Category: 2018

YEREVAN, August 13. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Court of Appeals announced today its decision on a petition filed by ex-president Robert Kocharyan’s lawyers against his arrest, releasing Kocharyan from custody.

Ruben Sahakyan, a defense lawyer for Kocharyan, said the ruling of the Court of Appeals was based on the presidential immunity. According to Armenian Constitution, during the term of his or her powers and thereafter, the President of the Republic may not be prosecuted and subjected to liability for actions deriving from his or her status. Sahakyan added that Kocharyan is still a suspect in the case, 

Earlier the Office of the Prosecutor-General declined an appeal signed by 46 members of the parliament, to release Robert Kocharyan from custody pending investigation into the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan. The lawmakers, the bulk from the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia, guaranteed in writing that Kocharyan will not flee prosecution if set free.

A Yerevan district court late on July 27 ruled that the Special Investigative Service (SIS) could hold Kocharyan for two months in pre-trial detention pending investigation. The case dates back to late February and early March 2008 following the disputed presidential election, when then prime minister Serzh Sargsyan was declared the winner, angering the opposition, led by the first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and setting off 10 days of nonstop protests that led to a crackdown on March 1, in which 10 people were killed and more than 200 injured.

Kocharyan was charged with toppling constitutional order in collusion with other persons, and the agency has applied to court for a detention warrant.  The same charge was brought against Yuri Khachaturov, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, who had been the chief of the Yerevan garrison at the time of the bloody events of 2008.  However, Khachaturov was released on bail, for AMD 5 million.  

Also former defense minister Mikael Harutyunyan is wanted by the law-enforcement authorities as a defendant in the case. He is accused of illegally using the Armenian armed forces against opposition supporters who demonstrated in Yerevan in the wake of the disputed presidential election held in February 2008. –0—-

YEREVAN, August 13. /ARKA/. Employees of Amulsar gold mine, located 13 km kilometers from the resort town of Jermuk, have gathered today outside the government building to protest against the suspension of its operation.

“We have not worked for 53 days now, and have repeatedly asked the government to resolve this issue, but we have not received any answer so far. Today we decided to gather here to get answers to our questions,” Mkhitar Arshakyan, an expert of the Lydian Armenia company, which owns and runs the mine, told reporters. He said they were resolute and ready to wait for the government’s response as long as needed.

Varag Siseryan, the head of the office of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, met with protesters and asked them to wait for another couple of weeks.

“You have waited for 53 days. We ask you to wait a little longer for a task force, set up by the government, to conclude a study regarding the environmental safety of the mine, which will be used by the government to make its final decision on whether to allow the operation of the mine or close it,’ he said.

All the roads leading to the Amulsar gold deposit have been blocked since June 23 by a group of residents of nearby communities and Armenian environment protection groups, although Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asked them to remove the blockade and wait for the findings of the task force.

Environments argue that the Amulsar project, if implemented, will contaminate not only air, water and soil in the area, but also Armenia’s largest Lake Sevan. 

Lydian Armenia was founded in 2005, and all 100% shares in it are owned by Lydian International. The Amulsar mine program is the first project of the company in Armenia.  The Amulsar gold deposit is the second largest deposit in Armenia in terms of gold reserves and is said to contain about 31 million tons of ore and 40 tons of pure gold. -0-

YEREVAN, August 13. /ARKA/. Armenian troops, deployed along its border with Azerbaijan’s exclave Nakhichevan, opened fire in retaliation to Azerbaijani troops’ provocations, a spokesman for Armenian defense ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in his Facebook page. He also said that Azerbaijani troops are likely to have suffered casualties.

During a visit to Moscow late last week Armenian Defense Minister David Tonoyan had a meeting with his Russian opposite number Sergey Shoigu and presented the situation on the line of contact between Armenian troops in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and along Armenia-Azerbaijan state border.

The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic is a historic Armenian territory, now an exclave of Azerbaijan. -0-

YEREVAN, August 13. /ARKA/. A new round of US sanctions against Russia and Iran could seriously jeopardize the economy of Armenia unless alternatives to support it are found, said today Suren Sargsyan, an expert in American affairs.

Speaking to reporters he said Armenia’s economy is closely linked with Russia, and new anti-Russian sanctions can cause serious damage to it, first of all, affecting the amount of remittances from Russia to Armenia.

On US sanctions against Iran Sargsyan said it is for the first time the US administration disregards the vital economic ties between Armenia and Iran. “Anti-Iran sanctions may affect energy and other joint projects, and to avoid serious consequences for Armenia, it is necessary to revise previous agreements,” he said.

Sargsyan said also it is necessary to actively engage Armenian lobbying organizations in the US to prevent serious damage to the Armenian economy. “We must do everything possible to increase American financial assistance to Armenia, which is the smallest since Armenia’s independence.’.

In July 2017, the US approved a reduction in the amount of aid provided to Armenia from $20.4 million in 2016 to $6.2 million in 2018.

Last week Washington said it would impose fresh sanctions against Russia by the end of August after concluding that Moscow had used a nerve agent against a former Russian spy Sergey Skripal and his daughter in Britain. 

On the same day, US President Donald Trump  threatened Iran with the most severe sanctions to be imposed in November. -0-