Author: Antonian Lara

                                        Wednesday, 
Pashinian Concerned About Soaring Coronavirus Cases
Armenia -- Hospital beds placed in the lobby of Yerevan's largest concert hall 
in preparation for a possible surge in coronavirus infections, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Wednesday described as “very worrying” the 
continuing rapid spread of coronavirus in Armenia but argued against changing 
his government’s strategy of coping with the epidemic.
Pashinian said the Armenian authorities should only make “some adjustments” to 
their “decentralized” fight against the virus which places a great deal of 
responsibility on ordinary citizens.
The Ministry of Health reported earlier in the day at least 3 more deaths and 
230 new COVID-19 infections, which brought to 5,271 the total number of 
confirmed cases in the country of about 3 million. The official death toll from 
the virus reached 67.
Citing the growing number of cases, Health Minister Arsen Torosian announced on 
Tuesday that the authorities will have to stop in the coming days hospitalizing 
or isolating most people testing positive for COVID-19.
“Our calculations show that if we don’t change anything we will have about 
10,000 cases … by the end of May and that figure could reach 20,000 in 
mid-June,” Pashinian said at a meeting of an interagency commission coordinating 
government measures against the virus.
The authorities, he went on, should therefore “review the quality and scale of 
measures” already taken by them.
“We should first and foremost understand how we are going to make more effective 
the fight against coronavirus which we believe is most effective,” he said. 
“Namely, the decentralized struggle whereby as many forces and citizens as 
possible should be involved in the fight against coronavirus at the level of 
individual responsibility.”
Pashinian has repeatedly urged Armenians to do so by practicing social 
distancing and taking other precautions recommended by the health authorities. 
Some opposition figures and other critics of the Armenian government have 
responded by accusing him of trying to dodge responsibility for the authorities’ 
lax enforcement of stay-at-home orders and failure to contain the epidemic.
As part of a nationwide lockdown imposed in late March, the government seriously 
restricted people’s movements and ordered the closure of most nonessential 
businesses. It began relaxing these restrictions already in mid-April. The daily 
numbers of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the country have steadily increased 
since then.
Critics say that the authorities lifted the lockdown too soon and are now paying 
the consequences. They cite the example of many other countries, notably 
neighboring Georgia, which have kept lockdown restrictions in place for at least 
two months and are now reporting very low infection rates.
Pashinian dismissed such comparisons, claiming that Armenia has at the time 
suffered less financial and economic damage from the virus than some of those 
countries. “We should carry on with our tactics and not underestimate 
socioeconomic problems vis-à-vis health problems,” he said. “On the other hand, 
the aggravation of the health crisis could further deepen economic problems and 
make it harder to solve them.”
A government statement on the meeting chaired by Pashinian said the government 
commission discussed “further actions” in the fight against the virus. But it 
did not report concrete decisions made by the ad hoc body.
Former Judge In Kocharian Case To Stand Trial
Armenia -- District court judge Davit Grigorian leaves the courtroom after 
ordering former President Robert Kocharian's release from prison, May 18, 2019.
A Yerevan district court judge who controversially ordered former President 
Robert Kocharian’s release from prison a year ago will go on trial soon on 
charges strongly denied by him.
The official Armenpress news agency reported on Wednesday that prosecutors have 
formally endorsed the forgery charges brought against the suspended judge, Davit 
Grigorian, by Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS). It said the 
criminal case has already been sent to court.
Grigorian presided over the ongoing trial of Kocharian and three other former 
officials when it got underway in May 2019. A few days later, he not only agreed 
to free the ex-president but also suspended the trial, questioning the legality 
of coup charges brought against him.
The decisions angered political allies and supporters of Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian. Heeding Pashinian’s calls, hundreds of them blocked the entrances to 
court buildings across Armenia. Pashinian demanded a mandatory “vetting” of all 
Armenian judges, saying that many of them remain linked to the country’s 
“corrupt” former leadership.
Armenia -- Supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian block the entrance to a 
district court building in Yerevan, May 20, 2019.
Kocharian was arrested again in June hours after Armenia’s Court of Appeals 
overturned Grigorian’s decisions. Three weeks later, SIS officers searched and 
sealed the judge’s offices and confiscated his computer. Later in July, a state 
body overseeing the Armenian judiciary suspended Grigorian and allowed the SIS 
to prosecute him.
Grigorian denied the ensuing accusations of document forgery carrying up to two 
years in prison. His lawyers described it as government retribution for the 
ex-president’s release. Law-enforcement authorities categorically denied, 
however, any connection between the Kocharian case and Grigorian’s prosecution.
The SIS released details of the indictment last week. It claimed that with the 
help of his secretary Grigorian drew up and signed bogus court protocols to 
cover up his failure to hold in September 2018 two hearings on separate 
petitions submitted by an Armenian citizen and a state agency.
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian attends the first court hearing in 
his trial in Yerevan, May 13, 2019.
In a July 2019 statement, Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General said that 
the unnamed citizen lodged a complaint against the judge and accused him of 
committing forgery in February 2019. It said both the SIS and a prosecutor 
overseeing the law-enforcement body refused to launch a formal inquiry at the 
time.
According to the statement, in May 2019 the same person appealed to 
Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian and presented “more substantiated arguments” in 
support of their allegations. Davtian decided to open a criminal case against 
the judge on June 28, there days after Kocharian was arrested again.
Another district court judge, Anna Danibekian, took over Kocharian’s 
high-profile trial in August. She has since repeatedly refused to release him 
pending the outcome of the trial. The ex-president rejects the coup and 
corruption charges leveled against him as politically motivated.
Kindergartens Reopen In Armenia
        • Robert Zargarian
Armenia -- Children in a kindergarden.
Kindergartens across Armenia reopened on Wednesday following the lifting of 
virtually all coronavirus-related restrictions imposed by the government two 
months ago.
The government last week allowed them to resume their work while deciding to 
keep the country’s schools and universities closed. It said this will help many 
parents of young children return to work.
The government at the same time set specific safety rules for the state-run and 
private kindergartens. Under those rules, the parents must leave children at the 
entrance to pre-school institutions and are not allowed to enter them under any 
circumstances.
Kindergarten staff must not only ensure the parents’ compliance with these 
requirements but also measure children’s temperatures twice a day, minimize 
physical contact with and among them, and disinfect and ventilate their premises 
on a daily basis.
“We have drawn lines for the parents so that they observe social distancing,” 
said Gayane Khudoyan, a nurse at the Kindergarten No. 5 located in the center of 
Yerevan. “The last line is the point of separation of a parent and a child. The 
parent must stand there while I measure the kid’s temperature. If the kid has a 
fever we will immediately send them home.”
Most parents appear to have been unconvinced by these precautions so far. Only 
eight children were brought to Khudoyan’s kindergarten in the morning.
Another kindergarten located in the city’s western Davitashen district reported 
on Wednesday an attendance rate of 10 percent. More than 400 children are 
enrolled in it.
The Armenian authorities began lifting their lockdown restrictions in mid-April 
despite a growing number of coronavirus cases recorded by them.
The Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday morning at least 3 more deaths and 
230 new COVID-19 infections which brought to 5,271 the total number of confirmed 
cases in the country of about 3 million.
The official death toll from the virus thus reached 67. The figure does not 
cover the deaths of 27 other people infected with COVID-19. The ministry claims 
that those deaths were primarily caused by other, pre-existing illnesses.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the 
continuing rapid spread of the virus. He warned that the authorities may have to 
“re-impose the strictest possible restrictions” soon.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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