Monday,
Kocharian Freed For Now
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian is pictured at home shortly after
being released on bail, June 20, 2020.
Former President Robert Kocharian was released from custody at the weekend after
paying a record $4.1 million bail set by an Armenian court.
The bulk of the hefty sum was reportedly provided by four wealthy Russian
businessmen. Three of them, notably billionaire Samvel Karapetian, are ethnic
Armenians.
Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the main shareholder in AFK Sistema, a large Russian
corporation, was said to be the fourth major contributor. Kocharian has been a
member of Sistema’s board of directors since 2009.
Shortly after his release, Kocharian posted on Facebook a photograph of himself
standing in the courtyard of his Yerevan house. “At home,” wrote the 65-year-old
ex-president facing coup and corruption charges strongly denied by him.
Kocharian returned home from a Yerevan hospital where underwent surgery in late
April. Last month another court allowed him to stay there until the end of the
coronavirus pandemic. The director of the Izmirlian Medical Center, Armen
Charchian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that doctors will continue to monitor
his condition.
The Court of Appeals decided to grant Kocharian bail on Thursday when it partly
overturned a lower court’s refusal to free him pending the outcome of his
ongoing trial.
Prosecutors said they will appeal against the ruling. They insisted that the
Kocharian could obstruct justice and pressure other suspects and witnesses in
the case.
Kocharian’s family and lawyers complained, for their part, about the
unprecedented bail amount. His younger son, Levon, said the family cannot afford
to make the required payment on its own.
Kocharian, his former chief of staff and two retired army generals went on trial
more than a year ago, accused of overthrowing the constitutional order. The
ex-president also stands accused of bribery. He rejects all accusations leveled
against him as politically motivated.
Kocharian was released from jail for the third time since being first arrested
in July 2018. His previous release was ordered in May 2019 by a district court
judge who initially presided over the high-profile trial.
The judge’s decision 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 in protest.
Pashinian demanded a mandatory “vetting” of all Armenian judges, saying that
many of them remain linked to the country’s “corrupt” former leadership.
Kocharian was arrested again in June 2019.
A close Pashinian associate, Alen Simonian, insisted on Saturday that the
authorities are not concerned about Kocharian’s latest release. He said they
only worry about “people’s anger” over the development.
Armenian Parliament Votes To Replace Constitutional Court Judges (UPDATED)
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian reads out a court
ruling, Yerevan, March 17, 2020.
Amid strong opposition objections, the Armenian parliament approved on Monday
constitutional changes calling for the immediate dismissal of three of the nine
members of the country’s Constitutional Court.
The amendments drafted by the ruling My Step bloc would also require the court
to elect a new chairman. Hrayr Tovmasian, the current chairman who has been at
loggerheads with the Armenian government for the past year, would not have to
resign from the court altogether.
Tovmasian and six other judges have been under strong government pressure to
step down, with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accusing them of maintaining
close ties to the country’s former government and impeding judicial reforms.
Tovmasian and opposition figures have dismissed these claims, saying that
Pashinian is simply seeking to gain control over the Constitutional Court.
With all seven judges refusing to quit, the ruling political team decided in
February to hold a referendum on its bid to oust them. The referendum slated for
April 5 was subsequently postponed and then cancelled altogether because of the
coronavirus pandemic.
In May, Pashinian’s administration opted for a less radical solution to the
“constitutional crisis” which would bar all high court judges from serving for
more than 12 years.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) and Constitutional Court Chairman
Hrayr Tovmasian shake hands ahead of a 2018 meeting in Yerevan.
Such term limits were already set by amendments to the Armenian constitution
which took effect in April 2018. However, the country’s former leadership made
sure that they do not apply to those judges who were installed prior to that. A
clause in the amended constitution allowed them to retain their positions until
reaching retirement age.
The changes approved by the government-controlled parliament would eliminate
this clause. This would lead to the immediate resignation of three judges who
had taken the bench in the mid-1990s. Two other Constitutional Court members
would have to resign in 2022. Tovmasian would have to quit as court chairman but
would remain one of the nine justices.
Also in May, the government asked the Venice Commission for an advisory opinion
on this solution.
