Friday,
High Court Chief Cites Legal Safeguards Against His Arrest
Armenia -- Hrayr Tovmasian, Yerevan, October 2, 2012.
Hrayr Tovmasian, the embattled chairman of Armenia’s Constitutional Court, has
warned that authorities will violate the Armenian constitution if they arrest
him without the consent of most other court judges.
In an interview with the “168 Zham” newspaper published late on Thursday,
Tovmasian also said that he will step down only if at least five of those
judges demand his resignation. And he claimed that his continuing refusal to
quit despite strong government pressure is strengthening judicial independence
in Armenia.
“I believe that the judicial authority must earn its independence and earning
that independence is not that easy,” said Tovmasian. “Maybe these ‘pressures’
or events taking place around the Constitutional Court are the path through
which the judicial authority is earning its independence … Nobody will deliver
your independence to you on a silver plate.”
The authorities have been trying to oust Tovmasian ever since Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian stated in May that many Armenian judges remain linked to the
“former corrupt system.” Pashinian accused Tovmasian in July of having
“privatized” the Constitutional Court as part of a dubious deal struck with the
country’s former leadership in early 2018.
Early this month, the Armenian parliament urged Constitutional Court justices
to replace their chairman. A parliamentary resolution drafted by the ruling My
Step bloc accused Tovmasian of mishandling appeals lodged by the arrested
former President Robert Kocharian and cited his past affiliation with the
former ruling Republican Party (HHK).
The court dismissed the resolution on October 14. Two days later, the Special
Investigative Service (SIS) launched criminal proceedings against Tovmasian.
The law-enforcement body on Tuesday effectively declared illegal his election
as court chairman by the former, HHK-controlled parliament in March 2018.
The SIS arrested a former senior parliament staffer as part of the coup
investigation. It has stopped short of indicting Tovmasian so far.
Armenia -- Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan casts a ballot in a parliament vote on a
resolution demanding the dismissal of Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr
Tovmasian, Yerevan, October 4, 2019.
The Armenian constitution stipulated before being amended less than two years
ago that a Constitutional Court judge cannot be arrested without the consent of
at least five of the eight other members of the country’s highest court. Under
constitutional amendments that took effect in April 2018, such permission is
needed only in cases where the judge faces prosecution in connection with the
performance of their duties.
Tovmasian insisted that he is protected by the previous version of the
constitution and enjoys “full immunity” from prosecution because of being
appointed to the court before April 2018. “They can prosecute, arrest me only
with the Constitutional Court’s consent,” he told 168Zham.am.
Tovmasian also confirmed reports that he recently told fellow judges that he
will resign as court chairman if at least five of them demand his exit.
The SIS has yet to clarify whether it considers Tovmasian a potential suspect
in the high-profile probe.
HHK figures and other critics of the current government say that this and a
separate investigation into Tovmasian conducted by the National Security
Service (NSS) are politically motivated. They claim Pashinian is seeking to
purge the Constitutional Court in order to tighten his hold on power. Tovmasian
similarly charged on October 2 that the authorities want to gain control over
the court.
Pashinian and his political allies strongly deny this. The premier has
repeatedly stated that his aim is to help establish a “truly independent”
judiciary.
The NSS raised eyebrows last week by interrogating Tovmasian’s 75-year-old
father and two daughters. It too denied any political motives, saying it simply
suspected that they had not submitted accurate asset declarations to a state
body. The former Armenian branch of the Soviet KGB said it is also
investigating a possible misuse of government funds allocated by the Armenian
Justice Ministry at a time when it was headed by Tovmasian.
Tovmasian said on Thursday that seeing his relatives summoned to the NSS for
questioning was “not a pleasant thing.” “They now joke in our household that
only the mom (Tovmasian’s wife) wasn’t summoned by the NSS because she is
originally from Ijevan,” he said, referring to Pashinian’s hometown.
Senior Police Official Fired For ‘Political Statement’
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- Hovannes Kocharian, deputy chief of the Amenian police, at a news
conference in Yerevan.
