Author: Karagyozian Lena

Prosecution of Kocharyan continues under ‘non-existent’ penal code article, lawyer says

Karagyozian Lena
Panorama, Armenia

The criminal prosecution against Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan and three other former top officials continue under “non-existent” article of Armenia’s Criminal Code as the Constitutional Code ruled that Article 300.1 is unconstitutional and invalid, one of Kocharyan’s lawyers, Hayk Alumyan, said at a program aired on Kentron TV on Tuesday.

The ruling issued by the top court on Friday says that Article 300.1 concerning “overthrow of the constitutional order”, under which Kocharyan and the others are being prosecuted, runs counter to Articles 78 and 79 of the Constitution. The articles deal with the principles of proportionality and certainty.

However, judge Anna Danibekyan presiding over the trial refused to throw out the case on Tuesday, announcing that the trial will resume on April 2.

Alumyan called the judge’s move a “gross violation” of the law amounting to a “crime”.

He said that if Danibekyan does not put an end to the trial, the legal team will most likely file a crime report over prosecuting persons under a non-existent penal code article.

According to Kocharian’s lawyer, the court was obliged to terminate the criminal prosecution regardless of whether they had submitted a motion for it or not.

Referring to the failure of prosecutors dealing with the case to attend Tuesday’s hearing, Alumyan said the authorities may have ordered them to take every “legal and illegal” step to continue the prosecution, failing to put up with the possible dismissal of the case.

The lawyer stated there are numerous arguments indicating that the case is fabricated.

“The ruling of the Constitutional Court is also a way of acquittal. If a person is charged under an article that is unconstitutional, he is factually accused of an act that is not a crime. The Constitutional Court ruled that the article under which the charges have been brought is unconstitutional, that is, such an act should not be criminally punished. This means that our client is acquitted of this charge. This is exactly what it means,” Alumyan said.

“If the law stipulated that a person could be acquitted of the same charge ten times on different grounds, rest assured that he would be acquitted ten times on different grounds if the investigation were objective,” he added.

Justice minister presents clarifications to President over Judicial Code amendments package

Karagyozian Lena

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 15:24,

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received today Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The legislative package on making changes and amendments to the Judicial Code Constitutional Law, which was adopted recently by the Parliament and submitted for the President’s signing, was discussed during the meeting.

The minister presented clarifications to the President over the aforementioned legislative amendments.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Military expert urges Armenia’s authorities to get out of ‘geopolitical games’ –

Karagyozian Lena
Panorama, Armenia

Military expert Karen Hovhannisyan calls on Armenia’s authorities to get out of “geopolitical games”.

His comments came after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia purchased Russian Su-30SM fighters without missiles back in May 2020. Earlier in March, the premier said that Russian-made Iskander missiles seriously malfunctioned during the recent Artsakh war.

“I want to understand why there is so much talk about Su-30SM fighters and Iskander? Many probably did not notice that in terms of the Su fighters as well, Russia was indirectly considered an unreliable strategic partner who could sell the fighter jets to its strategic partner without missiles (called accessories for some reason),” the expert wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

“Who wants to prove to everyone that Russian military equipment and weapons are seriously faulty? Who wants to prove to everyone that Russia is an unscrupulous and unreliable military partner in the market?

“I would like to give you a piece of advice: get out of the geopolitical games, let them find another prover, do not take on this role, which will not lead our state to anything good. Regardless of who is the orderer, even if Russia itself (theoretically this is impossible, but even if it is so), do not assume a dangerous role in these geopolitical games,” Hovhannisyan said.

Constitutional Court upholds Robert Kocharyan’s application, criminal proceeding terminated

Karagyozian Lena

Constitutional Court upholds Robert Kocharyan’s application, criminal proceeding terminated

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 18:06,

YEREVAN, MARCH 26, ARMENPRESS. The Constitutional Court of Armenia has announced 300.1 Article of the Criminal Code unconstitutional, based on the applications of Robert Kocharyan and the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction.

ARMENPRESS reports President of the Constitutional Court Armen Dilanyan has declared 300.1 article of the Criminal Code of Armenia invalid, contradicting Articles 78 and 79 of the Constitution. The decision is final and takes effect from the moment of publication.

Charges had been pressed against 2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan under Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (overthrowing the constitutional order).




Armenia’s PM introduces new Chief of General Staff to officers, asks to preserve depoliticization of Armed Forces

Karagyozian Lena
Aysor, Armenia

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Ministry of Defense and presented to the supreme officer staff of the Armed Forces the newly appointed Chief of the General Staff Artak Davtyan.

