Thursday,
Kocharian’s Appeal Against Arrest Rejected
• Naira Nalbandian
ARMENIA -- Then Armenian President Robert Kocharian talks to the media at a
polling station in Yerevan, February 19, 2008
Armenia’s Court of Appeals upheld on Thursday a lower court’s decision to
extend the pretrial detention of former President Robert Kocharian prosecuted
on coup charges.
A district court in Yerevan allowed investigators on January 18 to keep
Kocharian under arrest for two more months, refusing to free him on bail. The
64-year-old ex-president appealed against that ruling.
One of Kocharian’s lawyers, Hayk Alumian, denounced the higher court’s decision
to reject the appeal. “This is a 100 percent political decision which was made
as a result of a political order,” he told reporters. “There is zero
jurisprudence behind this decision.”
Alumian said his client will challenge the decision in the higher Court of
Cassation as well as the European Court of Human Rights.
Kocharian was arrested on December 7 on charges of overthrowing the
constitutional order just weeks before serving out his second and final
presidential term in April 2008. The Special Investigative Service (SIS) says
that he illegally used Armenian army units against opposition supporters who
protested against alleged fraud in the February 2008 presidential election. It
denies any political motives behind the high-profile case.
The SIS has brought the same charges against three retired army generals,
including former Defense Minister Mikael Harutiunian. But it has not arrested
any of them.
Kocharian, who ruled Armenia for ten years, ordered army units into central
Yerevan on March 1, 2008 amid vicious clashes between protesters and security
forces trying to disperse them. Eight protesters and two policemen were killed
in that violence.
Kocharian again defended his actions when he spoke in the Court of Appeals last
week. He said that he only ordered the generals to “ensure the army’s
neutrality” during the post-election political crisis in the country.
Another Western Firm Invests In Armenian Mining Sector
• Emil Danielyan
Armenia - The Kapan Mining and Processing Company, September 5, 2018.
A British-based company has paid $55 million to buy a major gold and copper
mine in Armenia from a Russian metals group.
The company, Chaarat Gold, is the largest Western investor to move into Armenia
since last spring’s “velvet revolution” that replaced the country’s former
government with a more reform-minded and democratically elected administration.
“Clearly our decision to come here straight after the revolution tells you that
… we believe in the positive change that the revolution has brought to the
country,” Chaarat’s chief executive, Artem Volynets, told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service on Thursday. “We think it’s good to be in an open and transparent
society.”
“We believe in transparency and doing things properly in the same way that
people in this country believed in transparency when they initiated the
revolution,” Volynets said in an interview.
Chaarat completed the acquisition from Russia’s Polymetal group of the Kapan
Mining and Processing Company on February 1. The company currently employing
about 1,000 people mines gold, copper, silver and zinc near the southeastern
Armenian town of Kapan. It reported more than $20 million in earnings last year.
Chaarat is registered in the British Virgin Islands, headquartered in London
and listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market trading
platform. Its largest shareholder is Martin Andersson, a Swedish investor who
has a 33.5 percent stake in the company. Switzerland’s UBS Group AG and a
state-owned Chinese mining firm are among its smaller shareholders.
Volynets said the purchase of the Kapan mine is part of Chaarat’s plans to
create “one of the leading gold producing companies in the former Soviet
Union.” “We currently have two very large [gold] deposits in the Kyrgyz
Republic which will form the base of our first cluster,” he explained. “The
acquisition of Kapan is a logical step in that strategy.”
Armenia - An ore-processing facility at the Kapan Mining and Processing
Company, September 6, 2018.
Chaarat, Volynets went on, views Armenia as the “second cluster” of its
operations and could make further investments in the Armenian mining sector,
which generated more than 40 percent of the country’s exports worth $2.4
billion in 2018. “If our experience in Kapan will prove to be a successful one,
we will look at other opportunities,” he said.
Armenia’s largest mining enterprise, the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine
(ZCMC), is located in Kajaran, a smaller town about 15 kilometers west of
Kapan. It has more than 4,000 employees. The German metals group Cronimet
officially owns 75 percent of ZCMC.
Another major Western player in the sector is the British-American company
Lydian International which had been granted the exclusive right to develop a
large gold deposit in the southeastern Vayots Dzor province. Lydian has faced
an uncertain future in Armenia since the “velvet revolution.”
All roads leading to the Amulsar deposit have been blocked since June 2018 by
several dozen people protesting against gold mining operations there which they
say are fraught with serious risks to the environment. Lydian, which claims to
have invested more than $300 million in Amulsar, has dismissed these concerns,
saying that it will use modern and safe technology. The company has repeatedly
demanded an end to what it considers an illegal blockage.
U.S. diplomats have warned that continued disruption of Lydian’s operations
could scare away other American investors interested in Armenia. Nevertheless,
the Armenian government and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in particular have
not ruled out the possibility of revoking Lydian’s mining license.
Chaarat’s Volynets said he is aware of the situation around Amulsar. “We
believe that if we do things right … we should be fine,” he said when asked
about its potential implications for his company.
Volynets insisted that Chaarat will stick to “global standards” for
environmental protection in its mining and ore-processing operations in
Armenia. He said its most immediate task is to “reinforce” the Kapan mine’s
toxic waste disposal dump located just outside the industrial town.
“Mining companies operate in many developed countries, whether it’s the United
States, Canada or Australia,” argued the Chaarat CEO. “The important thing is
to be responsible for your actions in terms of health safety and environment,
and that is very much at the forefront of our activities.”
