Author: Janet Ekmekjian

                                        Friday, 

European Court Reports Further Drop In Appeals From Armenia


FRANCE -- The building of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, 
November 15, 2018

The number of appeals filed by Armenians in the European Court of Human Rights 
(ECHR) continued to fall rapidly last year, the Strasbourg-based tribunal said 
on Thursday.

“For Armenia, the number of new applications allocated to a judicial formation 
was 167, more than a two-fold decrease as compared to 356 in 2017,” the ECHR 
said in an annual report presented by its president, Guido Raimondi, at a news 
conference.

The ECHR recorded 753 lawsuits from Armenia in 2016.

Armenia fell under the European court’s jurisdiction when it joined the Council 
of Europe in 2001. Its government lost the first case in Strasbourg in 2007.

The ECHR has ruled against various Armenian government, judicial and 
law-enforcement bodies on 94 occasions since then, costing them more than $1.2 
million in damages. “The highest number of violations related to the right to a 
fair trial, and right to liberty and security,” says its report.

The ECHR handed down 15 rulings against the Armenian state in 2018, up from 11 
such judgments in 2017.

“By January 1, 2019, there were 1,901 cases pending for Armenia, a small 
increase as compared to 1,819 in 2017. Armenia has remained in the top-ten 
states by the number of pending applications,” says the report.

The large number of lawsuits reflects a lack of judicial independence and 
corruption among law-enforcement officers and judges in Armenia.

The current Armenian authorities have repeatedly pledged to address the problem 
since they came to power in a democratic revolution in May. Their critics 
claim, however, that just like their predecessors, they pressure courts to side 
with prosecutors in high-profile criminal cases. Government officials -- and 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in particular -- strongly deny this.



Pashinian Praises Eurasian Union


RUSSIA -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian gives a speech at the 
headquarters of the Eurasian Economic Commission in Moscow, .

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian praised the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and 
reaffirmed Armenia’s continued membership in the Russian-led trade bloc as he 
visited its headquarters in Moscow on Friday.

Pashinian met with the Armenian head of the EEU’s executive body, Tigran 
Sarkisian, and its key members three weeks after his country assumed the EEU’s 
rotating presidency.

“In the past years the Eurasian Economic Union has proved its viability,” he 
said at the meeting. “A positive dynamic has been registered in the main 
economic indicators and important decisions have been made regarding many 
directions of Eurasian integration.”

In a separate appeal to the leaders of Russia and the EEU’s three other member 
states read out at the meeting, Pashinian said: “Armenia will make every effort 
to maintain the positive dynamic of integration and to accomplish tasks that 
could give an additional impetus to economic growth in our countries.”

In particular, Pashinian went on, the Armenian government will strive for a 
harmonization of their economic regulations which he said are currently 
hampering greater trade among the member states. He also voiced support for the 
EEU’s free-trade deals planned or already signed with other nations, including 
China and India.

According to Armenian government data, in January-November 2018 Russia and 
other ex-Soviet states making up the bloc accounted for 27 percent of Armenia’s 
foreign trade, compared with the European Union’s 25 percent share in the total.


RUSSIA -- Participants pose for a photo during a Eurasian Economic Union summit 
in Sochi, May 14, 2018

Pashinian criticized Armenia’s accession to the EEU and even called for its 
withdrawal from the bloc as recently as in November 2017. However, immediately 
after he swept to power in May 2018 he made clear that he will not pull his 
country out of the EEU or the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty 
Organization (CSTO).

Pashinian was asked about his past position on the issue at a news conference 
held at the EEU headquarters. “You know that when I was a member of the [former 
Armenian] parliament I voted against that decision [to join the EEU,]” he 
replied. “Since then I have repeatedly said that just because we had thought 
that it’s a wrong decision doesn’t mean we need to take diametrically opposite 
actions in order to correct that mistake.”

“U.S. President Barack Obama thought that President [George W.] Bush was wrong 
to invade Iraq and so he decided to … withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. And what 
did we get? We got the Islamic State,” he said.

“The fact is that Armenia is a member of the EEU and I don’t think that U-turns 
are good in international affairs. And as you can see, our efforts now are 
aimed at making the EEU more effective,” added Pashinian.

In that regard, the Armenian premier made a case for setting up a common EEU 
market for natural gas and other fuel. He was understood to imply that Russian 
gas should be as cheap in Russia as it is in Armenia and other EEU members 
importing it.

Russia’s Gazprom giant raised its wholesale gas price for Armenia on January 1. 
Pashinian’s government is now negotiating with Armenia’s Gazprom-owned gas 
distribution network in hopes of keeping its internal retail tariffs unchanged.

Pashinian expressed confidence on Friday that the existing gas prices set for 
Armenian households and corporate consumers will not go up this year. He again 
insisted that his government will not be subsidizing it.

The gas issue was high on the agenda of Pashinian’s most recent meeting with 
Russian President Vladimir Putin held in Moscow on December 27. The two men 
held further discussions on it by phone in the following days.

Pashinian was not scheduled to meet with Putin during his latest trip to the 
Russian capital. He was due to hold talks instead with Russian Prime Minister 
Dmitry Medvedev later in the day.



Indicted Tycoon Allowed To Leave Armenia

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia - Businessman Samvel Mayrapetian at the official opening of his Toyota 
car dealership in Yerevan, 23 June 2009.

An Armenian law-enforcement agency has allowed a prominent businessman 
prosecuted on corruption charges to receive medical treatment in Germany one 
week after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in his favor.

The businessman, Samvel Mayrapetian, was arrested in October on charges of 
“assisting” in payment of a bribe worth more than $4 million. Mayrapetian, who 
denies the accusation, was freed on bail on health grounds late last month. He 
is reportedly suffering from a serious form of pancreatitis.

