Author: Dabaghian Diana

                                        Thursday, 
National Security, Police Chiefs Appointed In Armenia
Arman Sargsian (L) and Eduard Martirosian have been appointed chief of police 
and director of the National Security Service, respectively
Acting chiefs of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) and Police have been 
appointed as permanent heads of the structures half a year after the dismissal 
of their predecessors.
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian signed relevant decrees on Thursday upon the 
request of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Eduard Martirosian and Arman Sargsian were appointed to act as chiefs of the two 
powerful law-enforcement bodies after Artur Vanetsian and Valeri Osipian were 
dismissed from their posts in September.
Vanetsian and Osipian led the NSS and police, respectively, since the change of 
government in May 2018 following popular protests that brought Pashinian to 
power.
Unlike Osipian, who has kept low profile since his dismissal, Vanetsian has been 
politically active, criticizing the Pashinian government. He announced plans to 
set up a political party in February.
The new appointees, Martirosian and Sargsian, are also career officers who 
became deputy heads of their respective agencies shortly after the 2018 “Velvet 
Revolution.”
Last December the pro-government majority in parliament first endorsed in the 
first reading but then blocked an opposition bill which would allow political 
appointees to run the country’s NSS and police.
Armenia’s current legislation requires NSS and police chiefs to be high-ranking 
career officers.
Relative Of Armenian Coronavirus Patient Reports Crime
        • Robert Zargarian
The Office of the Prosecutor-General of Armenia
A relative of a woman blamed for spreading the novel coronavirus in the Armenian 
town of Echmiadzin has filed a crime report with the public prosecutor, alleging 
illegal acquisition of personal data and publication in the press and social 
media of information about infected persons, their photographs as well as 
insults against them.
It became known late last week that a woman who had arrived from Italy 
disregarded healthcare recommendations and attended a family occasion in 
Echmiadzin involving dozens of guests. The unnamed woman later tested positive 
for the novel coronavirus causing a highly contagious and potentially deadly 
disease known as COVID-19. After her hospitalization dozens of people from her 
surroundings were placed under 14-day quarantines. Along with another incident 
of mass infection they now account for the bulk of Armenia’s 122 coronavirus 
cases reported so far.
Amid the news of sanitary cordons being set up around Echmiadzin to curb the 
further spread of the infection and later the introduction of a state of 
emergency countrywide many users on Facebook and other social media in Armenia 
gave vent to their anger over what they described as irresponsible conduct. Some 
have used offensive language and ridicule against the woman. Her photograph also 
appeared online.Armenia’s ombudsman Arman Tatoyan interfered by calling on 
social media users to stop insulting the women and degrading her dignity.
Lawyer Gohar Hovhannisian, who represents the interests of the currently 
quarantined woman, said that her relative who lives abroad filed the crime 
report, considering that illegal actions have been committed against his 
relative in Armenia.
She expressed confidence that the Prosecutor’s Office and the police will be 
impartial in investigating the case and that the offenders will be called to 
account.
The Prosecutor’s Office said the report was forwarded to the police to 
investigate the matter.
According to Hovhannisian, the photograph of the woman was published on both 
real and fake accounts. “It affects the mental state of a person. Imagine that a 
person is sick and such expressions are made against her or him and her or his 
personal data are published,” she said.
Human rights activist Zaruhi Hovhannisian (no relation to the lawyer) stressed 
that the protection of personal data is enshrined in Armenia’s law, adding that 
in this case the disclosure of data made it possible to identify the person. 
“Moreover, under the law on medical care and public services it is forbidden to 
disclose medical secrets, talk about people’s medical examinations and the 
course of their treatment as well as to pass these data to third parties,” she 
said.
Earlier this week, a shop owner in Yerevan filed a report with the police, 
alleging that he had been attacked by relatives of the Echmiadzin woman for 
posting a joke about her on Facebook.
The police said they had identified and questioned three persons over the 
incident, but did not reveal their identities.
Armenian Government To Subsidize Business Loans During Coronavirus Crisis
        • Artak Khulian
The Armenian Government in session, 
The Armenian government has offered loan portfolios for local businesses that 
are likely to be affected by the economic consequences of the ongoing 
coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian told his cabinet on Thursday that companies will 
be able to borrow money from banks at subsidized interest rates to meet their 
current financial obligations. Other designated funding, he said, will be spent 
on social assistance.
