Month: October 2021

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, member of the opposition “Armenia” faction of the National Assembly Ishkhan Saghatelyan has tested positive for COVID-19 and postponed his meeting with the Ambassador of the Russian Federation.

According to Armenian News-NEWS.am’s reports, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin was supposed to visit the National Assembly and meet with Saghatelyan tomorrow, but the meeting has been postponed since Saghatelyan will be self-isolated for the next few days.

The office of the deputy parliamentary speaker confirmed the news.

If Azerbaijan doesn’t change its behavior, Russian peacekeepers will stay in Nagorno-Karabakh forever. This is what Russian political scientist, expert on the Middle East and the Caucasus Stanislav Tarasov said during a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Tarasov liked this to the fact that Russian peacekeepers act as the guarantors of security of the Armenians of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). “On the one hand, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan meet in New York and Aliyev announces his willingness to meet with Pashinyan. On the other hand, the President of Azerbaijan is having trouble letting go of the rhetoric of confrontation and is showing the country’s force. The question is whether Azerbaijan will be able to do it Besides, taking into consideration the fact that the OSCE Minsk Group is becoming active, a special status will be granted to the sector of Nagorno-Karabakh that is not under the control of Baku. It is still difficult to say what the status will be,” the analyst stated.

The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has released an Interim Compliance Report (Fourth Evaluation Round) which assesses the actions taken by the Armenian authorities for implementation of the recommendations included in the report on the Fourth Evaluation Round.

The Interim Compliance Report on the Fourth Evaluation Round is devoted to “corruption prevention in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors”.

GRECO, in its Fourth Round Evaluation Report, addressed 18 recommendations to Armenia. In the Second Compliance Report, GRECO concluded that seven recommendations had been dealt with in a satisfactory manner and eleven recommendations had been partly implemented.

With respect to members of parliament, transparency of the legislative process remains to be prioritized, placing the emphasis on the involvement of the public in the law-making process and the use of “urgent procedures”. A draft code of ethics for MPs and draft amendments to the National Assembly’s Rules of Procedure intended to establish a mechanism to monitor members’ compliance with ethical norms have been developed but have not yet been presented to GRECO for scrutiny.

Supervision of MPs’ side activities has become more systematic but is yet to yield tangible results.

With regard to the judiciary, the role of the Minister of Justice in disciplinary procedures against judges has not been discontinued and the current situation is not compatible with judicial independence. Proper appeal mechanisms have been provided for decisions on the recruitment and promotion of judges but not for dismissal decisions. While the internal counselling mechanism for prosecutors has been separated from the disciplinary bodies, there is no evidence of its operation in practice nor of counselling on incompatibilities and other restrictions being offered to prosecutors by the Corruption Prevention Commission (CPC). Dedicated, mandatory and regular training on ethics, etc. for all practicing prosecutors is yet to be introduced.

Finally, concerning members of parliament, judges and prosecutors, enhanced provisions on gifts are noted but it has not been confirmed whether a procedure for registering permissible gifts is in place. Also, appropriate measures are still to be taken to ensure the effective supervision and enforcement of rules on asset declaration, conflicts of interest, incompatibilities and gifts by the CPC.

In light of the foregoing, GRECO notes that the current level of compliance with the recommendations remains “globally unsatisfactory”.

The Armenian delegation needs to present a report on the actions taken to implement the unimplemented recommendations as soon as possible, no later than before September 30, 2022.

The International Court of Justice will hold public hearings over the application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan) on October 14 and 15, 2021 in The Hague.

The hearings will be devoted to the request of the Republic of Armenia to apply ad hoc interim measures.

In addition, on October 18 and19, the Court will hold hearings over a similar request filed by Azerbaijan.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hearings will be held in a hybrid format. Some members of the Court will attend oral hearings in person, while others will participate remotely via video call. Representatives of the parties to the case will participate in person or via video call.

Armenia initiated a trial with Azerbaijan in the International Court of Justice of the United Nations in accordance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The lawsuit filed by the Armenian side notes that “Azerbaijan has subjected Armenia to racial discrimination for decades”, which was expressed, among other things, by massacres, torture and other violations. According to the Armenian side, “these violations came to the forefront again during the conflict in September 2020” when the Azerbaijani side again committed gross violations of the Convention. And even after the end of hostilities following the ceasefire on November 10, 2020, Azerbaijan continued to commit killings, torture and other crimes against Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees.

Based on this, Armenia requests that Azerbaijan be found guilty of violating the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, prevent further damage and compensate for the damage caused already.

The lawsuit also requires the introduction of ad hoc interim measures against Azerbaijan in order to protect the rights of Armenia and the rights of Armenians from further infringement and to prevent escalation of discord.