Author: Emma Nadirian

Judicial power enjoys full freedom and verdicts one after another prove it – PM’s spokesperson

18:02,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is a legal state where the three branches of power are clearly separated. The judicial power uses its full freedom and the verdicts one after another are the evidence of this, Armenian prime minister’s spokesperson Vladimir Karapetyan said on Facebook.

“All statements about pressure attempts by the authorities are simple speculations, which, unfortunately, are being applied by Robert Kocharyan’s defenders. The authorities are determined to guarantee exclusively the legal process of all procedures. It’s another matter that after the recent democratic changes the old judicial system operates in Armenia towards the decision of which the level of public trust has not changed”, the spokesperson said.

The Yerevan Court today approved the personal guarantees from Artsakh’s president Bako Sahakyan and ex-president Arkadi Ghukasyan to release president Robert Kocharyan from pre-trail detention.

Robert Kocharyan is charged with “overthrowing Constitutional Order” during the 2008 March 1-2 events in Yerevan and “accepting particularly large bribe”.

Court hearing Kocharyan’s case to continue on May 15

18:33,

YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. The trial of former President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and other ex-officials in the March 1 case has been postponed because of the end of the working day.

ARMENPRESS reports the trial on examining whether the detention of Kocharyan is justified or no will continue on May 15 at 13:30.

At the end of the trial 2nd President of Armenia Kocharyan thanked his supporters, saying that they can already go.

The March 1 case refers to the 2008 post-presidential election unrest in Yerevan when eight protesters and two security officers were killed in clashes during large demonstrations against alleged vote rigging. Kocharyan was the outgoing president at that time. He is accused of unlawfully ordering the military to interfere and disperse the protests.

Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan was seated on the prosecution’s side in court.

Kocharyan’s youngest son Levon was seated in the fully-packed gallery.

Robert Kocharyan is charged with “overthrowing Constitutional order” and “accepting particularly large bribe”.

Other indicted officials are: ex-Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan (overthrowing Constitutional order). In 2008 Ohanyan served as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces; Yuri Khachaturov (overthrowing Constitutional order). In 2008, Khachaturov was the Deputy Minister of Defense; Armen Gevorgyan (conspiracy to overthrow Constitutional order, accepting particularly large bribe and money laundering). Gevorgyan served as Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration. Gevorgyan’s most recent government position was Deputy Prime Minister.

Yuri Khachaturov is an Armenian general who served as Secretary General of the CSTO until being recalled by Armenia for criminal proceedings in 2018.

They all deny wrongdoing.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

PM Pashinyan emphasizes necessity of creating better conditions for bike riding

20:36,

YEREVAN, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan hopes that better conditions will be created for biking in the city and the country as a whole, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan said in a live Facebook broadcast, biking from the Government to his house.

“Today we opened the biking season. Yerevan’s traffic is not so convenient for biking”, he said, hoping that they will be able to create better conditions for biking, underlining the importance of healthy lifestyle.

The PM asked all bicycle riders to wear helmets.

Pashinyan noted that going home from the Government by bike (4 km) is a great pleasure, but the job of the security officers becomes harder.

In the morning Pashinyan went to the Government on bike, from where he headed to Yerevan City Hall to participate in the opening of a garden dedicated to 2800th anniversary of Yerevan.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

PM considers exclusive economy’s reaction to deep political changes

11:31,

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, ARMENPRESS. Armenia managed to maintain the economic, macroeconomic stability even as a result of deep political changes, political instability in the country. And now Armenia has entered a period of long-term political stability which is reflected in the economy, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in the Parliament during the debate of the report relating to the implementation process and results of the government’s action plan, reports Armenpress.

Our activity during these months enables me to confidently state that we will have and already have major achievements in economy. In January Armenia’s economic activity index comprised 5.5%, but already in February this figure was 7.6%, and the two-month economic activity index comprised 6.5%. We consider these figures positive, but don’t consider that we have reached the figure we want. Here the dynamics is important”, the PM noted.

He reminded that last year in September Armenia even reached to the recession threshold. “And during that time there were a lot of predictions according to which everything was over. But we insisted that everything is just starting. And starting from that moment there is a positive dynamics in our economy. And this positive dynamics has a very serious content, and I have no doubt that our policy will constantly and consistently lead to a positive dynamics”, Pashinyan said.  

Talking about the economic indicators of the last year, the PM advised to remember several data. Five elections of PM were held in Armenia in 2018. Three PMs were changed in the country, a president was elected, the Yerevan City Council and snap parliamentary elections were held, and a peaceful, velvet revolution took place. He stated that no one can find a second country in the world history where political changes with such a volume have taken place, and this was not followed by a deep economic recession period. “And when we say that Armenia is unique with the political changes that happened and their content, Armenia is also exceptional in terms of the economy’s reaction to these deep political changes. 2018 from political perspective was full of tensions and ups and downs, but we managed to keep the economic and macroeconomic stability. Bur our record for this year is completely different”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

He assured that currently Armenia has entered into a period of long-term political stability which is now being reflected in the economy.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan