Thursday,
Former Senior Policeman Indicted Over 2008 Crackdown (UPDATED)
Հունիս 06, 2019
• Naira Bulghadarian
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- Riot police confront protesters in Yerevan, March 1, 2008.
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Կարդալ մեկնաբանությունները
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A former deputy commander of Armenian interior troops has been formally charged
with killing an anti-government protester in the wake of a disputed
presidential election held in 2008.
The retired officer, Gegham Petrosian, was detained by the Special
Investigative Service (SIS) on Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the SIS, Marina Ohanjanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on
Thursday that the murder accusation leveled against him carries between six and
twelve years in prison.
Ohanjanian said the law-enforcement agency has also asked a court in Yerevan to
allow Petrosian’s pre-trial arrest. The district court was expected to rule on
the petition later in the day.
Petrosian flatly denied responsibility for the death of Zakar Hovannisian, one
of the opposition demonstrators who clashed with security forces in Yerevan on
March 1-2, 2008. Hovannisian died in hospital hours after sustaining a gunshot
wound.
Petrosian’s lawyer, Vagharshak Gevorgian, said the accusation is based on
testimony by a purported eyewitness who claims that the police officer shot
Hovannisian when the latter attempted to hit him with a metal bar. Gevorgian
insisted that the SIS has not come up with any forensic evidence corroborating
that testimony.
“They say that he was shot from a pistol, but there is no such pistol,” the
lawyer told reporters. “Nor has the cartridge case been found. The bullet was
found, but no forensic tests were carried out after that.”
The violence erupted as security forces broke up opposition protests against
alleged fraud in the February 2008 presidential election. Eight protesters as
well as an officer and a soldier of interior troops, which are part of the
national police service, died as a result.
Petrosian is the first person prosecuted in connection with the fatalities.
Jailed General Again Hospitalized
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- Reitred General Manvel Grigorian stands trial in Yerevan, May 13,
2019.
Manvel Grigorian, a retired Armenian army general facing a string of criminal
charges, was rushed backed to hospital on Wednesday night just two days after
being again sent to prison.
Grigorian, who suffers from multiple diseases, was already hospitalized in
February one month after being arrested for a second time. Investigators
transferred him from the private Nairi Medical Center to a prison hospital in
Yerevan against his will on Monday.
The once powerful general refused to undergo treatment there. His lawyers
insisted that his life is at risk and that he cannot receive adequate medical
aid in the prison facility.
“At around midnight his health condition drastically deteriorated and they had
to call an ambulance … and take him to the Surp Grigor Lusavorich [Medical
Center,]” one of the lawyers, Arsen Mkrtchian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
According to the hospital’s deputy director, Grigor Manukian, Grigorian’s
condition remained “severe” as of Thursday afternoon. Manukian suggested that
he will have to remain in intensive care for three or four more days. The
doctor singled out diabetes when he described the causes of Grigorian’s poor
health.
The 62-year-old general, who had served as Armenia’s deputy defense minister
from 2000-2008, has also suffered from lung cancer. An Armenian prosecutor said
last month that he had recovered from the disease years ago.
Grigorian stands accused of illegal arms possession, embezzlement, extortion
and tax evasion. Some of these charges have also been brought against his wife,
Nazik Amirian. The couple continued to deny any wrongdoing when it went on
trial on May 13.
Grigorian was first arrested in June last year following searches conducted at
his properties in and around the town of Echmiadzin. Investigators found there
many weapons, ammunition, medication and field rations for soldiers provided by
the Armenian Defense Ministry.
They also discovered canned food and several vehicles donated by Armenians at
one of Grigorian’s mansions. An official video of the searches conducted by the
National Security Service (NSS) caused shock and indignation in the country.
Pashinian Orders Crackdown On ‘Violent’ Groups
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian arrives for a cabinet meeting in
Yerevan, June 6, 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday ordered law-enforcement authorities
to clamp down on groups which he said are advocating political violence in
Armenia as part of a “hybrid war” waged against his government.
Opening a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan, Pashinian said that “forces
directly or indirectly connected to the former corrupt system” are among those
who are trying to destabilize the political situation in the country.
“We have operational information that a section of those circles has decided to
form groups of people dressed in black that will walk around the city, try to
create a certain mood, distinguish themselves with some impudent actions and so
on,” he told government ministers.
Armenia’s police and National Security Service (NSS) must take “very tough”
action against such groups as well as any calls for violence, said Pashinian.
“As regards those groups dressed in black, you have to locate them, sort out
their black clothes, attach colorful bow ties to them, and escort them to a
normal, civilized and lawful life,” he add, appealing to the heads of both
law-enforcement bodies present at the cabinet meeting.
The national police chief, Valeri Osipian, and the NSS director, Artur
Vanetsian, assured Pashinian that they will execute the order. Osipian told
reporters afterwards that he has already issued relevant instructions to his
subordinates. But he refused to give any details.
Armenia -- Police chief Valeri Osipian (L) and National Security Service
director Artur Vanetsian attend a cabinet meeting in Yerevan June 6, 2019.
