Author: Alex Nanijanian

Azerbaijani forces opened fire at the village of Khramot in Artsakh’s Askeran region from large-caliber machine guns on February 5, at around 12pm, the Artsakh Prosecutor’s Office reported.

The attack targeted three employees of the Foundation for Future Generations LLC, who were repairing a tractor at the time.

The workers had to take cover for two hours before the arrival of police officers. The men called their administration and alerted about the incident during the shooting.

Police launched a criminal probe into the incident. No casualties were reported.

Armenian Police Colonel Sayat Shirinyan rejected the charges brought against him as politically motivated, as the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction continued hearings in his case on Wednesday.

Shirinyan, who is a member of the opposition Hayastan alliance, has been charged with “publicly calling for violence” against the Armenian leaders.

“This is outright political persecution,” he told reporters before the hearing, saying he had been repeatedly warned against criticizing Nikol Pashinyan.

Shirinyan says the law enforcement authorities clearly realize that “certain political processes” will start in the near future.

“The change of power has kind of gotten underway. I think that in the near future everyone will witness it,” he stated, adding political activists are now being “neutralized” in the country.

The oppositionist charged that the law enforcement agencies have become a “tool in the hands of the current authorities”. “They have lost their dignity and self-esteem,” he said.

Lawyer and opposition Hayastan faction MP Aram Vardevanyan denounced the decision of Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to allow the prosecution of judge Boris Bakhshiyan.

The SJC on Tuesday unanimously approved a request of Prosecutor-General Artur Davtyan to allow the law enforcement authorities to prosecute and arrest Bakhshiyan, a judge of the Syunik Court of General Jurisdiction, days after he ruled to release jailed opposition figure and war veteran Ashot Minasyan.

“As I said once, the SJC has become a tool of intimidating and punishing balanced and professional judges, who refuse to fulfil political orders,” Vardevanyan wrote on Facebook.

“It is clear to all that the SCJ silently and obediently carries out any instruction from the authorities. If the authorities decide to punish the SCJ, they will go ahead and punish themselves.

“It is extremely important that the professional community expresses its position on this disgraceful situation and I will personally take part in any initiative,” he noted.

Armenia’s Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Artak Davtyan, Director of the National Security Service Armen Abazyan and several other senior officials did not issue congratulatory messages on the Army Day marked on January 28, former Chief of Staff of the Constitutional Court Edgar Ghazaryan said.

“Even Chairman of the Yerkrapah Volunteers Union (YVU) Sasun Mikayelyan did not issue a congratulatory message,” he wrote on Facebook late on Friday.

In Ghazaryan’s words, the summary of the events of January 28 marking the 30th anniversary of the Armenian army indicates the “criminal conduct of the Armenian authorities aimed at humiliating the military and downgrading its importance in people’s lives”.

“President Armen Sarkissian fled the country and tendered his resignation just a few days before the 30th anniversary of the army. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that he had caught Covid-19, and under its pretext cancelled all official events, which had not been reported before,” he said.

The former top court staffer underlined that no Army Day celebrations were held in Yerevan and Armenia’s regional centers, with no military awards given to war participants.

Also, Ghazaryan charged that no congratulatory messages were sent to Armenia by defense ministers of other countries, the CSTO chief or heads of other international military-political organizations.

“MPs from the Civil Contract faction showed utterly disrespectful behavior in the Yerablur Military Pantheon, desecrating the memory of fallen soldiers. These are just some of the facts, while it remains for each person to make judgements,” he noted.

The opposition Hayastan faction submitted two applications to the Constitutional Court of Armenia in the recent past, MP Aram Vardevanyan said on Facebook on Tuesday.

“The first complaint concerns Article 135 of the Criminal Procedure Code – arrests, the wording of reasonable suspicion, the evidence threshold and its interpretation by the Supreme Judicial Council. The same application also challenges the inadmissibility of revoking the grounds for arrest,” he wrote.

The second application disputes the paragraph of the law “On Procurement”, according to which the protocol expenses of the president, parliament speaker and prime minister are considered a state secret.

“The mentioned regulation and its application have proved that those officials remain outside public control, which is unacceptable in a democratic society,” the MP stressed.

Vardevanyan also spoke about several legislative initiatives, including a bill calling for the elimination of penalty points for drivers, stressing the introduction of the system has not had a positive impact on road safety.

In addition, the Hayastan faction is working on another bill on the disproportionality of the minimum wage and the financial burden of PCR tests. Vardevanyan promised to provide further details in the near future.

There are no political prisoners in Armenia, a candidate for human rights defender, Kristine Grigoryan, said in the parliament on Monday, citing a PACE report.

Her comments came in response to a question of MP Anna Grigoryan, who represents the opposition Hayastan faction.

The candidate cited a report of the PACE Monitoring Committee, which has concluded that there are no political prisoners in the country.

“I agree with this statement,” she said.

In response, the opposition lawmaker recalled the criminal proceedings against the opposition heads of a number of Armenian communities, including against Goris community head Arush Arushanyan, who remains in custody. She provided details of the case and said that both Arushanyan and other arrested community leaders are political prisoners.

The candidate for ombudsperson argued that there are specific criteria determining whether a citizen is a political prisoner or not.

Separately, Grigoryan said she is ready to work both with the authorities and the opposition to address border security issues.

Noting that the delimitation and demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is a complex process, she stressed it must ensure the protection of human rights.   

“I will collaborate both with the ruling force and the opposition, as well as with the state and local self-government bodies to resolve the issues raised. I disagree with the idea that the ombudsperson’s only tool of influence is statements,” she added.