“We will launch a package of approximately 25 billion drams (over $50 million) 
for urgent business support. We will have another package of 25 billion drams 
made ready for social assistance, which will be used as needed. Also, we will 
set up a fund of about 80 billion drams (over $160 million) aimed at financing 
reorganizations and readjustments of the economy,” the prime minister said.
Pashinian explained that funds will be made available for businesses that need 
to keep paying salaries to their employees and fulfill their tax obligations to 
the state during the crisis.
“Commercial banks and loan organizations will cover 50 percent of the funding, 
and the rest 50 percent will be funded by the government. The government 
financing will be interest-free, and the interest rates of commercial banks and 
lending organizations will also be subsidized by the government. In other words, 
entrepreneurs will get loans at a zero percent interest rate,” he said.
According to Pashinian, financing will also be provided for the purchase and 
import of raw materials, as well as equipment and instruments. The government 
will require, however, that products made from these raw materials be marketed 
locally and the equipment be used for expanding local production, he added.
“[It will be for] incurred costs for the use of electricity, water and gas, but 
for each service it will not exceed 5 million drams ($10,000) per month and will 
not be provided for longer than three months. It will also apply to the import 
of foodstuffs by trading companies when the purchased or processed products are 
to be sold in the Republic of Armenia, the purchase or import of fertilizers, 
seeds, saplings and other agricultural raw materials if the whole volume of 
imports is to be used in Armenia.”
The Armenian government expects that the total aid package conditioned by the 
coronavirus crisis will amount to 150 billion drams (over $300 million). At the 
government meeting Prime Minister Pashinian said that the proposed package will 
be put to public discussion for further improvements, after which it will be 
finally endorsed.
Armenia posted a 7.6-percent GDP growth for 2019 and expected its economy to 
expand by 4.9 percent this year. At the beginning of the year, before the onset 
of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank forecast an even faster annual 
growth of 5.1 percent for Armenia in 2020.
Armenian Media Deplore Restrictions On Pandemic Reporting
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Anna Israyelian, editor of Aravot.am
Journalists and civil society representatives in Armenia have voiced their 
concerns over the restrictions on media imposed under the terms of the 
coronavirus-conditioned national emergency, calling on the government to “stop 
the censorship.”
Under the state-of-emergency rule introduced by the Armenian government on March 
16, media as well as social media users in Armenia face administrative fines for 
posting information on the coronavirus-related situation that “does not reflect 
reports from official sources.” The government said the measure was needed to 
prevent “panic-mongering” during the 30-day period of the national emergency 
declared to slow down and contain the spread of the highly contagious and 
potentially deadly virus.
Two media outlets – the Aravot and Hraparak dailies – have already been forced 
to remove or edit their stories under penalty of fines between 500,000 and 
800,000 drams ($1,000-$1,600).
Hraparak was warned over its article about complaints of prison inmates that the 
newspaper claims had no connection to the coronavirus situation. The daily still 
removed the story, but warned that it would take some action if warned again. In 
a Facebook post Hraparak’s editor wrote: “The state of emergency has been 
introduced to put media in a straight-jacket.”
After a police warning Aravot.am also edited its story that mentioned a reported 
concealment of coronavirus cases in Russia. Anna Israyelian, the editor of 
Aravot.am, noted that in a Facebook post Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian had made 
a comment “consonant with that report”, as he mentioned that “some countries do 
not provide actual figures on the coronavirus.”
“Although the demand of the authorities is absolutely groundless, because I 
don’t think that a report about [coronavirus] cases being hidden in Russia would 
cause panic in Armenian society, considering that in this delicate situation we 
deal with a healthcare-related document, we decided not to go against the demand 
and edited the story on our website,” Israyelian said.
The editor described the government’s response as inadequate. She said that in 
conditions of the absence of clear criteria for “panic-mongering”, it leaves 
room for arbitrary action against media.
Israyelian urged the authorities to reconsider their approach. “I don’t think 
that forcing the media to remain silent and hide the facts not only about what 
is happening inside the country but also about what is happening abroad will 
improve the situation of those infected,” she said.