A deputy chief of the Armenian police has been sacked for publicly objecting to
a bill that would allow political appointees to run the law-enforcement agency.
Armenian law has until now required the heads of the police and the National
Security Service (NSS) to be high-ranking career officers. Legal amendments
drafted by the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK) and passed by the
parliament in the first reading last month would remove this requirement. They
stipulate that any Armenian national, who is aged 25 or older and has lived in
the country for the last four years, could be appointed as police or NSS chief
by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Colonel Hovannes Kocharian, the deputy chief of the national police service,
told reporters on Tuesday that the police oppose the proposed amendments
because they are based on “political expediency.”
“The view of the police does not correspond to that of the authors of this
bill,” Kocharian told reporters. He dismissed the authors' arguments that the
police will be more accountable to the parliament if they are run by outsiders.
President Armen Sarkissian relieved Kocharian of his duties on Thursday in a
decree requested by Pashinian. The prime minister’s spokesman, Vladimir
Karapetian, said the police official was fired because of making a “political
statement.”
“The prime minister has stated on many occasions that the police and army
servicemen must stay away from politics and must not make statements of
political character,” Karapetian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
The National Assembly was widely expected to pass the LHK bill in the second
reading earlier on Thursday. However, it failed to do so after last-minute
objections voiced by Vladimir Vartanian, the pro-government chairman of the
parliament committee on legal affairs.
Vartanian said that the bill needs to undergo some changes before it can become
a law. He did not elaborate on those changes.
The police and NSS chiefs, Valeri Osipian and Artur Vanetsian, were forced by
Pashinian to resign last month for still unclear reasons. Both agencies have
been headed by interim heads since then. Pashinian has yet to decide who will
run them on a permanent basis.
Authorities Report Hefty Payout From Sarkisian Bodyguard
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (R) and his chief bodyguard Vachagan
Ghazarian (L), Yerevan, April 14, 2012.
The former chief bodyguard of ex-President Serzh Sarkisian and his wife
prosecuted on corruption charges have paid the state almost 2.9 billion drams
($6 million) in compensation, investigators said on Friday.
Vachagan Ghazarian, who headed Sarkisian’s security detail for over two
decades, stands accused of illegal enrichment and false asset disclosure. The
charges stem from his failure to declare to a state anti-corruption body more
than $2.5 million in cash that was mostly held in his and his wife’s bank
accounts.
Ghazarian was obliged to do that in his capacity as deputy head of a security
agency providing bodyguards to Armenia’s leaders. He held that position until
May 2018.
Ghazarian was first detained in June 2018 after police raided his apartment in
Yerevan and found $1.1 million and 230,000 euros ($267,000) in cash there. The
National Security Service (NSS) said he carried a further $120,000 and 436
million drams ($900,000) in a bag when he was caught outside a commercial bank
in Yerevan.
Armenia - Vachagan Ghazarian empties his bag filled with cash after being
arrested by the National Security Service in Yerevan, 25 June 2018.
Ghazarian, who has the rank of NSS general, was released from custody in July
2018 but arrested again last November. A Yerevan court granted him bail in
December after he offered to transfer as much as $6 million to the state.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) said on Friday the once powerful
officer and his wife have completed the payment. An SIS spokeswoman described
the cash transfer as a recovery of financial “damage” inflicted on the state.
It remains unclear when the SIS will complete investigation and whether
Ghazarian will stand trial.
Earlier this year, another law-enforcement body, the National Security Service
(NSS), secured an even heftier payout, worth $30 million, from Serzh
Sarkisian’s indicted brother Aleksandr. The money was held in Aleksandr
Sarkisian’s Armenian bank account frozen by the NSS shortly after the 2018
“Velvet Revolution” that topped the former president.
Tsarukian’s Top Business Manager Denies Tax Fraud
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Sedrak Arustamian speaks to workers of a cement plant in Ararat,
April 15, 2019.
The top manager of companies belonging to Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader
Gagik Tsarukian denied on Friday fraud and tax evasion charges levelled against
him last month.