He stressed that Davtyan was removed from the same post previously not for the reasons relating to his service and added that during this period they were in continuous contact and that it was clear that his potential must be used in state affairs.

Pashinyan said that during the war he invited Davtyan, who that time was president of Military-Industrial Committee to organize Syunik’s self-defense or participate in it.

“I am convinced that he will continue his mission on the same high level as he started it. Indeed, the mission is not an easy one, we are living hard times and the issues are more than serious. Number one issue – defend the army, defend the Armed Forces and issue two – ensure necessary reforms in the Armed Forces which first of all will strengthen the Armed Forces, level of defense of Armenia’s foreign security and of course, the trust of all of us in the Armed Forces and our security system,” the PM said.

The PM also stressed that the developments that took place from February have not left any personal or political trace but asked to sacredly preserve the depoliticization of the Armed Forces.

Expressing gratitude for the trust, Artak Davtyan also thanked former Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan and General Galstyan for their work.

“We are hopeful that with joint efforts we will solve all the issues the Armed Forces are currently facing,” Davtyan said.

The PM too thanked Onik Gasparyan for his service and General Galstyan for the implementation of duties of the Chief of General Staff.

“Thank you all, as we really have passed through a very hard time and I think that during all this period we managed to do the utmost and did the necessary to go out of it stronger, united and with optimism toward the future,” the PM said.

Russia’s Karabakh Protectorate Taking Clearer Shape (Part One)

Karagyozian Lena
Jamestown Foundation

06:12 PM Age: 1 day

Russia’s military “peacekeeping” intervention in Upper (“Nagorno”) Karabakh in November 2020 laid the foundation for a Russian de facto protectorate (see EDM, December 8, 10, 2020).

The Second Karabakh War (September 27–November 9, 2020) has resulted in a partition of Azerbaijan’s former Upper Karabakh Autonomous Region (obsolete Russian acronym: NKAO). The war’s victor, Azerbaijan, currently controls one third of that territory, while Russian troops and the Armenian authorities of the unrecognized Karabakh republic centered in Stepanakert control about two thirds. All of Upper Karabakh is universally deemed—also by Russia, emphatically—as being a part of Azerbaijan.

The Armenian-inhabited “NKAO” had been supposed to receive a legal-political status through an international negotiation process—the Minsk Group—that operated from 1994 to 2020, inconclusively. Following this war and partition, however, the “NKAO” no longer exists as a territorial or political unit. Its remaining territory, moreover, is being turned into a Russian protectorate with both military and civil-affairs dimensions (see EDM, January 21, 22, 26, 2021). All these new facts render the status issue moot.

Yerevan and Stepanakert currently estimate the population of rump–Upper Karabakh (the unrecognized Karabakh republic) at 105,000 to 110,000, including the registered war refugees from Karabakh sheltered in Armenia. Those refugees’ number was last cited by Armenia’s government at 20,000 (Civil.net, Arminfo, February 3, 4), as against 35,000 to 40,000 cited by the Stepanakert authorities (Armenpress, February 11, 15).

The number of war refugees from Karabakh registered in Armenia had peaked at some 90,000 to 93,000 last December (Armenpress, December 25, 29, 2020). Most of them have been encouraged to return to Upper Karabakh since then. Yerevan and Stepanakert are acutely conscious that Armenian outmigration from Upper Karabakh would undermine their effort to wrest this territory from Azerbaijan. This is why their officially released data might overstate the size of Upper Karabakh’s population.

Outmigration could also weaken the rationale for Russia’s military presence to guarantee the security of Karabakh Armenians. Accordingly, Russian “peacekeeping” troops have helped organize the mass return of war refugees from Armenia to Upper Karabakh, using buses under Russian military escort. The number of Russian-escorted returnees reached 50,000 on January 19, by the Russian military’s count (Mil.ru, January 19) and inched upward afterward, at 52,712 by the most recent Russian count on February 26 (Mil.ru, February 26). A far smaller number of refugees returned with their own transportation means and have not been officially or reliably counted.

Incomparably higher, approaching one million, is the number of Azerbaijanis displaced from the seven inner-Azerbaijani districts that Armenian had forces seized in 1993–1994 and Azerbaijan regained in November 2020. The tripartite armistice declaration of November 9, 2020, had stipulated that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would oversee the return of all refugees and displaced people. Preempting the UNHCR, however, the Russian military largely took over this process in Upper Karabakh for Armenian refugees.

