Recently, Judge Artush Gabrielyan accepted the request of Araik Papikyan’s lawyer for the release of Ashot Petrosyan, a member of Sasna Tsrer.
For the artist Ashot Petrosyan, the judge established a pledge in the amount of AMD 500,000.
The pledge was paid by Karo Yegnukyan who has been recently released on the same case. All the 11 defendants in this case are already released
Today, the preventive measure against Vardges Gevorgyan has also been changed.
Chambers of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
STRASBOURG—The Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) examined corruption reports during its summer session and determined that 14 assembly members had violated ethical standards by engaging in corrupt activities with Azerbaijan. Specifically, members had accepted gifts and other monetary bribes from the Azeri government to lobby on its behalf and present Azerbaijan in a positive light.
In a report published April 15, the Committee on Rules of Procedure stated that, “The allegations made and the facts supporting them are examined under four principal headings: (1) the various activities in favour of Azerbaijan within PACE; (2) the exchange of gifts and different forms of benefits; (3) the influence of extra-institutional actors (lobbyists); and (4) money and other corruptive activities being used as a means of fostering Azerbaijan’s interests in PACE.”
Arpine Hovhannisyan, the deputy speaker of Armenian parliament and the head of the Armenian delegation to PACE, said the committee has sanctioned the parliamentarians who are mentioned in the reports — she explained that the group is comprised of both former and current PACE members. The sanctioned parliamentarians include Alain Destexhe, Luca Volontè, Agustín Conde, Karin Strenz, Elkhan Suleymanov, Göran Lindblad, Tadeusz Iwiński, among seven others.
“As I had explained earlier, the independent Investigative Body of PACE had presented its report on corruption processes in PACE at the spring sitting,” Hovhannisyan said. “The Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs Committee immediately touched upon the report. The committee continued working over the reports during the summer session.”
The committee ruled that the 14 PACE members who were found to have breached the organization’s Code of Conduct should be deprived of the right to access Council of Europe and Parliamentary Assembly premises for life.
This was the third Rules Committee hearing concerning the conduct of individual members and served as a follow-up to the Investigation Body’s report. Two previous hearings took place April 25 and May 15, and the committee will continue its hearings of current and former PACE members at its next meeting.
A Yerevan court has overruled the verdict of Jirayr Sefilyan, the man who is convicted of illegally acquiring firearms and organizing riots.
Sefilyan’s initial sentence was 10 years and five months. The sentence was cut in half.
Today, the court examined the appeal of Sefilyan and the latter was released from the courthouse – on a signature bond. Sefilyan will serve the remainder of his sentence non-incarcerated, on a signature bond – taking into account the guarantees from certain lawmakers.
A film by international artist Francis Alys will be shown in Helston from this Friday
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. Harry aka HampigSassounian, the Lebanese-Armenian gunman who is serving a life sentence in the US for the 1982 assassination of Turkey’s Consul General in Los Angeles, will have his next parole hearing on June 29th, according to the Board of Parole Hearings of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Kemal Arikan,54, the Turkish Consul General, was gunned down by two gunmen in his car while waiting at a red light in an intersection in Westwood, Los Angeles in 1982. Sassounian was 19 years old at the time.
Witnesses identified Sassounian as one of the gunmen.
A group calling itself Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide(JCAG) called Los Angeles news media and claimed responsibility for the attack.
During the trial, the prosecutors indicated that Sassounian “was motivated to kill Arikan by vengeance for theArmenian Genocidecommitted by the Turkish Ottomans of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.”
The jury determined that Sassounian, shot Arikan to death on January 28, 1982 at 9:40am. Because the jury determined that the killing targeted Arikan based on his nationality, Sassounian was sentenced without the possibility of parole. He was convicted in 1984. Sassounian initially denied killing the consul.
But 20 years after the murder, in 2002, Sassounian admitted for the first time his role in the killing in exchange for the possibility of eventual release from state prison.
Harry Sassounian was granted a chance to be eligible for parole in 2002 under terms of the settlement with prosecutors, with the first hearing scheduled for 2006.
“I participated in the murder of Kemal Arikan,” Sassounian said in Superior Court on October 18, 2002 in Los Angeles. “I renounce the use of terrorist tactics such as the assassination of diplomats to achieve political goals. I regret the suffering of the Arikan family”, Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying in court.
Sassounian was eventually given a parole hearing for the first time in 2006, but subsequently he was denied. His next hearing was scheduled for 2010, and again he was denied.
Sassounian’s attorney, Mark Geragos, said he didn’t view the first hearing decision as a setback, arguing that it is rare for parole to be granted on the first try, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“The parole commissioners were very complimentary of his chances next time around,” Geragos said in a telephone interview with Los Angeles Times.
Six years later after the second denial, in 2016, the California Board of Parole Hearings eventually recommended Sassounian’s release from prison.
The board said Sassounian, traumatized by horrific warfare in his native Lebanon as a child, had accepted responsibility for his crime, shown remorse, and participated in numerous treatment and job-training programs in prison.
But Sassounian’s parole was vetoed by California governor Jerry Brown in 2017. The decision was unexpected for many, for Brown has affirmed almost 82 percent of the parole board decisions.
Surprisingly, Jerry Brown announced his decision a day before President Trump’s meeting at the White House with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Sassounian’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, called the governor’s action “alarming.”
“This was a young kid, clearly swayed by emotion at the time” of the killing, who is now “being used repeatedly as a political football,” Geragos said. “I don’t understand why the State Department is involved,” he said, and “I didn’t realize that the governor was trying to curry favor with the brutal dictator Erdogan.”
Turks living in the US have already began sending letters to the parole board opposing the release of Sassounian in the upcoming 2018 hearing, according to Turkish media.
ENGLISH: Editor/Translator -Stepan Kocharyan
Aram Manukyan, the chief wine maker of “Yeraskh Wine Factory” CJSC and a member of the “Civil Contract” party, wants to become the head of Aygezard community in Ararat region. Head of the community Artur Manukyan and non-partisan Vahagn Sargsyan will also compete for the post. He was nominated by the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP).
The election will take place on June 10. Local elections will be held in 19 communities in Aragatsotn, Ararat, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Lori and Kotayk regions. The elections of the leader of the community will be held in 8 communities, elections of member of the council of elders will be held in 7 communities, and in 4 communities, elections of both leader of the community and community council will be held.
The leader of the Antarashen community of Lori region, non-partisan Rafik Kharatyan and the community’s driver Sergey Biryukev will compete for becoming community leaders.
And in Dprevank community in Aragatsotn region, the head of non-partisan community Aramayis Kasabovand and laborer at Pekar Kredo company Hovik Kodabashyan will compete.
During today’s government session Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the cases of recent attacks on civil activists and the issue to investigate them.
“Cases of attacks, as well as cases of breaking cars occurred in April. These cases must be investigated, and the issue of peoples’ own vehicles must be solved, we need to understand who will bear the responsibility for these attacks, and all acts should be revealed”, the PM said.
He reminded that an attack on students happened in Heratsi Street, and the video has spread in the internet. “It has been found out that this case has been closed. We should end this practice. People must clearly see that we are moving on the path of disclosing the cases, today, unfortunately, these messages do not exist, but I hope we will see. The legality of the decision to close the case must be checked, since what the media writes, it turns out that closing the cases has nothing to do with the law”, PM Pashinyan said.
In his turn first deputy prime minister Ararat Mirzoyan added that according to media reports, several days ago unknown persons attacked a group of activists near a supermarket in Yerevan: the activists were demanding the resignation of Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan.
Commenting on this, PM Pashinyan applied to Police Chief Valery Osipyan: “All violent acts should be fully investigated. I don’t care who is the author of the violence and who is the victim, from which political team, camp or party. We must have a violence-free society. Mr. Osipyan, I expect concrete and quick actions”.
The first deputy PM added that he is ready to be engaged in the investigation of some of the cases as an eyewitness.