Author: Ani Tigranian

                                        Friday, 
Corruption Charges Against Senior Armenian Official ‘Well-Founded’
Armenia - Davit Sanasarian (L), head of the State Oversight Service, and Artur 
Vanetsian (R), director of the Natonal Security Service, at a cabinet meeting 
in Yerevan, February 21, 2019.
Corruption charges brought against a senior government official who actively 
participated in last year’s “velvet revolution” are “completely substantiated,” 
the head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), Artur Vanetsian, 
insisted on Friday.
The NSS indicted Davit Sanasarian, the head of the State Oversight Service 
(SOS), last week as part of a criminal investigation into alleged corruption 
practices within the anti-corruption government agency. It arrested two other 
senior SOS officials in late February, saying that they attempted to cash in on 
government-funded supplies of medical equipment to three hospitals.
Sanasarian is accused of helping them enrich themselves and a private company 
linked to them. He has rejected the accusations as “fabricated.”
“There have been no fabricated [criminal] cases since the well-known events of 
April 2018,” countered Vanetsian. “We all are building a rule-of-law state and 
the National Security Service is playing a key role in that effort.”
“The accusation brought against Davit Sanasarian has been completely 
substantiated by testimony given by various persons and face-to-face 
interrogations,” he told reporters. “But not wanting to breach the presumption 
of Mr. Sanasarian’s innocence, I am calling on everyone to wait a little, until 
the case is sent to court.”
Earlier this week, Petrosian’s lawyer asked Armenian prosecutors to order 
another law-enforcement body, the Special Investigative Service (SIS), to take 
over the high-profile probe.
Vanetsian said that he has “no problem with such a transfer.” “I have no doubts 
whatsoever that our investigators [from the NSS] are working within the bounds 
of the law,” he explained.
Sanasarian’s supporters, among them leaders of some Western-funded 
non-governmental organizations, have strongly defended him, denouncing the NSS 
and Vanetsian in particular. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian hit back at the 
critics last week. He said that they place their personal relationships with 
Sanasarian above the rule of law.
Armenian Police Chief’s Nephew Charged With Assault
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - The chief of the Armenian police, Valeri Osipian, speaks to 
journalists in Yerevan, December 20, 2018.
A nephew of Valeri Osipian, the chief of the Armenian police, has been indicted 
in a renewed criminal investigation into a stabbing incident that occurred in 
Yerevan five years ago.
Osipian insisted on Friday that the 27-year-old Sedrak Osipian did not stab and 
seriously wound another young man during the June 2014 dispute in the city’s 
southern Nubarashen suburb.
A local resident, Smbul Hovannisian, said shortly after the incident that 
Valeri Osipian, who was then a deputy chief of Yerevan’s police department, 
asked her to have her son Sargis confess to the crime and thus save Sedrak from 
imprisonment.
Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) investigated the allegation which 
was strongly denied by Osipian. It cleared the latter of any wrongdoing later 
in 2014.
Another law-enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee announced this week 
that it has reopened the inquiry into the stabbing and charged Sedrak, Smbul 
Hovannisian’s son Sargis and two other men in connection with it.
Sargis’s elder brother, Samvel Hovannisian, told RFE/RL Armenian service on 
Thursday that he has been arrested in Russia. He said he fears that Sargis will 
be unfairly blamed for the violent attack. He also claimed that Osipian meddled 
in the investigation in 2014.
Osipian flatly denied any influence on the probe. “If I did have such 
influence, I would have made sure that the case is not reopened in the first 
place,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
“Please stop linking me with that case,” he said. “I have nothing to do with 
it. I’m busy doing my job.”
The police chief also insisted on his nephew’s innocence. “I’m sure that it 
wasn’t my brother’s son [who stabbed the Nubarashen resident.] I’m sure that 
the investigators will prove that.”
Osipian used to be in charge of police units dealing with rallies and other 
public gatherings held in Yerevan. He was a fixture at virtually all major 
street protests staged against Armenia’s former government. Those included last 
spring’s mass protests led by Nikol Pashinian.
