Monday,
Authorities Accused Of Obstructing Probe Into Deadly Crash
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - Citizens pay their respects to a pregnant woman who was hit and killed
by a police car that was part of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's motorcade,
Yerevan, April 27, 2022.
The family of a pregnant woman who died after being run over by a police car
escorting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s motorcade accused the Armenian
authorities on Monday of obstructing the criminal investigation into the
accident.
The woman’s father also held Pashinian responsible for her death, saying that
his motorcade drove through Yerevan too fast.
“Where did the prime minister rush?” said Mnatsakan Mnatsakanian. “Was he
running away from someone?”
Mnatsakanian’s 29-year-old daughter Sona was struck by a police SUV while
crossing a street in the city center on April 26. The vehicle did not stop after
the collision that sparked more opposition calls for Pashinian’s resignation.
Its driver, police Major Aram Navasardian, was arrested hours later.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee charged Navasardian with violating traffic
rules but released him shortly afterwards. The law-enforcement agency arrested
the policeman again a few days later after a prosecutor ordered it to also
charge him with fleeing the scene and not helping the victim.
A Yerevan court of first instance refused to sanction the arrest, however,
forcing the Investigative Committee to free Navasardian. A higher court rejected
last Friday the investigators’ appeal against that decision.
The victim’s father deplored the court orders, saying that the police officer
may be influencing eyewitnesses of the accident. “Since the prime minister
personally called me and offered his condolences I hoped that there will be a
fair investigation,” he said.
“It’s possible that were was an order from the [country’s] supreme leadership
not to arrest the driver,” Mnatsakan Mnatsakanian added at a joint news
conference with Raffi Aslanian, a lawyer representing his family.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian inspects new Patrol Police vehicles in
Gyumri, April 16, 2022.
Aslanian claimed, for his part, that a state security agency has destroyed
“important pieces of evidence” in the case. He refused to name the agency or
shed light on that evidence, citing the secrecy of the investigation.
Navasardian, the indicted policeman, denies the accusations leveled against him.
His lawyer cited in April a government directive allowing government motorcades
to move at up to 100 kilometers/hour (62 miles/hour) in Yerevan.
According to Mnatsakanian Sr., forensic tests conducted by investigators found
that the police car raced through the city at almost 109 kilometers/hour (68
miles/hour).
“Had he not exceeded the [speed] limit my daughter or my unborn grandchild may
have stayed alive,” said the grief-stricken father.
Pashinian’s limousine and the six other cars making up his motorcade also drove
past the dying woman and did not help her either. The prime minister has still
not publicly commented on her death.
The deputy chief of Pashinian’s staff, Taron Chakhoyan, claimed on April 27 that
the motorcade would have caused a traffic jam and made it harder for an
ambulance to reach the victim had it stopped right after the crash. Opposition
figures and other government critics brushed aside that explanation, blaming
Pashinian for the woman’s death.
Armenian Mine Workers On Strike For Better Pay
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - The Kapan Mining and Processing Company, September 5, 2018.
Hundreds of workers of a mining company in southeastern Armenia have gone on
strike to demand better pay and working conditions.
The strike action began on Saturday and continued on Monday, reportedly
involving about one-third of the Chaarat Kapan company’s 1,000-strong workforce.
The protesting workers are demanding increases in their wages and monthly
financial compensation paid for their exposure to dust and toxic waste. They
also want the company management to provide them with health insurance.
Four of those workers began a hunger strike on Sunday. One of them, Spartak
Sargsian, said on Monday they will refuse food until their demands are met.
“My monthly wage is 173,000 drams ($420),” Sargsian told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service. “On top of that, there is health compensation worth 50 percent [of the
wage.]”
Armenia - Workers of Chaarat Kapan company on strike, .
Negotiations held between the workers and the company management have yielded no
results so far.
One of the workers who asked not to be identified said the management has
expressed readiness to finance health insurance for its personnel but rejected
the pay rises. Company executives have threatened to shut down the underground
mines and their ore-processing facility, added the worker.
Chaarat Kapan said in a statement that it cannot afford pay rises because of
unfavorable global economic developments and recent months’ significant
appreciation of the Armenian currency, the dram, which has hit the
export-oriented company hard.
Chaarat Kapan mines gold, copper, silver and zinc near the southeastern Armenian
town of Kapan. Its parent company, Chaarat Gold, is registered in the British
Virgin Islands and headquartered in London.
The underground mines were previously owned by a Russian metals group. Chaarat
bought them for $55 million in 2019.