The Armenian side nevertheless remains apprehensive about population decline in this territory. Attempting to address this problem, “President” Haraik Harutiunian has announced the re-launch of a “state” program of artificial insemination in order to increase local birth rates (News.am, January 17).

Russia’s “peacekeeping” mission in what Moscow itself deems as Azerbaijani territory has no agreed-upon mandate; and Russia’s military presence there has no legal basis. It does, however, have Baku’s carefully weighed consent as part of the November 9 armistice declaration; it was not imposed on Baku, but was worked out through genuine give-and-take negotiations; and the mission’s actual execution by Russia is subject to constant adjustments through negotiations with Baku. This bilateral process has, to all intents and purposes, excluded Armenia from any significant role or initiative. Yerevan seems merely to react and largely comply with Russia’s initiatives in Upper Karabakh.

Without making any formal arrangements, therefore, Russia has become the real and recognized guarantor of Upper Karabakh’s security. Armenia has lost the guarantor’s role after 26 years of filling it (1994–2020). Yerevan has not only exhausted its resources in the recent, lost war but has also been outplayed diplomatically by Baku in the triangular process with Moscow.

Some Stepanakert officials, including the Security Council’s chief, Major General Vitaly Balasanian, and “parliament” chairperson Artur Tovmazian, have publicly registered Armenia’s loss of the guarantor’s role. They have clearly identified Russia’s “peacekeepers” along with the Karabakh “republic’s” forces as security guarantors, omitting Armenia from the equation (Artsakhpress, February 26; Artsakh Public TV cited by Arminfo, March 13). Russia, moreover, is bringing substantial humanitarian and reconstruction aid to Upper Karabakh, taking over also the “social guarantor’s” role from Armenia.

Armenian nationalism kept firmly aloof from the “Russian World” (“Russkiy Mir”) even when operating in alliance with Russia. This distinctiveness remains intact in Yerevan. However, Stepanakert seems to consider moving toward the Russian World as a way of ingratiation with Moscow. Karabakh’s unrecognized “foreign affairs minister,” David Babaian, has issued an irate indictment of Azerbaijan’s disrespect for Soviet-era military memorials in the territories regained from Armenian control (News.am, March 8). The “parliament” in Stepanakert is considering draft laws to confer official status on the Russian language in the Karabakh “republic’s” administration and its mass media. A debate is ongoing on whether Russian should become an “official language” on par with the literary Armenian language or, alternatively, a “working language” to be used when necessary (Azatutiun.am, March 12).

Some international observers expect Russia to begin (after a decent interval) distributing Russian passports in the Karabakh “republic,” turning the recipients into citizens of Russia and potential labor migrants there. This would reproduce the model used earlier in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and, currently, in Donbas. The case of Upper Karabakh, however, differs from those previous cases. Stepanakert’s as well as Yerevan’s top priority is to keep the population firmly attached to the land in the “republic,” since population loss would negate the Armenian claims to this territory (see above). Russia is also interested in keeping its would-be protégés in place, so as to justify its military presence and even augmenting it if deemed necessary in the future. Launching Russian passportization while at the same time strongly discouraging emigration could be a solution that would satisfy Moscow, Yerevan and Stepanakert
.

Defense Army battalion commander arrested on charges of insubordination, desertion

Karagyozian Lena

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 12:37,

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. A commander of a training battalion of the Defense Army is under arrest on charges of insubordination and desertion, the Committee of Investigations said.

According to the investigators, Commander I. Vahanyan disobeyed his superior’s orders during combat operations in the 2020 Artsakh War and deserted the battlefield. According to investigators the commander’s actions led to casualties in his battalion, with some troops getting killed, others getting wounded or taken captive.

Vahanyan is in pre-trial detention.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Poll: Majority of Armenians want early elections

Karagyozian Lena
EurasiaNet.org
Joshua Kucera Mar 16, 2021
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a military funeral in the fall. (Facebook)

Most Armenians are in favor of early elections, even while the ruling party remains the only political force in the country with any significant public support, a new poll reports. 

The survey, from the International Republican Institute (IRI), is the most reliable measure of public opinion since the end of the war last year that plunged Armenia into crisis. While many Armenians and Armenian institutions have turned against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and demanded he resign as a result of the catastrophic loss in the war, Pashinyan has dug in his heels and refused to step down. 

In the poll, 55 percent of respondents said they were in favor of snap elections. Of those, 57 percent said the elections should take place this spring. A further 13 percent said they should take place by this summer. 

