of the amendments to the Judicial Code and
related laws.
“In a sense, the Supreme Judicial Council is a court for the courts,” Simonian
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “But it is not supposed to discuss substantive
issues such as conclusions drawn by a judge during the examination of a
particular case because the constitution guarantees the independence of the
judges.”
Simonian said judicial independence would also be jeopardized by an amendment
that allows the SJC to take disciplinary action against district court judges
whose rulings are overturned by the Court of Appeals.
But Vladimir Vartanian, the pro-government chairman of the parliament committee
on legal affairs and one of the bill’s authors, continued to defend the measure.
He argued that the additional powers would be given not to the government or the
parliament but the independent judicial body.
Armenia -- A court building in Yerevan, June 9, 2020.
Some critics of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian have linked the bill to his
administration’s alleged efforts to gain control over the SJC and ultimately the
judicial branch.
The SJC chairman, Ruben Vartazarian, faced a barrage of strong criticism from
lawmakers representing Pashinian’s My Step bloc during a question-and-answer
session in the National Assembly in early March. They accused Vartazarian of
effectively siding with the Armenian opposition and encouraging courts to hand
down anti-government rulings.
Vartazarian insisted that he never issued any politically motivated orders to
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 street protests sparked by the Pashinian administration’s
handling of the autumn war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinian charged in December that the Armenian judiciary has become part of a
“pseudo-elite” trying to topple him after the disastrous war.
The parliament’s pro-government majority installed two new members of the SJC in
January. It denied opposition claims that Pashinian expects them to help
increase government influence on courts.
Armenia Set To Start COVID-19 Vaccinations
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesian holds a news conference,
Yerevan, .
Armenia will start on Tuesday vaccinating a small percentage of its population
against COVID-19, Health Minister Anahit Avanesian announced on Monday.
Avanesian said frontline workers, seniors and people suffering from chronic
illnesses will be the first to be inoculated at government-funded medical
centers across the country.
Those of them who are aged 55 and older will receive a vaccine developed by the
British-Swedish company AstraZeneca because of lingering concerns about its
safety for younger persons, she told reporters. The other people most at risk
from the coronavirus will be offered the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, she said.
Armenia received on March 28 24,000 AstraZeneca vaccine shots from COVAX
Facility, a global vaccine-sharing scheme. It went on to import 15,000 doses of
Sputnik V on April 8.
Visiting Moscow last week, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian asked Russian
President Vladimir Putin to help the Armenian government buy many more jabs for
its vaccination program. “We need more than a million doses,” Pashinian said.
Avanesian said Yerevan is close to finalizing a deal with COVAX for the
acquisition of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the U.S. company Novavax. In
addition, she said, China has “tentatively” agreed to donate vaccine shots to
Armenia.
The minister did not specify the likely volume of these planned deliveries. But
she did announce that the government’s objective is to have up to 700,000
Armenians vaccinated within a year.
Armenia has been hit hard by the pandemic and is currently grappling with a
third wave of coronavirus infections that began in late February. Critics blame
the resurgence of the acute respiratory disease on the authorities’ failure to
enforce their physical distancing and sanitary rules.
The Armenian Ministry of Health said earlier on Monday that 510 more people in
the country of about 3 million have tested positive for the coronavirus in the
past day.
The ministry also reported 18 new deaths caused by COVID-19, bringing the
official death toll to 3,753.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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