Category: 2018

Acting Prime Minister of RA Nikol Pashinyan continues his messages to the authorities of Artsakh.

Thus, during the campaign in Chambarak, today he announced what he does not understand, what is the reason for the activity of the representatives of the Artsakh authorities in connection with the parliamentary elections to be held in Armenia. According to Pashinyan, he has accumulated questions in this regard, which he will definitely discuss with the Artsakh president.

“But before that, I urge Bako Sahakyan to call the representatives of his government to order and send them to work, some representatives of the Artsakh authorities are leaving inappropriate comments under my statements,” declared the Acting Prime Minister of RA. 

Special mention was made of Davit Babayan, the spokesman of the Artsakh president, who, according to Pashinyan, comments on his statements.

“What about you? Can you imagine my press spokesperson commenting on the known and unknown events of Karabakh, do you understand what the consequences and results will be? Calm down, gentlemen, and do your work,” he said, repeating that he will discuss all this with Bako Sahakyan, but already after the elections.

The Police of the Republic of Armenia published the total number of voters included in the voter register of the Republic of Armenia, indicating also the number of voters by location and the number of voters without registration.

We present the RA police statement below.

“In compliance with Article 8, Part 7 of the RA Electoral Code, during the National Assembly elections, on the 10th day before the voting day, the authorized body publishes the total number of voters included in the voter register of the Republic of Armenia, indicating also the number of voters by location and the number of unregistered voters. 

Thus. On the 10th day before the voting day, the total number of voters of the RA National Assembly elections included in the RA voter register is 2,575,939.

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– according to the location of the voters and according to the location in the electoral precinct, the number of precinct election commission members: 4,477, 
– the number of unregistered voters: 74″.

The pre-election campaign for the parliamentary elections in Armenia is actively underway and various political forces are mainly busy spreading populist statements and blaming the previous authorities for the mistakes they made.

Political discourse is largely ongoing Nikol Pashinyan on the criticisms of the RPA and the former authorities, promises to punish bribe-takers and mutual accusations for the mistakes made by the RPA, Nikol Pashinyan and his team during half a year.

However, RA is facing a number of serious challenges: an economic crisis and an expected economic collapse due to debt servicing, inflation and the accumulation of social problems, the Karabakh issue is relevant, Azerbaijan continues to arm itself and buy new weapons, not forgetting to threaten Yerevan and Stepanakert, and emigration has not weakened, the serious demographic crisis is assessed by experts as a threat to national security.

During the pre-election campaign, promises are made to the society, which will be difficult to implement without giving a clear answer to the above questions. Political forces avoid giving concrete answers to acute questions, limiting themselves to sending positive messages and promises.

This means that after the elections, the public will be deeply disappointed: many problems will continue to accompany RA and the Armenian economy, which will mean a permanent internal political crisis.

In order to face the external and internal challenges, all internal political forces must unite around the development of a strategy to solve the problems.

The force that won the elections should form a meritocratic or professional government, which, of course, will have a large public support and a high degree of legitimacy.

In order to overcome extreme poverty among old-age, disability and survivor benefits recipients, the government has made changes to previous decisions.

Accordingly, it is proposed to set the amount of the military pension for the disability of a soldier of the rank and file of compulsory military service for the disabled of the third group (18,000 AMD) and the amount of the military pension in case of the loss of a breadwinner of a family member of a member of the rank and file of compulsory military service (victim) (24,000 AMD), the amount of benefits in case of old age, disability, loss of a breadwinner is to be set at 25,500 AMD. It was also established that the decision enters into force in 2019. from January 1. Currently, the amount of the old-age allowance is 16,000 AMD, for the 1st group of disabled people and disabled children – 21,500 AMD, for the second group of disabled people – 19,000 AMD, for the third group of disabled people – 16,000 AMD, in case of losing a breadwinner – the amount of the allowance is 16,000 AMD.

Emphasizing the adopted decision, Acting First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated at today’s session of the government. “The Republic of Armenia is a social state, and we all have an obligation to socially vulnerable groups. We must make our best efforts to fulfill this obligation as dignified as possible.”

The executive has approved the legislative initiative of the government regarding the draft of the RA law “On Amendments and Amendments to the RA Law on State Pensions”. The purpose of the bill is to overcome extreme poverty among pensioners. Accordingly, it is proposed to introduce a new tool in the state pension security system, the amount of the minimum pension. It will make it possible to make the current policy even more targeted by targeting low pensions.

The draft proposes to establish that the amount of pension calculated in accordance with the RA Law “On State Pensions” cannot be less than the amount of the minimum pension established by the RA Government. Moreover, in the calculations made within the RA budget process in 2019 From January 1, the amount of the minimum pension is 25,500 drams (the amount of the extreme poverty line). The draft also stipulates that the law enters into force in 2019. from January 1.

At the session of the government on November 29, the executive adopted two drafts of the decision to allocate money from its reserve fund to the Ministry of Justice. The aim is to compensate for lost cases at the European Court of Human Rights.