Pashinian unexpectedly appointed Osipian as chief of the national police 
service immediately after becoming prime minister in May 2018.
Pashinian Again Touts New Jobs Numbers
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (second from left) visits a new 
cheese factory opened by the Spayka company in Yerevan, March 26, 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reiterated on Friday that the number of 
officially employed people in Armenia has increased by more than 50,000 since 
last spring’s “velvet revolution” that brought him to power.
In a recent speech delivered at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly 
(PACE), Pashinian spoke of 51,000 new jobs created in the country after the 
dramatic regime change. Critics accused him of misdealing the domestic public 
and the international community. They said that some Armenian companies have 
simply stopped underreporting the number of their employees for tax evasion 
purposes, rather than hired new workers.
Pashinian did not deny this when he insisted on the credibility of the jobs 
numbers in a live Facebook broadcast.
“Yes, the first theory is that these jobs were in the shadow economy and were 
simply brought out of the shadow after the revolution,” he said. “But of course 
this figure also includes newly created jobs. We need a more in-depth analysis 
to differentiate between these numbers.”
“These nuances are not important at this point,” he went on. “What matters is 
that the number of jobs registered in Armenia in January 2019 was up by 50,141 
from January 2018.”
Pashinian vowed a tough crack down on widespread tax evasion when he was 
elected prime minister in May last year. The Armenian government’s tax revenues 
rose by over 14 percent in 2018.
Armenia - Labor and Social Affairs Minister Mane Tandilian speaks at a cabinet 
meeting in Yerevan, 21 June 2018.
Mane Tandilian, a senior lawmaker representing the opposition Bright Armenia 
Party (LHK), welcomed the major rise in the number of registered workers but 
downplayed its impact on economic growth or even the government’s overall tax 
revenues.
Tandilian, who served as labor minister in Pashinian’s cabinet from May through 
November, argued that greater proceeds from employee income tax collected by 
the government will be offset by less profit tax paid by private firms.
“In essence, they cannot be considered new jobs,” she said, commenting on the 
employment data touted by Pashinian. “They are having no impact on economic 
activity because [workers newly registered with tax authorities] receive their 
wages and spend them in the country like they did before.”
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Tandilian also claimed that despite its 
anti-corruption efforts the government has yet to create a more favorable 
investment climate in Armenia. In particular, she pointed to repeated delays in 
the introduction of major tax cuts promised by Pashinian.
The Armenian economy grew by 5.2 percent last year, down from 7.5 percent 
reported by the country’s Statistical Committee in 2017. The government has 
forecast a similar growth rate for 2019.
Dashnaktsutyun Leaders Meet Russian Envoy
Armenia - Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin at a news conference in Yerevan, 
December 18, 2018.
Two leaders of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation 
(Dashnaktsutyun) met with Russia’s ambassador in Yerevan on Thursday to discuss 
Russian-Armenian relations and regional security.
In a statement released on Friday, Dashnaktsutyun said Hagop Der Khatchadurian 
and Armen Rustamian also discussed with Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin “other 
issues of mutual interest.” It did not give any details.
Dashnaktsutyun has traditionally supported Armenia’s close ties with Russia. 
The pan-Armenian party reaffirmed its foreign policy orientation at a January 
congress in Nagorno-Karabakh which elected the new head and members of its 
decision-making Bureau.
The Bureau is headed by Der Khatchadurian, a Canadian Armenian, and also 
comprises 12 other members, including Rustamian. The latter has long been one 
of the party’s top figures in Armenia.
Dashnaktsutyun was part of Armenia’s former government ousted during last 
spring’s “velvet revolution.” It received two ministerial posts in a new 
government formed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in May. Pashinian sacked 
his Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated ministers in October, accusing their party of 
secretly collaborating with former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party.
Dashnaktsutyun has since been increasingly critical of Pashinian’s government. 
It failed to win any seats in the Armenian parliament in snap general elections 
held in December.
