Category: 2019

                                        Friday, 
Police Officer ‘Suspended’ Over Hitting Protester
Protesters in a standoff with police near Yerevan's Opera House, 
A police officer has been suspended from performing his duties pending 
investigation after a video showing him hitting a protester, a police spokesman 
said.
In a Facebook post late on Thursday head of the Police’s Information and Public 
Relations Department Ashot Aharonian said: “A video has been disseminated 
showing a police officer hitting and kicking a citizen in [Yerevan’s] Liberty 
Square. Upon the instruction of Police Chief Valery Osipian, the Police’s 
Internal Security Department has launched an internal probe in connection with 
the case, while the police officer has been suspended from performing his 
duties.”
The incident took place on Thursday when municipal authorities continued to 
dismantle cafes in the vicinity of the Opera House in Yerevan.
Several dozen employees of the cafes as well as their owners staged a protest, 
trying to block traffic in a nearby street.
Police detained 16 citizens for “not complying with police officers’ lawful 
demands.” They were released later on.
At least one police officer and one protester were injured in the scuffle and 
were briefly hospitalized to be treated for their injuries.
Yerevan’s municipal authorities said they will continue the demolition work to 
free the green zone around the cultural building from illegal structures.
The cafe owners and employees described the actions of the municipality as 
illegal.
Some activists, on the contrary, had come to the square to show their support 
for the actions of the Yerevan authorities and the police.
Civil activist Vardges Gaspari said the authorities were doing the right thing 
from the point of view of both law and morality. He told RFE/RL’s Armenian 
Service last night that his poster was seized from him by one of the protesting 
young men and his glasses were broken during the scuffle.
Court Extends Detention Of Ex-President Kocharian
        • Anush Mkrtchian
Former President Robert Kocharian gives an interview to Russia's NTV television 
channel, Yerevan, 28Aug2018
A court in Yerevan on Friday extended by two months the pretrial detention of 
Robert Kocharian, a lawyer for the former Armenian president said after the 
court session.
Aram Orbelian also said he would appeal the decision.
Kocharian was again arrested in December more than four months after being 
charged with overthrowing the constitutional order during the final weeks of 
his decade-long rule that ended in April 2008. He denies the accusations as 
politically motivated.
Earlier this month the Special Investigative Service (SIS) asked the court to 
extend Kocharian’s arrest for the second time since his re-arrest late last 
year. The court granted the request.
Kocharian’s lawyers have dismissed the SIS’s case against their client as 
groundless and politically motivated.
Kocharian is specifically accused of illegally using Armenian army units 
against opposition supporters who protested against alleged fraud in a disputed 
presidential election held in February 2008. Law-enforcement authorities say 
that amounted to an overthrow of the constitutional order.
Eight protesters and two policemen were killed when security forces quelled the 
protests on March 1-2, 2008. Kocharian declared a three-week state of emergency 
on that night.
The 64-year-old ex-president says the accusations are part of incumbent Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political “vendetta” waged against him.
Pashinian played a key role in the 2008 protests and spent nearly two years in 
prison because of that. He has strongly defended the criminal case against 
Kocharian and denied orchestrating it.
Two Activists Charged With Attempted Kidnapping
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Davit Petrosian, a member of the Restart student group, 11Mar2019
Two activists involved in an attack on a video blogger highly critical of 
Armenia’s government have been charged with attempted kidnapping, a 
spokesperson for the country’s Prosecutor-General’s office said on Friday.
Following the incident that occurred earlier this month prosecutors originally 
opened criminal proceedings on the hallmarks of hooliganism. Later, due to new 
evidence that emerged in the case members of the Restart student group Davit 
Petrosian and Davit Simonian were charged with attempting to kidnap the 
blogger, Narek Malian. The two are confined to country limits pending 
investigation.
Malian was confronted outside his home in downtown Yerevan by members of the 
group shortly after midnight. A YouTube video of the incident showed the 
Restart leader, Petrosian, and several other men forcibly carrying Malian along 
an adjacent street before being stopped by police officers.
Petrosian posted the video on his Facebook page, writing: “There are moments in 
life when you can’t choose between the good and the bad and just have to listen 
to your conscience.”
In a statement, Restart said it wanted to throw Malian into a trash container. 
Petrosian likewise explained that he and his comrades tried “to put the garbage 
in its place” in response to what he called Malian’s offensive and slanderous 
statements about their activities.
Malian, Petrosian, and four other men were detained on the spot but were set 
free a few hours later. Malian was later recognized as a victim in the case.