The first case is the “Ayvazyan v. Armenia” case (complaint no. 46245/08). In order to fulfill the requirements of the judgment of October 18, 2018, the draft decision states that, in the fourth quarter of 2018, AMD equivalent to 4,500 euros should be allocated to the Ministry of Justice at the expense of the reserve fund provided for in the 2018 state budget for the fair compensation specified in the judgment. This case is related to the events of March 1-2, 2008. 

The description of the case states that on March 1, 2008, the gathering in Freedom Square was dispersed by the police, and the applicant, who was in Freedom Square at that time, was arrested and later convicted under Article 316, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code, on the charge of violence against police officers.

On June 11, 2008, the Administrative District Court found the applicant guilty of violence against police officers and sentenced him to 1.5 years in prison.

In this case, the European Court recorded a violation of Article 5, Clause 1 and Article 5, Clause 3 of the Convention.

The European Court came to the conclusion that the arrest applied to the applicant from May 1 to 13, 2008 was not based on a court decision, therefore it was not legal.

Next is the “Hovhannisyan v. Armenia” case (complaint No. 18419/13). According to the draft decision, in order to fulfill the requirements of the judgment of the ECHR of July 19, 2018, the amount equivalent to 3000 euros will be allocated to the Ministry of Justice from the account of the reserve fund in the fourth quarter of 2018 for the just compensation defined by the judgment.

In the description of the case, it is mentioned that the applicant is a civil servant who works as a state inspector in the RA Ministry of Nature Protection.

According to the applicant, on January 10, 2012, the head of his department and his deputy abused him. In particular, they attacked him, grabbed his hands, insulted him and forcibly took a document related to him. As a result of the violence, he fainted, suffered physical injuries, received many bruises on his arms and was seriously humiliated.

The applicant submitted a written report to the Ministry’s chief of staff, describing in detail what happened.

The head of the department and his deputy gave a statement to the police and denied the use of violence against the applicant.

According to the conclusion of the appointed expert, the physical injuries of the applicant, both taken separately and all together, did not contain elements of short-term damage to health. The prosecutor ordered the investigator to reject the initiation of a criminal case on the basis that no crime was committed.

On March 5, 2012, the investigator refused to open a criminal case due to the lack of a criminal record. The Criminal Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s appeal and fully upheld the decision of the Administrative District Court.

In this case, the European Court recorded a violation of the procedural component of Article 3 of the Convention. The European Court first noted that the applicant had made an arguable allegation before the competent national authorities that he had been ill-treated, then observed that an independent and effective investigation of the case should have been carried out, which would have made it possible to ascertain the facts of the case and, if the allegations were found to be true, to identify the culprits and impose a possible punishment on them.

Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan informed during the meeting with residents of Vardenis that the contract soldier was found dead under an avalanche near Kakhakn village of Gegharkunik marz. He suggested the gathered to honor the memory of the serviceman with a minute of silence.

“There was talk about a contract serviceman who got stuck in the snow three days ago. I have bad news: the soldier has been found dead. I express my condolences to all his relatives, friends and loved ones,” said Pashinyan.

Let us remind that on November 27, at 14:58, information was reported to the “911” service that citizen M. H. (1994) was left under an avalanche. the help of rescuers is needed. One combat unit from the fire-rescue squad of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications went to the scene of the incident.

Search and rescue operations were suspended due to darkness and bad weather. On November 28, at 06:55 a.m., two combat units (10 rescuers) departed from the special purpose rescue operations center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and carried out search and rescue operations.

For the first time in many years, the day of Sovietization in Armenia, November 29, was accompanied by incidents. The communists of Armenia had to defend the honor and memory of the fallen fighters of the worker-peasant Red Army by fighting in the streets of Yerevan.

As NEWS.am reports, according to tradition, about 50 communists decided to celebrate Sovietization Day, the 98th anniversary. On the occasion of that famous day, they decided to lay flowers on the monument of Stepan Shahumyan, the president of the Baku Commune, Lenin’s comrade-in-arms, which is located not far from the Republic Square, as well as on the two memorials of the Red Army fighters.

However, the commemorative events were marred by a fight with supporters of European integration.

The events were organized by the Communist Party of Armenia, whose activists were joined by representatives and leaders of the Progressive Communist Party of Armenia and the “Socialist Path” party.

Together they laid flowers on the above-mentioned monuments, after which, after some time, the supporters of the European integration of Armenia passed by them, accompanied by police officers, with banners calling for the removal of the 102nd military base from the territory of the republic.

The posters also stated that the Red Army “did not liberate, but occupied Armenia”. This angered the communists, who followed the convoy led by the co-chairman of the European Union, Tigran Khzmalyan.

Khzmalyan and his supporters approached the memorial complex of the 11th Red Army fighters. Khzmalyan and his team tried to make a speech, but at that moment thoughts criticizing the communists were heard and a fight started. The situation became so heated that police officers had to intervene. They had to move the workers closer to protect the small pro-Western group from the Communists who outnumbered them twice. As a result, the communists managed to prevent the opponents from approaching the monument, which according to the previously announced plans, they intended to “close”.

As a result, Khzmalyan gathered his supporters and continued the march to the Russian Embassy in Yerevan.

More details in the source.