Press Review
For “Aravot,” it is obvious that Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik 
Tsarukian’s political activities are based on his business interests. “This 
would be a totally normal approach if he was not a National Assembly member and 
did not formally act like a politician,” writes the paper. It says Tsarukian’s 
and the BHK’s position on the thorny issue of taxing cement imported to Armenia 
is a vivid of example of such a conflict of interest. They want significant 
tariffs on cement imports because the country’s largest cement plant, Ararat 
Tsement, is owned by Tsarukian, and that is “not a normal phenomenon,” it says. 
“Parliament deputies cannot simultaneously represent the interests of their 
voters and one person’s business interests,” concludes “Aravot.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says that Mihran Poghosian, a former senior official facing 
corruption charges in Armenia, requested political asylum in Russia after being 
detained there late last week. The pro-government paper dismisses Poghosian’s 
claims that he is prosecuted for political reasons. It also notes growing 
suspicions among ordinary people that the Armenian authorities allowed indicted 
former officials like Poghosian to flee the country in return for hefty 
payments. While sharing these concerns, the paper says that the authorities 
would break the law if they banned every ex-official from travelling abroad.
“Zhoghovurd” comments on questions surrounding significant assets that have 
been declared by Argishti Kyaramian, one of the deputies of Davit Sanasarian, 
the head of the State Oversight Service (SOS) prosecuted on corruption charges. 
The paper wonders how Kyaramian, who previously worked as a tax inspector and 
law-enforcement official, acquired them. The official is expected to run the 
SOS pending the outcome of the ongoing corruption case against Sanasarian.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

                                        Friday, 
Kocharian Not Responsible For March 2008 Deaths, Says Babayan
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- Samvel Babayan, a retired army general, at a news conference in 
Yerevan, .
Former President Robert Kocharian did not order security forces to shoot and 
kill opposition protesters in Yerevan in 2008, Samvel Babayan, 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s former top military commander, said on Friday.
Babayan questioned the fairness and legality of Kocharian’s continuing 
pre-trial detention on charges stemming from a post-election crackdown on the 
Armenian opposition. He argued that nobody has been charged so far in the 
deaths of eight protesters and two police servicemen in vicious street clashes 
that broke out on March 1, 2008.
The violence followed the forcible dispersal of nonstop opposition protests 
against official results of the February 2008 presidential election which gave 
victory to Serzh Sarkisian, Kocharian’s longtime ally and preferred successor. 
Both men are natives and former wartime leaders of Karabakh.
“We need to know who ordered, who carried out those killings and how it all 
happened,” Babayan told a news conference. “Has anything been solved on that 
score? No.”
“I am sure that the order was not issued by [Kocharian,]” insisted Babayan. He 
said that Kocharian was “in the process of handover” of power to Sarkisian and 
therefore could not have tried to cling to power at any cost.
“The investigating team has officially stated that [Kocharian] has nothing to 
do with the killings,” he went on. “If he has nothing to do, why are you 
prosecuting him? For violating the constitutional, they say. I say, ‘OK, bring 
the case to court so we can see what it’s all about.’”
Kocharian, who completed his second and final presidential term in April 2008, 
was arrested in December on charges of illegally using Armenian army units 
against supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosian, the main opposition candidate in the 
disputed presidential ballot. He denies the charges as politically motivated.
Babayan, 53, was appointed as the commander of Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army 
shortly after Kocharian became the unrecognized republic’s leader in 1992. The 
two men are thought to have maintained a cordial rapport even after Babayan was 
arrested in 2000 for allegedly masterminding a botched attempt on the life of 
the next Karabakh president, Arkady Ghukasian.
The once powerful general was released from prison in 2004. He challenged 
Sarkisian after the latter succeeded Kocharian as Armenia’s president.
In March 2017, Babayan was arrested on charges of illegal arms acquisition and 
money laundering which he strongly denied. A court in Yerevan subsequently 
sentenced him to six years in prison.
Armenia’s Court of Cassation overturned the guilty verdict in June 2018, 
releasing Babayan from prison. The decision came more than a month after 
Sarkisian was overthrown in a popular uprising led by Nikol Pashinian, the 
current Armenian prime minister.