Ter-Petrosian Also Questioned In 2008 Violence Probe
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian at an election campaign rally,
February 13, 2008.
Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian was questioned by an
Armenian-law-enforcement body on Thursday as a witness in its ongoing
investigation into the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.
His press secretary, Arman Musinian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that the
interrogation lasted for around 90 minutes. Musinian gave no other details.
Ter-Petrosian, who served as Armenia’s first president from 1991-1998, was the
main opposition candidate in a presidential held in February 2008. He staged
nonstop street protests in Yerevan after rejecting as fraudulent official vote
results that gave victory to Serzh Sarkisian, outgoing President Robert
Kocharian’s preferred successor.
Security forces broke up those protests on March 1, 2008. Eight protesters and
two policemen died in street clashes that broke out in Yerevan on that day.
Citing the deadly violence, Kocharian declared a state of emergency and ordered
Armenian army units into the capital. He accused Ter-Petrosian of attempting to
forcibly seize power. Dozens of Ter-Petrosian allies, including Armenia’s
current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, were subsequently jailed on charges of
organizing “mass disturbances” which they strongly denied.
Ter-Petrosian rejected the official version of events, saying that Kocharian
resorted to lethal force to enforce the official results of a rigged election.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) blamed the Ter-Petrosian-led opposition
for the violence until last spring’s “velvet revolution” which brought
Pashinian to power. It now says that Kocharian illegally used army units
against the protesters.
Kocharian, who denies the accusations as politically motivated, was arrested in
December. Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenian strongly condemned the
arrest, saying that Pashinian is exacting “personal revenge” against the man
who ruled the county from 1998-2008.
Sarkisian was reportedly questioned by the SIS late last week.
New Government Program Too Vague For Armenian Opposition Party
• Tatevik Lazarian
Armenia - Parliament deputy Gevorg Gorgisian speaks to RFE/RL, October 20, 2017.
A senior opposition lawmaker strongly criticized a five-year policy program of
the Armenian government on Thursday, saying that it is short on specifics and
sets very few socioeconomic targets.
Gevorg Gorgisian of the Bright Armenia Party (LHK) insisted that the 70-page
program does not substantiate Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s pledges to carry
out an “economic revolution” in the country.
The document laying out the government’s priorities and policies was made
public on Wednesday two months after Pashinian’s My Step alliance won snap
parliamentary elections by a landslide. The government is expected formally
adopt and send it to the parliament for approval on Friday.
The program says, among other things, that the Armenian economy will grow by at
least 5 percent annually thanks to government efforts to improve the business
environment, spur exports and attract more foreign investment. It promises
“substantial” decreases in poverty and unemployment but sets no concrete
targets.
Gorgisian dismissed the action plan as a collection of “nice wishes” not backed
up by concrete figures and time frames for putting them into practice. “There
is little substance there, and it is very dangerous that it lacks specific
provisions on many strategic security spheres,” he told reporters.
“Everyone can propose toasts,” said Gorgisian. “If you go to any wedding or
birthday party you will hear as many toasts.”
Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian disagreed with the criticism, saying that
the quality of such programs does not depend on the abundance or lack of
socioeconomic figures. Parliament deputies representing My Step also defended
the program.
One of those lawmakers, Nikolay Baghdasarian, said that the program does not
have to be very specific. It should first and foremost present the government’s
strategy of coping with various challenges facing Armenia, he said.
Gorgisian said that his party has not yet decided whether to vote against the
program when it is debated by the National Assembly later this month. “That
can’t be ruled out,” he said. “How else can you call on the government to sober
up?”
The LHK controls 18 seats in the 132-member parliament, compared with 88 seats
held by My Step. The remaining 26 seats are controlled by Gagik Tsarukian’s
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), which also claims to be in opposition to
Pashinian’s government.
A senior BHK deputy, Naira Zohrabian said that the party’s parliamentary group
has not yet discussed the government program and will therefore not comment on
it for now.
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” condemns as “disgusting” the behavior during a court hearing on
Wednesday of members of the Sasna Tsrer armed group that seized a police
station in Yerevan in 2016. “Having claimed three human lives during the
seizure of the police base, the Sasna Tsrer members tried to present themselves
as heroes and justify their deeds with their ‘right to revolt’ for the purpose
of ‘saving the homeland’ and restoring the constitutional order,” reports the
paper. It says that the members of the group set free following the “velvet
revolution” still “do not realize the gravity of their actions or even try to
show remorse.” On the contrary, it says, they are proud of their deadly attack
on the Erebuni police facility.
Lragir.am says that the leadership of Kosovo is ready for a land swap with
Serbia for the sake of its eventual membership in the European Union.
“Coincidentally, almost the same statement has been made by the prime minister
of Moldova,” writes the publication. “Kosovo, Serbia and Moldova are the most
real candidates to join the EU in the near future. Territorial disputes are the
biggest obstacles on that path and the statements by the prime ministers of
Kosovo and Moldova mean that these countries are prepared to give up disputed
territories for the sake of European integration.” The publication speculates
that the West may also offer Azerbaijan to drop its claim to Nagorno-Karabakh
in return for major benefits.
“Zhamanak” says that although Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK)
was driven out of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government in October some
BHK members still hold government positions. “In particular, the BHK’s deputy
chairman, Armen Arzumanian, is a deputy minister of communications, transport
and information technology,” writes the paper. “Other BHK members work as
deputy governors or hold other state posts. This raises a logical question: is
the BHK is a semi-governing or semi-opposition force now?”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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