Immediately after his release, Mayrapetian asked the Special Investigative 
Service (SIS) for permission to leave for Germany. The SIS rejected the 
request, leading the tycoon to appeal to the ECHR.

The Strasbourg-based court ruled on January 17 that the Armenian authorities 
must allow Mayrapetian to undergo adequate treatment recommended by his 
doctors. According to his lawyer Karen Batikian, the SIS gave such permission 
late on Thursday.

An SIS spokeswoman, Marina Ohanjanian, said on Friday the decision was 
recommended by a team of doctors chosen by the Armenian Ministry of Health. She 
said they confirmed that the suspect needs the kind of surgery which is not 
performed in Armenian hospitals.

Ohanjanian also told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that Mayrapetian was allowed to 
leave the country after two prominent individuals guaranteed in writing that he 
will come back after he recuperates from the life-threatening disease. Each of 
them posted bail worth 15 million drams ($31,000), said the official.

In Batikian’s words, those individuals are Ruben Fanarjian, a senior professor 
at the Armenian State Medical University, and Rev. Vahram Melikian, the chief 
spokesman for the Armenian Apostolic Church. The lawyer insisted that his 
client will return to Armenia once his treatment in a German clinic is complete.

Investigators have still not publicized details of the accusations leveled 
against the tycoon who had greatly benefited from close ties with Armenia’s 
former governments.

Mayrapetian, 59, one of the country’s leading real estate developers who also 
owns a national TV channel and a car dealership. Some media outlets for years 
linked former President Robert Kocharian’s elder son Sedrak to the Toyota 
dealership.

Kocharian is currently held in pretrial detention, having been charged in 
connection with the deadly breakup of post-election opposition protests in 
March 2008. He denies the accusations as politically motivated.



EU, World Bank Pledge More Funds For Armenian Road Upgrades

        • Sargis Harutyunyan

Armenia -- Workers renovate a tunnel on a highway in the Lori province, 
14Jul2018

The European Union and the World Bank have allocated over 730 million euros 
($832 million) for investments in Armenia’s transport infrastructure that will 
be made by 2030, a senior EU official confirmed on Friday.

The loans and grants are part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) 
Investment Action Plan announced by them last week. It is designed to “boost 
connectivity and economic growth” in six former Soviet republics included in 
the EU’s Eastern Partnership program.

“Together, the projects will require an estimated investment of almost €13 
billion and foresee a total of 4,800 kilometers of road and rail, 6 ports, and 
11 logistics centers,” the World Bank and the EU said in a joint statement.

“Those projects will make possible the construction and rehabilitation of new 
and existing roads, rail, ports, airports as well as logistical centers and 
border crossing points,” they said.

Armenia will be eligible for 732 million euros worth of such funding, added the 
statement.

“This huge program of connectivity will bring Armenia and the European Union 
closer together,” Piotr Switalski, the head of the EU Delegation in Yerevan, 
told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

“Some of the projects are already being implemented in Armenia,” he said.


Armenia -- Piotr Switalski, head of the EU Delegation to Armenia gives an 
interview to RFE/RL, Yerevan, 25Jan2019

Switalski pointed to the ongoing reconstruction of two Armenian highways 
running from Yerevan to the Georgian border. The EU has contributed over 90 
million euros in loans and 15 million euros in grants to the effort, he said.

The diplomat also mentioned the 54 million-euro modernization of Armenia’s 
three border checkpoints with Georgia which was carried out from 2013-2017.The 
EU provided the bulk of the sum in the form of a grant and a loan.

According to the joint statement by the World Bank and the EU, road projects 
launched in Armenia as part of TEN-T are worth more than 200 million euros.

The bank and the 28-nation bloc have allocated much greater sums for similar 
projects in Georgia and Azerbaijan: 3.4 billion euros and 2.8 billion euros 
respectively.

“What we have as a result, this initial outline, is the reflection of the 
expectations of the Armenian side,” Switalski said when asked to explain the 
difference.



Press Review



Lragir.am reports that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) 
mentioned the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a declaration adopted at its 
congress held in Stepanakert. The publication says that the wording of the 
reference is vague and it is not clear whether the party now supports or 
continues to oppose the so-called Madrid Principles of a Karabakh settlement 
which were first drawn up by the U.S., Russian and French mediators in 2007.

But as “Zhoghovurd” says, “One can presume that with this statement 
Dashnaktsutyun spoke out against any compromise in the Karabakh conflict. That 
is to say that it is against any resolution of the Karabakh conflict.” The 
paper says that Dashnaktsutyun’s position is disingenuous because the party 
never warned former President Serzh Sarkisian against making major concessions 
to Azerbaijan when it was part of his government. It argues that both Sarkisian 
and his predecessor Robert Kocharian considered making territorial concessions 
to Baku. “But now Dashnaktsutyun is creating some myths about the Karabakh 
settlement, trying to juxtapose them against the reality and fighting against 
its on myths,” it concludes.

“Zhamanak” comments on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s phone conversation with 
U.S. National Security Adviser, John Bolton. “The fact that Bolton make a phone 
call to Davos the day after [Pashinian’s] meeting with [Ilham] Aliyev suggests 
that there is a certain connection between the call and the Pashinian-Aliyev 
meeting,” writes the paper. “But that does not necessarily mean that there was 
an agreement. It may have just been a question-and-answer session. Washington 
may have tried to find out what happened in Davos … But that raises the 
question of what regional developments, not mentioned by Bolton but cited by 
Pashinian, were discussed [during the phone conversation.] The question of Iran 
comes to the fore here.” The paper notes that the Iranian ambassador in Yerevan 
met with parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan earlier this week.

(Lilit Harutiunian)




Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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