Babayan, who now wants to run in Karabakh’s next presidential election due in 
2020, on Friday drew parallels between the criminal charges brought against him 
and Kocharian. “When they arrested me, they said I smuggled a rocket or a 
nuclear bomb from Georgia,” he said. “It turned out later that I didn’t smuggle 
anything from anywhere.”
Parliament Rejects Import Tariff Sought By Tsarukian
        • Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- A cement plant in Ararat.
The National Assembly approved on Friday a government bill which the opposition 
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) said is not far-reaching enough to protect 
domestic manufacturers of cement against cheap cement imports from neighboring 
Iran.
The parliament’s pro-government majority refused to amend the bill amid 
mounting political tensions with BHK leader and businessman Gagik Tsarukian, 
whose assets include one of Armenia’s two cement plants.
Earlier this year, the Armenian government moved to impose hefty taxes on 
imports of much cheaper Iranian cement which more than tripled last year, 
threatening continued operations of the Armenian plants. An Armenian parliament 
committee on economic issues watered down the relevant government bill on April 
12 to ensure that the tariff does not apply to cement clinker, a nodular 
material developed before the final stage of cement production and easily 
turned into the construction material.
Tsarukian’s Multi Group, which includes the Ararat Tsement plant, denounced the 
amendment, saying that it renders the bill meaningless. It said Ararat Tsement 
would be able to use cheap Iranian clinker and manufacture cement without the 
vast majority of its more than 1,000 workers. Hundreds of them received notices 
of termination later on April 12.
The workers responded by going on strike on April 15. They ended the protest 
after Tsarukian cancelled the planned layoffs two days later. The tycoon 
cautioned at the same time that the clinker tariff sought by him is vital for 
the future of the plant located in Ararat, a small town 50 kilometers south of 
Yerevan.
Armenia -- A cement plant in Hrazdan.
BHK lawmakers echoed those warnings as the parliament debated the bill and 
ultimately passed it in the first reading on Friday. “We would lose our cement 
production capacities,” one of them, Mikael Melkumian, said.
Minister for Economic Development Tigran Khachatrian and pro-government 
deputies insisted, however, that cement imports must not be blocked altogether 
because healthy competition between domestic and foreign manufactures will only 
benefit Armenia’s construction sector.
Hayk Gevorgian, a senior lawmaker representing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, 
also attacked Tsarukian, saying that a company presumably linked to the BHK 
leader had privatized Ararat Tsement for just $200,000 in 2002. Gevorgian also 
implicitly accused the company of evading taxes until last year’s “velvet 
revolution” that brought down the country’s former government.
Tsarukian angrily denied those claims in a rare speech delivered on the 
parliament floor. In separate comments to the press, he said that Pashinian’s 
bloc will bear responsibility for economic consequences of the bill.
Armenia - Businessman Gagik Tsarukian (L) and protest leader Nikol Pashinian 
speak to reporters in Yerevan, 2 May 2018.
Tensions between My Step and the BHK have risen since Tsarukian strongly 
criticized the government’s economic policies early this month. Senior 
representatives of the two political forces traded fresh accusations in the 
parliament on Thursday.
Pashinian and Tsarukian met to discuss the cement dispute and other contentious 
issues later on Thursday. Tsarukian afterwards described the meeting as “very 
warm” but did not report any concrete agreements.
The BHK backed the Pashinian-led “velvet revolution” as it gained momentum in 
April 2018. It joined Pashinian’s first cabinet formed in May. The premier 
fired his BHK-affiliated ministers in October, accusing Tsarukian’s party of 
secretly collaborating with the former ruling Republican Party.
The BHK finished a distant second in the December 2018 parliamentary elections 
which Pashinian’s bloc won by a landslide.
Senior Official Denies Corruption Charges
        • Arus Hakobian
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Davit Sanasarian, head of the State Oversight Service, attends a 
cabinet meeting in Yerevan, .
A prominent Armenian government official on Friday laughed off corruption 
accusations leveled against him but urged supporters not to undermine the 
government when defending his innocence.
