Tuesday,
Coup Charges Dropped Against Armenian Oppositionists
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Former National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsian speaks at
an opposition rally in Yerevan, November 21, 2020.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) has reportedly dropped coup charges
that were brought against its former director, Artur Vanetsian, and another
prominent opposition figure one year ago.
Vanetsian, who now leads a major opposition party, Ashot Minasian, a militia
commander critical of the Armenian government, as well as two other
oppositionists were detained in November 2020 amid anti-government protests in
Yerevan sparked by Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war with Azerbaijan
The NSS charged them with plotting to kill Pashinian and overthrow his
government. The NSS claimed to have found large quantities of weapons and
ammunition in a property belonging to Minasian.
All four men rejected the charges as politically motivated before being freed by
courts a few days later.
Vanetsian’s lawyers said on Tuesday that a senior NSS investigator has decided
to close the criminal case against their client for lack of evidence.
“The decision made confirmed that there was no conspiracy to assassinate Nikol
Pashinian or seize power,” the lawyers, Yervand Varosian and Lusine Sahakian,
said in a joint statement.
Vanetsian, who headed the NSS from 2018-2019, described the yearlong probe as
“yet another show staged against me.”
“For a whole year, the authorities claimed that ‘they tried to kill the prime
minister’ and thereby justified the presence of armed people in the National
Assembly,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “But as we can see, the criminal
case opened one year ago … had nothing to do with reality. All steps taken by
the authorities are aimed at protecting their power.”
Armenia - Ashot Minasian.
Minasian was also cleared of the coup charges, according to his lawyer, Mihran
Poghosian.
The prominent Karabakh war veteran was arrested as recently as on December 1.
Poghosian said he continues to be accused of illegal arms possession and will
therefore remain in detention for now. Minasian denies that accusation as well.
Earlier this year, the Armenian Ministry of Justice asked the country’s judicial
watchdog to take disciplinary action against a judge who refused to issue an
arrest warrant for Minasian in November 2020. The judge, Arman Hovannisian,
described the move as government retribution for his decision.
The NSS did not comment on the latest developments. It was also not immediately
clear whether the two other suspects were also cleared of the alleged coup plot.
Deadlock Continues Over Parliament Post
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Artur Ghazinian of the opposition Hayastan bloc attends a meeting of
the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security, September 22, 2021.
A key committee of the Armenian parliament failed to elect its deputy chairman
for the 18th consecutive time on Tuesday as its pro-government members continued
to object to an opposition candidate for the post.
Armenian law entitles opposition lawmakers to heading three of the parliament’
12 standing committees. It stipulates that the deputy chairpersons of several
other parliamentary panels should also represent the opposition minority in the
National Assembly.
The main opposition Hayastan alliance nominated this summer one of its
lawmakers, Artur Ghazinian, as deputy head of the parliament committee on
defense and security. He was also backed by the Pativ Unem bloc, the second
parliamentary opposition force.
Seven members of the 11-member committee representing the ruling Civil Contract
party have blocked Ghazinian’s appointment since then. Some of them have cited
Ghazinian’s harsh criticism of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s handling of last
year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hayastan responded by re-nominating him for the
vacant post for 13 more times.
A senior Civil Contract lawmaker, Armen Khachatrian, again demanded on Tuesday
that the opposition minority propose another candidate.
“I won’t name names today there are opposition members of the committee who are
acceptable candidates for us,” Khachatrian told reporters.
“We could have appointed our candidate today or a week ago, which could have
been totally legitimate and legal … and closed the issue,” he said. “But this is
a political decision to enable the opposition to field its candidate.”
Hayastan’s Gegham Manukian rejected the demand, saying that the opposition
alliance is continuing to insist on Ghazinian’s candidacy. “Nobody can impose
their will on us,” he said.
Another Former Armenian POW Arrested
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - A soldier at an Armenian army post on the border with
Azerbaijan,November 12, 2021.
An Armenian court has allowed law-enforcement authorities to arrest another
soldier who was freed and repatriated by Azerbaijan earlier this month.
Major Narek Yeremian was among three dozen Armenian soldiers taken prisoner
during the November 16 fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border which left at
least 13 troops from both sides dead. The Armenian military also lost two border
posts in what Yerevan condemned as an Azerbaijani incursion into Armenian
territory.
Baku freed ten POWs on December 4. A few days later, Armenia’s Investigative
Committee arrested four of them on charges of violating “rules for performing
military service.”
The law-enforcement body said they tried to negotiate with, rather than engage,
Azerbaijani troops that attacked and seized their border post. It filed the same
accusation carrying between three and seven years in prison against Yeremian.
A court of first instance refused to sanction the officer’s arrest, however. The
Court of Appeals overturned that decision late on Monday.
Yeremian’s lawyer, Karmen Poghosian, said on Tuesday that he only partly accepts
the accusations and maintains that he and his subordinates “didn’t have enough
time to destroy the enemy that intruded the position.”
“They didn’t leave their position, flee and surrender,” Poghosian told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service.
A lawyer representing another arrested soldier said on December 14 that he and
his comrades repeatedly warned their senior commanders about an Azerbaijani
military buildup in the border area but were ordered not to open fire.
Armenian opposition politicians have for months accused the government of not
allowing army units to shoot at Azerbaijani forces attacking them at various
sections of the border. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian insisted on November 17
that neither he nor any other official had ever issued no-shoot orders.
Baku set free on December 19 ten other Armenian soldiers captured on November
16. None of them is known to have been indicted so far.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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