Friday, May 8, 2020
Former Armenian PMs Urge Kocharian’s Release
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia -- Former Prime Ministers Vazgen Manukian (L), Khosrov Harutiunian (C)
and Karen Karapetian attend the trial of former President Robert Kocharian,
Yerevan, May 8, 2020.
Three former Armenian prime ministers petitioned a Yerevan court to release
former President Robert Kocharian from custody when his trial resumed after a
two-month pause on Friday.
The trial of Kocharian and three other former officials prosecuted on coup
charges denied by them was suspended in March after the presiding judge, Anna
Danibekian, unexpectedly took sick leave. Danibekian officially returned to work
on April 17 but did not rush to restart court hearings.
Former Prime Ministers Vazgen Manukian, Khosrov Harutiunian and Karen Karapetian
attended the latest hearing to guarantee in writing that Kocharian will
demonstrate “proper behavior” and not go into hiding or obstruct justice if set
free. A former Karabakh prime minister, Anushavan Danielian, also signed such a
statement and handed it to Danibekian.
Manukian had served as Armenia’s first post-Communist prime minister from
1990-1991. He was succeeded by Harutiunian in 1992. For his part, Karapetian
held the post from 2016-2018, during former President Serzh Sarkisian’s rule.
None of the three men agreed to talk to reporters after leaving the courtroom.
Meanwhile, Kocharian’s lawyers submitted two separate petitions demanding his
release on health grounds or on bail. They said late last month that he risks
being infected with coronavirus in a Yerevan prison.
The ex-president, who ruled Armenia from 2008-2018, was hospitalized a few days
later. Nevertheless, he attended the latest court session.
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian is brought to a courtroom in
Yerevan, May 8, 2020.
Kocharian likewise claimed to be at risk of contracting the virus when he spoke
in the courtroom. “Now I’m alone in my prison cell … but there is obviously
contact with [prison] personnel,” he told the judge. “It’s impossible to avoid
it. Given the prison conditions it’s impossible to maintain a safe physical
distance.”
The trial prosecutors continued to oppose Kocharian’s release. One of them,
Petros Petrosian, said that the ex-president could flee prosecution or obstruct
justice.
Danibekian said she will rule on the petitions on May 13. The judge had
repeatedly refused to free Kocharian pending the outcome of the trial since
taking over the high-profile case last August.
The three other defendants -- Kocharian’s former chief of staff Armen Gevorgian
and retired army Generals Seyran Ohanian and Yuri Khachaturov -- have not been
held in detention. The charges leveled against them and Kocharian mostly stem
from the 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan.
The 65-year-old ex-president also stands accused of bribe-taking. He rejects all
accusations as politically motivated.
Lawmakers Brawl In Armenian Parliament
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia -- Pro-government and opposition deputies brawl on the parliament floor,
Yerevan, May 8, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and a major opposition party traded bitter
accusations after lawmakers representing them brawled on the Armenian parliament
floor on Friday.
The brawl erupted in the presence of Pashinian and his ministers as Edmon
Marukian, the leader of the Bright Armenia Party (LHK), lambasted pro-government
deputies for their angry reactions to opposition criticism of the government.
Marukian was heckled by some of those deputies affiliated with Pashinian’s My
Step bloc and shouted back at them during his speech. One of them, Sasun
Mikaelian, then punched him before other lawmakers from My Step and the LHK
joined in the resulting fistfight or shoved and chased each other in the chamber.
The session of the National Assembly resumed several minutes later after speaker
Ararat Mirzoyan managed to stop the fight with the help of other deputies and
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian.
“I will speak up no matter how much you hit me,” Marukian declared when he again
took the floor.
“Who was it that sneaked up and struck me in the back?” he asked, sparking
another shouting match with Mikaelian and other My Step deputies.
The session again descended into chaos, with Mirzoyan deciding to interrupt it.
It resumed later in the day. Marukian again addressed the parliament before he
and other LHK deputies walked out of the chamber in protest
Armenia -- Deputies from the opposition Bright Armenia Party attend a parliament
session in Yerevan, January 20, 2020.
“The incident must have consequences, political consequences,” said the
opposition leader. “What happened is not so much our problem as the revolution
leader’s problem. We will now leave this auditorium and, depending on political
evaluations and consequences, we will draw conclusions … and decide how we will
be working in this parliament in the future.”
Speaking in the parliament shortly after the walkout, Pashinian deplored the
violence but effectively blamed it on the LHK. He said that his political allies
should not have succumbed to what he described as a LHK “provocation” aimed at
discrediting the government.