Pashinian’s ‘News Conference’ Boycotted By Media
• Naira Nalbandian
ARMENIA -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks during his online news
conference in Yerevan, November 16, 2020
Several dozen media outlets boycotted or objected to Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian’s latest virtual press conference on Monday, calling it a charade that
will help him dodge tough questions.
Pashinian has not held in-person news conferences in Armenia since the outbreak
of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, giving instead interviews to a limited
number of domestic news organizations, virtually all of them controlled by or
loyal to his administration.
In November and December 2021 and January this year, he also organized three
virtual briefings supposedly open to all mass media. Journalists as well as
bloggers and civic activists had to submit their questions in advance and hope
that they will be answered.
They were invited to do so again late last week, with the Armenian government’s
press office saying that Pashinian will answer their questions on Monday evening.
In an ensuing joint statement, several media outlets, including RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service, urged the prime minister to revert to in-person news
conferences, arguing that Pashinian’s government lifted practically all
coronavirus-related restrictions earlier this year. They also said that many of
their questions sent ahead of the previous virtual briefings were ignored by the
47-year-old former journalist or “distorted” by his staff.
“As a result, the public’s ability to receive proper information [from the
government] was effectively restricted,” said the statement.
Armenia - Opposition leader Nikol Pashinian holds a news conference in Yerevan,
27 April 2018.
More than two dozen other Yerevan-based newspapers, news websites and TV
channels mostly critical of Pashinian’s government went farther, boycotting the
news conference altogether.
“Experience shows that such ‘online contacts’ are held under a pre-planned
scenario and mainly feature questions by pro-government media outlets, Telegram
channels and bloggers that are apparently agreed with the organizers of the
events,” read a separate statement issued by them.
Pashinian and his office did not publicly respond to the criticism. His declared
news conference went ahead as planned.
Boris Navasardian, the chairman of the Yerevan Press Club, agreed that Pashinian
has used the virtual format of the briefings to skirt unpleasant questions
preoccupying the public.
“The overall impression is that the prime minister mostly concentrates on topics
and messages that he needs,” said Navasardian.
“A stage-managed news conference doesn’t allow a journalist to directly ask a
question and, if necessary, follow-up questions,” argued Hakob Karapetian, the
editor of the fact-checking website fip.am.
Karapetian pointed out that Pashinian, who used to edit a newspaper, has
increasingly limited his contacts with the media since coming to power in 2018.
According to his calculations, the prime minister gave only five interviews last
year, sharply down from 34 interviews in 2020.
Families Of Armenian Shooting Victims Fear Cover-Up
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Relatives of a deadly shooting demonstrate in Aparan, June 25, 2022.
Dozens of relatives of several men killed and wounded in a small community in
central Armenia rallied at the weekend to demand an objective investigation into
the shooting which they blame on local government-linked individuals.
The shooting, which occurred on June 18 in a village just outside Aparan, a town
55 kilometers north of Yerevan, left two local residents dead and five others
wounded. Law-enforcement authorities said it was sparked a road rage incident
that escalated into a violent clash between two groups of young men.
The presumed shooter, a 32-year-old resident of Yerevan, was arrested on June
20. Investigators have made no other arrests so far.
They have denied media reports claiming that the Aparan men were attacked
because of publicly swearing at Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
The angry relatives of the shooting victims also denied any political reasons
for the deadly dispute as they demonstrated in Aparan on Saturday.
But they confirmed reports that the attackers included close relatives of Edgar
Parvanian, a deputy governor of surrounding Aragatsotn province, and Matevos
Asatrian, a member of the Armenian parliament representing Pashinian’s Civil
Contract party.
The protesters said that both officials based in Aparan must leave the rural
community because they are responsible for the fatal shooting.
“The brother of that parliament deputy and two cousins of Edgar Parvanian were
present there [at the scene of the shooting,]” said Gevorg Harutiunian, the
father of one of the two murdered men.
Parvanian did not deny his relatives’ involvement while insisting that he
personally is not to blame for what happened. He said he hopes investigators
will ascertain all causes and circumstances of the crime.
The protesting relatives said they fear that the ongoing investigation will be a
cover-up because of the local officials linked to Armenia’s political
leadership. They demanded that Pashinian meet with them and hear their concerns.
“Six days have passed and those people have still not been arrested,” said
Abraham Mikaelian whose 27-year-old nephew Hmayak was also shot dead on June 18.
“This gives us reason to suspect that the case is not investigated properly.”
The Investigative Committee did not comment on the course of the probe and the
protesters’ demands.
The chief of the police department of Aparan and surrounding villages was sacked
three days after the shooting.
Opposition leaders in Yerevan have blamed Pashinian for the shooting, saying
that he has encouraged violent reprisals against his detractors. Representatives
of the ruling party have rejected the accusations.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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