The accusations do not relate to any of the several dozen firms making up
Tsarukian’s Multi Group and stem from separate economic activities of the
holding company’s chief executive, Sedrak Arustamian.
The Investigative Committee claimed on September 18 that Arustamian helped
Sinohydro Corporation, a Chinese construction company building a 56-kilometer
highway in northwestern Armenia, evade 240 million drams ($503,000) in taxes.
It said Sinohydro paid an Armenian firm owned by Arustamian and run by two
other men 117 million drams in fictitious consulting frees as part of the scam.
Both men were also indicted. One of them, Gurgen Sargsian, served as Armenia’s
transport minister from 2008-2010. Sargsian was arrested earlier this week.
Investigators also moved to arrest Arurstamian when they brought the charges
against him. An Armenian district court decided to grant him bail, however.
Prosecutors appealed against the decision.
The Court of Appeals finished on Friday hearings on the legal challenge. It
will announce on Monday whether Arustamian can be arrested pending
investigation.
“I did not commit any crimes and am confident that the court will make the
right dcision,” the business executive told reporters.
Asked whether he believes the charges are politically motivated, Arustamian
said: “I have no connection whatsoever with politics.”
Representatives of the BHK, which is the country’s largest parliamentary
opposition force, have indicated that they see no political motives behind the
case. Arustamian’s daughter Nora is one of the 26 parliament deputies
representing Tsarukian’s party.
Armenia - The Yerevan-Ararat highway is upgraded as part of the North-South
transport project, 2Feb2014.
The accusations against Tsarukian’s right-hand man are part of an ongoing
extensive investigation into serious financial abuses allegedly committed
during the implementation of a multimillion-dollar project to rebuild Armenia’s
key highways. More than a dozen individuals have been indicted in the probe so
far.
Five of them are currently on the run. They include the executive director of
the Spanish company Corsan Corviam Construccion which was contracted by the
former Armenian government in 2012 to upgrade more than 90 kilometers of roads.
The first two reconstructed highways connecting Yerevan to the towns of Ararat
and Ashtarak were inaugurated in late 2015. Corsan never rebuilt the remaining
40-kilometer-long road covered by the $250 million contract.
The Investigative Committee claimed earlier this month that Corsan’s Armenian
subcontractors were chosen by former President Serzh Sarkisian’s brother Levon
in return for hefty kickbacks. Levon Sarkisian, who fled Armenia last year, was
charged with bribery and money laundering as a result. He denied the
accusations through a lawyer.
Press Review
Lragir.am says Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian was right to say
on Thursday that his standoff with the Armenian government is good for the
court’s independence. “The Constitutional Court is really independent from and
not subordinate to the authorities,” it writes. “This is the high court’s first
such achievement in its history.” It is also true, the publication goes on,
that the court is now independent because it was formed by the former
authorities and, according to many supporters of the current government,
remains dependent on them. “In this sense, the Constitutional Court needs to
earn and prove its independence from the former regime as well,” it says.
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” condemns as “very unfair and absurd” law-enforcement
authorities’ decision to arrest a former deputy chief of the Armenian
parliament staff, Arsen Babayan, as part of their investigation into Tovmasian.
“Is he the one who prevents the authorities from resolving the crisis over the
Constitutional Court?” asks the paper. “Probably not … Arsen Babayan is neither
an oligarch nor former senior official. Nor has he earned millions [of
dollars,] killed anymore or used troops against people.” It says that the
alleged crime attributed Babayan is far less serious than what other former
senior officials, who remain free, are accused of. “The path chosen by the
authorities for solving the Constitutional Court issue does not look good,”
concludes the paper.
“Aravot” says that Armenian government ministers must do a better job of
“benefiting the state” after having their monthly wages controversially doubled
by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. The paper admits at the same time that it is
not easy to objectively measure the effectiveness of their work. “There is also
another problem,” it says. “If a minister gets 1.5 million drams [per month]
while the head of a ministry division only 200,000 drams the latter will not
necessarily be happy and that will reflect on their work.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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