“The incident, which is condemnable, happened over there,” Pashinian said,
pointing to an area between the parliament rostrum and the first row of seats.
“Why was the person giving the speech standing there? Why did [Marukian] walk
off the rostrum and swiftly move towards Sasun Mikaelian? For engaging in a
political dialogue?”
Pashinian said he told Marukian at a meeting Thursday that he has “grounds to
suspect that you and your activities are an integral part of a plan to use
psychological, moral and ultimately physical violence” against members of his
political team. The prime minister went on brand Marukian’s party as
“parliamentary servants” of former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Robert
Kocharian.
A close Pashinian associate, deputy speaker Alen Simonian, likewise accused the
LHK of deliberately provoking a violent response from Mikaelian. He dismissed
calls for Mikaelian to resign from the parliament.
Simonian and Marukian traded serious insults on the parliament floor last week.
The opposition leader was enraged by Simonian’s sexist comments about a female
LHK parliamentarian. The vice-speaker apologized to the lawmaker, Ani Samsonian,
afterwards.
Armenia - The opposition Yelk alliance led by Aram Sarkisian (L), Edmon Marukian
(C) and Nikol Pashinian holds a demonstration in Yerevan, 30Mar2017.
Pashinian and Marukian are former political allies who used to co-head the Yelk
bloc that was in opposition to Armenia’s former leadership. The bloc fell apart
after Marukian and his party refused to join mass protests launched by Pashinian
in April 2018 against then Sarkisian’s attempt to extend his decade-long rule.
The LHK is one of the two opposition parties represented in the current Armenian
parliament. It holds 17 seats in the 132-member parliament.
Armenian Authorities ‘Still Able’ To Isolate All COVID-19 Carriers
• Susan Badalian
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- A medical worker clad in protecive gear and an ambulance parked at
the entrance to Surp Grigor Lusavorich hospital, Yerevan, April 8, 2020.
Armenian health authorities are still able to hospitalize or isolate all people
testing positive for coronavirus as it continues to spread in the country, the
Ministry of Health said on Friday.
The ministry reported 145 new infections which raised the total number of
confirmed coronavirus cases to 3,029. It said that one more person, a
48-year-old woman, has died from the virus, bringing the official death toll to
43.
The ministry has also reported the deaths of 10 other individuals infected with
the virus. It says that they died from other, pre-existing diseases.
Health Minister Arsen Torosian warned last week that the health authorities will
soon be no longer able to hospitalize or isolate all infected people.
Armenia has a total of 1,550 hospital beds set aside for COVID-19 patients. The
number of active cases reached 1,758 on Friday morning, according to Alina
Nikoghosian, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health.
Nikoghosian said that many of these patients are monitored or treated by doctors
at hotels isolated from the outside world. “We are talking about people showing
no symptoms at all,” she explained.
Despite the rising number of infections, the Armenian government essentially
ended on Monday a nationwide lockdown imposed by it in late March. It
specifically lifted a temporary ban on virtually all types of business activity.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has said that the onus now is also on ordinary
Armenians to stop the spread of the virus. Some critics have accused his
government of trying to dodge responsibility for its lax enforcement of
stay-at-home orders and failure to contain the epidemic.
Arman Badalian, an epidemiologist, warned that the lifting of lockdown
restrictions could speed up the spread of the virus. “A rapid spread of
infections would lead to the collapse of the healthcare system as was the case
in Italy, Spain and other countries,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Armenia -- Epidemiologist Arman Badalian, May 7, 2020.
Badalian said the government should strictly enforce its social distancing and
hygiene rules instead of relying on people’s health consciousness. Many business
owners, their employees and other citizens are not taking “elementary”
precautions against the virus, he said.
Random interviews on the streets of Yerevan suggest that many Armenians are
still not taking the virus seriously.
“I don’t wear a mask and I don’t believe the virus exists,” said one woman
flanked by her mother and teenage son. “God is on my side.”
“I don’t believe in coronavirus,” said a young man. He argued that he does not
know of anyone infected with it.
There was also widespread evidence of shops and supermarkets not requiring
customers to wear face masks and gloves contrary to a government order. In one
supermarket located in Yerevan’s southern Shengavit district very few shoppers
wore them on Thursday.
The supermarket administration refused to explain why it is not enforcing the
requirement. It only pointed to supermarket workers wearing masks and gloves.
A smaller food store located in the area notified people of the requirement but
still let in some unprotected customers. Its manager, Davit Khosrovian, said
many elderly people claim to have trouble breathing through masks. “It’s hard to
tell whether they really have such problems,” he said.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
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