“It would have made more sense to suspect me of assassinating [U.S. President 
John] Kennedy than of being involved in corruption,” Davit Sanasarian, the 
suspended head of the State Oversight Service (SOS), said in a Facebook post.
The National Security Service (NSS) indicted Sanasarian on Thursday as part of 
an ongoing investigation into allegedly corrupt practices in government-funded 
supplies of medical equipment to hospitals. It arrested two senior SOS 
officials in late February, saying that they attempted to cash in on those 
supplies.
According to the NSS, Sanasarian abused his powers to help his subordinates 
enrich themselves and a private company linked to them.
Sanasarian, whose agency is tasked with combatting financial irregularities in 
the public sector, was quick to reject the charges as “fabricated.” Many of his 
supporters, among them Western-funded civic activists, defended him on social 
media, turning on the NSS and its influential director, Artur Vanetsian, in 
particular.
Sanasarian urged them to exercise restraint. “The former regime’s 
propagandists, supposedly defending me, are trying to satisfy their penchant 
for weakening the [current] authorities,” he wrote. “At any rate, in this 
torrent of various kinds of reports, please stop for a while and remember that 
state interests are the main thing.”
Sanasarian, 34, is a former opposition and civic activist who had for years 
accused Armenia’s former leaders of corruption. He actively participated in 
last year’s “velvet revolution,” which succeeded in large measure because of 
widespread popular frustration with graft.
Speaking to reporters shortly before being formally charged, Sanasarian said he 
does not believe that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian ordered the NSS to 
prosecute him for political reasons.
Armenia - Deputy parliament speaker Lena Nazarian talks to journalists, 
Yerevan, .
Another Pashinian ally, deputy parliament speaker Lena Nazarian, ruled out on 
Friday any political motives behind the high-profile criminal case. “There is 
no way anyone can fabricate charges against any official,” she told reporters.
Nazarian also stressed that no member of Pashinian’s political team is immune 
to prosecution. “In the fight against corruption, embezzlement and other 
abuses, we will not be dividing people into our allies and outsiders,” she said.
Edmon Marukian, the leader of the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK), 
likewise suggested that the “surprise” charges brought against Sanasarian are 
unlikely to be politically motivated. “It may be [the result of NSS] sloppiness 
or I don’t know what,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s political persecution. 
We’ll see.”
Press Review
Lragir.am says that corruption charges brought against Davit Sanasarian, the 
head of the State Oversight Service (SOS), mark the most serious scandal that 
has erupted in Armenia since last year’s regime change. The publication 
suggests that the National Security Service (NSS) probably had “quite weighty 
grounds” to indict Sanasarian. It wonders whether NSS Director Artur Vanetsian 
discussed the high-profile case with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian before the 
indictment.In any case, it says, it is quite unusual for a serving high-ranking 
Armenian official to be prosecuted on corruption. It also says Pashinian can 
seize upon this case to show that he is really serious about combatting 
corruption in Armenia.
“Hraparak” wonders whether the new authorities are getting “carried away” in 
their fight against corruption and “sacrificing sons of the revolution” 
“History is full of many such examples,” the paper says. “But there is also 
another truth,” it adds. “Human beings are greedy. As a rule, even the most 
ideological individuals succumb to temptations when dealing with lots of money. 
No one is born corrupt. One becomes corrupt over time. At first, they accept 
small gifts and take bribes in kind. Then come diners, trips, free services, 
jobs for friends and relatives. And in the end the time comes for big corrupt 
deals, multimillion-dollar kickbacks.”
“Aravot” says that for Gagik Tsarukian and members of his Prosperous Armenia 
Party (BHK) the previous Armenian parliaments were a much more comfortable 
place than the current one is. “The thing is that since 1995 the [former] 
parliaments attracted, apart from politicians, people whose only goal was to 
protect their business interests,” explains the paper. “For example … many 
members of the former parliament majority were also businesspeople. Whatever 
one thinks of it, the 88-strong majority in the current National Assembly came 
to the parliament to implement some ideas. Their and the Bright Armenia party’s 
function is political.” By contrast, it says, the main mission of BHK deputies 
is to further their leader’s business interests.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org