Originally, the investigation was conducted under an article of the Criminal 
Code dealing with “hooliganism.” Malian, who worked until last year as an 
adviser to former police chief Vladimir Gasparian, described the assault as a 
“kidnapping attempt”. He linked the incident to his vocal efforts to prevent 
the sacking of the long-serving rector of Yerevan State University (YSU), Aram 
Simonian, which is sought by the government. Late last month the former police 
official staged a lone protest at a meeting of YSU’s supervisory board that 
narrowly failed to fire Simonian.
Restart has on the contrary been campaigning for the controversial rector’s 
ouster since last year’s “velvet revolution” in Armenia. The youth group 
comprising current and former YSU students actively participated in the 
revolution.
By contrast, Malian has been very scathing about the dramatic regime change in 
the country. He regularly attacks Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other 
government officials and pours scorn on their supporters on his Facebook page.
Incidentally, Pashinian was quick to condemn the assault, saying that “any 
attempt to solve issues in Armenia through violence must meet with a tough 
legal reaction.”
Armenian PM Offers Condolences Over New Zealand Attacks
An injured person is loaded into an ambulance following a shooting in 
Christchurch, New Zealand
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has sent a telegram of condolences to 
Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Arden over the terror attacks in two 
mosques in the city of Christchurch in which dozens of people were killed.
According to the prime minister’s official website, in his message Pashinian 
said that he was “deeply saddened” by the terrorist attacks that “claimed the 
lives of many innocent people.”
“Strongly condemning terrorism in all its forms, I express my sincere 
condolences and support to you, the families of the victims and the friendly 
people of New Zealand,” Pashinian said.
The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also twitted words of condolences over 
the Christchurch attacks, saying that “on this dark day, we stand with the 
people of New Zealand in condemning violence and terrorism.”
Forty-nine people were killed and 20 wounded in an attack on two mosques in 
Christchurch on Friday. Police in New Zealand have arrested the suspected 
shooter, bringing murder charges against him.
Meanwhile, the Armenian National Committee of New Zealand also offered its 
deepest condolences over the terror attacks and unequivocally condemned them.
“Further, we condemn the accused gunman’s attempt to reference the Armenian 
language, along with the languages of other Christian nationalities – including 
Georgian, Serbian, Russian and Austrian - through markings on his weapons used 
in what was an unacceptable hate crime targeting the Islamic community,” the 
organization said in a statement, stressing that “such crusades have no place 
in our world, and definitely no place in peace-loving New Zealand.”
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” reflects on the statements by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov who said on March 14 that Baku is 
against changing the format of negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. 
“This behavior by Azerbaijan is quite natural, even though in 1994 Baku signed 
a document, recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as a party to the conflict. Later, it 
did everything to shift the problem into the field of relations between Armenia 
and Azerbaijan only. And because of the former Armenian authorities 20 years 
ago Azerbaijan got what it wanted, as Nagorno-Karabakh was left out of the 
format of negotiations. So, it is natural that Azerbaijan should oppose 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s return to the negotiating table. What is strange is the 
assessments voiced by foreign diplomats that by raising the issue of 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s return to the negotiating table Armenia sets a demand for 
changing the format of negotiations,” the paper writes, stressing that Yerevan 
should have made it clear through its diplomacy that the matter concerns “the 
full application of the 1994 format.”
“Zhamanak” writes that there have been some media reports saying that Armenian 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who visited Nagorno-Karabakh for the purpose of 
co-chairing a joint meeting of the Armenian and Karabakh Security Councils, 
also had a meeting on the so-called ‘internal political’ subject, in 
particular, with Vitaliy Balasanian, a plausible presidential candidate in 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s 2020 presidential election. “Pashinian stated that Armenia 
is pursuing a policy of raising Nagorno-Karabakh’s status as an entity, which 
means that Armenia should seek not to meddle in the process of the formation of 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s government,” the paper writes, adding: “At the same time, it 
is clear that Armenia cannot but have its interest in it, because as in the 
case with non-interference in the judicial system in Armenia, the possibility 
of influence of the former system may become considerable.”
The editor of “Aravot” comments on the dismantling of cafes located in the 
vicinity of the Opera House in Yerevan’s Liberty Square: “Personally, I would 
have tolerated the existence of these cafes for several more years, especially 
since their owners signed contracts with the municipality until 2022-23. And 
the right of ownership is also very important, including in terms of attracting 
investment. The decision to dismantle the cafes could have been postponed. 
Meanwhile, some ‘constructive’ work could be done before demolishing. It is 
clear that within a few months it is impossible to free us from the poor 
transport system or build a new metro station, but at least some work could be 
started… so that in two or three years the authorities could say: ‘Well, we 
have done some good things, and now we are dismantling the bad things.’”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org