Pashinian also accused the same allegedly subversive forces of spreading
“disinformation” that the government has scrapped tuition fee discounts for
university students who participated in the April 2016 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“It’s the same people and the same circles,” he said. “And this is really a
national security issue, Mr. Vanetsian. Those people are waging a hybrid war
against the Republic of Armenia.”
“Should these scoundrels feel good in this country?” the prime minister went
on. “They must walk under sidewalks, wearing camouflage. Who do they think they
are?”
Although Pashinian said that “their names and surnames are known,” he did not
name anyone.
His comments prompted sarcastic responses from several prominent members of the
former ruling Republican Party (HHK) and other bitter critics of the current
government. They posted on Facebook pictures of themselves wearing only black
clothes. “Before arrest,” HHK spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov wrote under his
photo.
On Wednesday, Pashinian lambasted the opposition Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) for justifying a violent attack on a young activist
of a rival party. “All those individuals who propagate violence must be held
accountable,” he said.
Dashnaktsutyun representatives accused the activist of insulting
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leaders and assaulting a veteran Dashnaktsutyun figure. They
also claimed that the authorities are turning a blind eye to their supporters’
violent actions and hate speech.
Dashnaktsutyun was part of Armenia’s former government from 2016-2018. It also
two received two ministerial posts in Pashinian’s first cabinet formed
following last spring’s “velvet revolution.” Pashinian sacked his
Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated ministers in October, accusing their party of
secretly collaborating with the former regime.
Yerevan Seeks Russian Boost For Economic Growth In Armenia
Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian in St. Petersburg, June 6, 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian expressed hope that Russia will help to maintain
robust economic growth in Armenia when he met with Russian President Vladimir
Putin in Saint Petersburg on Thursday.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of an international economic forum held
in Russia’s second largest city. According to the Kremlin, the two leaders
discussed Russian-Armenian relations and “regional cooperation.”
Putin praised bilateral ties in his opening remarks at the talks also attended
by other senior Russian and Armenian officials.
“I want to remind that Russia is Armenia’s leading trading partner: 26 percent
[of Armenia’s foreign trade,] almost $2 billion in direct investments and many
other things which show the special, allied character of our relations,” he
said.
Pashinian described those relations as “strategic” before touting a 7.1 percent
economic growth rate recorded in Armenia in the first quarter of this year.
“I’m talking about this because obviously these are good indicators not only
for Armenia but also the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), because our economic
indicators are connected in large measure to our relations in the EEU and
Armenian businesses’ access to the Russian market,” he told Putin. “This is
very important.”
“I hope that we will manage to find solutions on some issues which will not
break this good pace of economic growth,” added the Armenian leader.
It was not clear whether Pashinian referred to the price of Russian gas for
Armenia or other economic factors shaped by Moscow. Putin’s and Pashinian’s
press offices did not disclose details of their discussions on economic issues.
In December, Russia’s Gazprom raised the wholesale price of its gas delivered
to Armenia by 10 percent. The retail price for Armenian consumers has remained
unchanged so far.
Press Review
“Haykakan Zhamanak” denounces the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun) for justifying a violent attack on an activist of Levon
Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK). “In other words,
Dashnaktsutyun claims responsibility for that violence,” writes the paper.
“With such actions, they are attempting to instill in the public consciousness
the notion that the society has no right to express an opinion about
individuals who had provided some services to the country in the past. That is
to say that they are attempting to cast doubt on the principle of everyone’s
equality before the law.” It says they are “exploiting the past because they
simply have no other means of dodging the law.”
“Zhamanak” reports and comments on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s latest
criticism of Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership. In particular, he claimed on
Wednesday that Armenia’s previous government did not inform Stepanakert about
details of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. “It means that although Armenia’s
prime minister is more frank in his dealings with Stepanakert the latter shows
solidarity with representatives of the former regime, something in which
Armenia’s prime minister sees an element of conspiracy,” writes the paper.
“Past” quotes Andranik Kocharian, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian
parliament committee on defense and security, as saying that lawyers like Vahe
Grigorian, whom President Armen Sarkissian has nominated for the Constitutional
Court, “must run our judicial system.” “This may be the confirmation of reports
that … the authorities will be trying to exert pressure on [Constitutional
Court Chairman] Hrayr Tovmasian so that he resigns and they can appoint Vahe
Grigorian as Constitutional Court chairman,” claims the paper. “The authorities
have already taken the first steps. Several persons yesterday gathered outside
the Constitutional Court and demanded Tovmasian’s resignation.”
“Zhoghovurd” says that over the past year “a considerable part of the public”
has demanded that the new authorities “relentlessly” jail and dispossess
members of the former regime. “Societies have always formulated such demands
during revolutions in various countries,” writes the paper. “It is not
accidental that in Europe revolutions were always accompanied by bloodbaths.
Nevertheless, the [Armenian] authorities have avoided pleasing crowds and are
instead guided by their own decisions.” It says that they can explain and sell
those decisions to Armenians through a “constant dialogue.”
(Anush Mkrtchian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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