In its opinion publicized on Monday, the Venice Commission largely backed the
proposed formula. Still, it also called for a “transitional period which would
allow for a gradual change in the composition of the Court in order to avoid any
abrupt and immediate change endangering the independence of this institution.”
The commission said the Armenian authorities should also not rush to have
Tovmasian replaced by another court chairman.
The draft constitutional amendments unveiled by Pashinian’s bloc on Friday do
not envisage any transitional periods. The Venice Commission said it “regrets”
this fact and believes that it is “not in line with the recommendations in this
Opinion.”
Justice Minister Rustam Badasian and senior pro-government lawmakers downplayed
the commission’s objections as the National Assembly swiftly passed the
amendments in both the first and second readings.
They said that the Strasbourg-based body agreed with the main thrust of the
constitutional changes planned by the Armenian authorities. One of those
lawmakers, Vahagn Hovakimian, insisted that the changes will eventually result
in a Constitutional Court “enjoying the public’s trust.”
Armenia -- Deputies from the ruling My Step bloc at a parliament session in
Yerevan, .
The amendments were backed by 89 members of the 132-seat National Assembly.
Virtually all of those deputies are affiliated with My Step.
The Venice Commission also noted that under Armenian law the court has to review
and validate constitutional changes before they are passed in the second and
final reading.
Backed by the government, the parliament’s pro-government majority decided not
to seek such judgment. “I think there is a conflict of interest,” Badasian said,
referring to the Constitutional Court judges affected by the amendments.
Hovakimian likewise claimed that the court cannot objectively determine the
amendments’ conformity with other articles of the constitution for that reason.
The two opposition parties represented in the parliament boycotted the votes and
short debates that preceded them. One of them, the Prosperous Armenia Party
(BHK), condemned the amendments as unconstitutional. It said that the
parliamentary majority’s decision to bypass the Constitutional Court is also
illegal.
Accordingly, the BHK said it will try to challenge the amendments in the
Constitutional Court before they can take effect. It urged the other
parliamentary opposition party, Bright Armenia (LHK), to join it in appealing to
the court and thus “preventing the overthrow of the constitutional order.”
The BHK needs the LHK’s backing in order to be able to lodge such an appeal. The
LHK did not immediately respond to the initiative.
More Foreign Doctors Arrive In Coronavirus-Hit Armenia
Russia -- Members of a Russian medical team that arrived in Armenia to help
their Armenian colleagues fighting COVID-19,
Teams of Russian and Lithuanian medics have arrived in Armenia to help their
Armenian colleagues increasingly struggling to cope with the coronavirus crisis.
The Armenian Ministry of Health released on Monday photographs of the “first
group of Russian doctors” who arrived in Yerevan on Sunday.
It said that they are among about 50 healthcare workers in Russia who have
expressed readiness to treat COVID-19 patients kept in Armenian hospitals. “The
arrival of the next group is expected in early July,” the ministry added in a
statement.
About a dozen other medics arrived in Armenia from Lithuania on Friday night.
The Lithuanian Embassy in Yerevan said their two-week mission is financed by the
European Union and Sweden’s government. The Lithuanian medics were deployed to
two Yerevan-based hospitals that were reconfigured in April to treat only people
infected with the coronavirus.
The Russian and Lithuanian teams also brought with them medical equipment and
supplies donated to the Armenian health authorities.
Seven other, French doctors travelled to Armenia on June 14 on a similar 10-day
mission supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development. They are
expected to be replaced by another French medical team later this week.
Armenia -- Medics at the Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center in Yerevan,
Armenia's largest hospital treating COVID-19 patients, June 5, 2020.
Armenia is one of the worst hit countries in the region, having registered
20,588 coronavirus cases as of Monday morning. The authorities in the country of
about 3 million have reported the deaths of 477 people infected with COVID-19.
They say that 117 of those deaths were primarily caused by other, pre-existing
diseases.
The COVID-19 pandemic is putting a growing strain on Armenia’s underfunded
healthcare system. Health Minister Arsen Torosian warned last week that Armenian
hospitals are struggling to keep up with the continuing spread of the disease.
Torosian argued that the number of new coronavirus infections is growing faster
than that of new hospital beds made available for COVID-19 patients. In
particular, he said, although the total number of intensive-care beds has risen
by over 30 percent in the last two weeks virtually all of them are occupied now.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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