Daniel Ioannisian, a representative of the Union of Informed Citizens NGO, 
described what is being applied in relation to media during the state of 
emergency as “censorship”, which he said leads to such negative consequences as 
the decrease in trust in the information provided by the government.
Daniel Ioannisian, coordinator of the Union of Informed Citizens
Ioannisian said that most democratic governments in the world that have declared 
national emergencies over the coronavirus pandemic have refrained from censoring 
their media.
“In democratic countries the media must not be under censorship and 
restrictions,” said Ioannisian, calling on the government to lift the 
restrictions imposed on the media.
Armenian-Azerbaijani Ceasefire Monitoring Suspended Over Pandemic
Armenian military officials escort OSCE observers during a regular ceasefire 
monitoring at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, 16Feb2017.
The monitoring of ceasefire in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict zone regularly 
conducted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has 
been suspended over the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement released from Tbilisi, Georgia, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, 
personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, cited closed borders and travel restrictions as the 
reason for the move.
“The ongoing situation following the spread of COVID-19 has led to the closure 
of international borders throughout the region, travel restrictions for 
international and local staff, as well as restrictions put in place to avoid 
face-to-face contact to reduce the risk of infection,” Kasprzyk said in the 
statement published on the OSCE’s official website.
“In view of the above, and following consultations with the sides, monitoring 
exercises will be suspended until these restrictions are lifted. In the 
meantime, I continue to be in contact with the relevant military authorities,” 
the ambassador added.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh 
following a three-year war in the early 1990s that killed some 30,000 people.
Despite the 1994 ceasefire, soldiers on both sides continue to be killed in 
sporadic border clashes.
Diplomatic efforts on settling the conflict led by the United States, Russia and 
France as part of the OSCE Minsk Group have brought little progress in the past 
decades.
Armenia declared a 30-day national emergency over COVID-19 on March 16, 
restricting international travel and putting other limitations in place.
So far authorities in Yerevan have confirmed 122 coronavirus cases. Azerbaijan 
has reported 34 confirmed coronavirus cases, with one fatality.
Armenia Reports First Coronavirus Case Among Medical Staff
The number of coronavirus patients in Armenia has reached 115, with the first 
case reported among medical personnel on Thursday morning.
Health Minister Arsen Torosian confirmed today that a nurse of the Nork 
infectious diseases hospital in Yerevan has been diagnosed with COVID-19, a 
disease caused by the novel coronavirus infection. The nurse has worked with 
other coronavirus patients at the hospital, he added in a Facebook post.
“The woman was immediately hospitalized and her condition is satisfactory. She 
does not have pneumonia,” Torosian wrote.
The minister reminded the public that fighting the highly contagious and 
potentially deadly virus puts a lot of stress on medical workers who often 
appear in risky situations. “They are considered to be one of the vulnerable 
groups to get infected. We ask you to respect their work and stay at home,” 
Torosian said.
Armenia’s health authorities say that the bulk of the coronavirus cases reported 
so far are related to two primary sources of infection both traced to people 
arriving from Italy. According to Minister Torosian, the condition of all 
patients is evaluated as satisfactory. The country’s first coronavirus patient, 
a 29-year-old man evacuated from Iran in late February, was declared recovered 
earlier this week.
In a bid to slow down and contain the further spread of the novel coronavirus 
the Armenian government declared a 30-day national emergency on March 16. 
Limitations that concern international and local travel, public gatherings and 
the activities of public institutions could potentially affect a number of 
private sector companies.
At a government meeting on Thursday Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian proposed an 
aid package to businesses most affected by the pandemic. He said up to 150 
billion drams (more than $300 million) would be allocated to support businesses 
through subsidizing loans, to provide urgent social assistance and stimulate 
economic activity otherwise. The prime minister said his government expected the 
assistance to spur business activity and economic growth beyond the current 
coronavirus pandemic.
Armenia posted a 7.6-percent GDP growth for 2019 and expected its economy to 
expand by 4.9 percent this year. At the beginning of the year before the onset 
of the coronavirus pandemic the World Bank forecast an even faster annual growth 
of 5.1 percent for Armenia in 2020.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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