That result jibes largely with that of another recent poll, from MPG/Gallup International, which found 58 percent in favor of early elections. It contradicts, though, the ruling party’s recent claim that there is “no public demand” for an early vote to resolve the political paralysis that has beset Armenia. (Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan more recently expressed some willingness to organize early elections, though no agreement has been reached.)

The IRI poll did not ask Armenians about whether Pashinyan should resign, or their approval of him. The MPG/Gallup poll found that 44 percent wanted him to resign, while 39 percent wanted him to stay in office. 

But the IRI survey did ask about favorability ratings of institutions, and found that 54 percent approved of the work of the prime minister’s office. That was down from 72 percent in a May 2019 IRI poll.  

Still, the poll confirmed what has been the political conventional wisdom for some time in Armenia: That while Pashinyan has effectively lost his mandate to rule, there is no credible alternative. If elections were held immediately, 33 percent would vote for Pashinyan’s party, Civil Contract, or his parliamentary bloc, My Step. The next most popular party was Prosperous Armenia, headed by oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, and it got only 3 percent support. 

An interesting wrinkle: Pashinyan’s support is significantly lower in Yerevan, where only 22 percent said they would vote for his party or bloc. Still, in the capital, too, there was no alternative force that topped 3 percent.

IRI also asked about the ceasefire deal that ended last year’s war with Azerbaijan, and found that fully 25 percent of Armenians favored “withdrawal from ceasefire agreement, even at the risk of a renewal of military conflict.” Some of the results appeared contradictory, however: While 80 percent of respondents favored “full implementation of and compliance with the ceasefire agreement,” 85 percent reported favoring “renegotiation of the ceasefire agreement.”

The poll also contained some telling results about the overall mood in the country. 

Perhaps surprisingly, given the circumstances, 31 percent of Armenians reported that they thought the country was moving in the right direction. Forty-five percent said they thought it was moving in the wrong direction. That question was not asked in the 2019 version of the poll.

One similar question – How would you evaluate the prevailing mood of the Armenian population? – indicated a darker mood from 2019, but perhaps not as pessimistic as one would expect given all that has happened since then. In the recent poll, 25 percent expressed “insecurity, worry, fear for the future,” and 24 percent “total disappointment, disbelief in any improvement.” Those numbers were 17 percent and 3 percent, respectively, in 2019. 

Asked if they saw a future for their family in Armenia in the coming one to four years, a full 15 percent said “definitely no,” and a further 11 percent “probably no.”

Still, many Armenians remained hopeful: 25 percent say they retain hope that the future will be somewhat better, and 24 percent say they believe it will definitely be better. 

 

Joshua Kucera is the Turkey/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of The Bug Pit.

 

CivilNet: Armenia’s COVID-19 Numbers Increase After a Short-Lived Decline

Karagyozian Lena
CIVILNET.AM

12 Mar, 2021 02:03

By Varak Ghazarian

Following a steady decline in coronavirus cases in January and February, Armenia is again seeing a surge in cases that began in early March.

As of March 11, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Armenia has reached 176,286, with 165,441 recoveries and 3,239 deaths. According to Armenia’s National Center for Disease Control, the current number of hospitalizations is 6,772, and Armenia has so far conducted 761,945 COVID-19 tests.

On March 10, 4,285 tests were completed, of which 748 cases were positive. 

Last november, Armenia’s Ministry of Health announced that the government had made an advance payment for a coronavirus vaccine for 300,000 people or 10% of the country’s population, with the expected delivery date of mid-spring 2021.

On March 2, Gayane Sahakyan, Deputy Director-General of the National Center of Disease Control and Prevention, stated that Russia’s Sputnik V will become the first vaccine to be purchased by Armenia. 

“At the moment, we are in the process of signing an agreement with Russia. The vaccines will likely arrive in Armenia within the next week. We are purchasing 15,000 doses and are planning to vaccinate 7,500 people at this stage since two doses are necessary for each person,” Sahakyan said.

Additionally, Sahakyan noted that Armenia is currently negotiating the purchase of another vaccine. 

Armenia was set to receive its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines in mid-February, but that shipment has not yet arrived. 

The World Health Organization and the European Union reported that they would spend $48.48 million over the next three years to ensure better access to COVID-19 vaccines in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

According to the Ministry of Health, COVID-19 vaccinations are set to be carried out in two stages. The first stage includes the at-risk groups, which comprises residents or employees of social protection institutions, health workers, people 65-year-olds and older, and people with chronic illnesses.