Wednesday,
Tycoon Rebuked Over ‘Threat’
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia -- The national police headquarters in Yerevan, February 4, 2020.
A deputy chief of the Armenian police on Wednesday criticized a wealthy
businessman close to the country’s former leadership for an angry statement
which he made after being briefly detained in Yerevan on Tuesday.
The controversial businessman and former parliamentarian, Ruben Hayrapetian,
spent nearly three hours in police custody and was set free without charge. The
police said he was detained on suspicion of illegal arms possession.
Hayrapetian, who claims to own firearms legally, laughed off this explanation
after his release. He said the police action was part of government attempts to
intimidate him.
Speaking to journalists outside the national police headquarters, he also said:
“One day I will make them lie on the ground and wipe my feet on them.”
The remark prompted strong condemnations from political allies of Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian. Andranik Kocharian, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian
parliament committee on defense and security, described it as a “blow” to the
police and the government.
“I don’t remember anyone daring to make such a statement under police walls
before,” Kocharian told reporters. He said that the police should have taken
strong action in response to what he called a threat voiced by Hayrapetian.
But Vartan Movsisian, a deputy chief of the national police, reacted more
cautiously to the controversial remark.
“I cannot evaluate at this point whether or not it was a threat,” said
Movsisian. “It may have been a mere emotional outburst. But such statements are
certainly not welcome regardless of who makes them.”
Movsisian also defended Hayrapetian’s detention, saying that the police did not
break any laws.
Citing similar “suspicions,” the police also detained several anti-government
activists last week. The latter denounced the police actions as politically
motivated.
Authorities Move To Replace High Court Judges Through Constitutional Changes
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian (C) reads out a ruling
on an appeal lodged by former President Robert Kocharian, Yerevan, September 4,
2019.
In a move denounced by the Armenian opposition, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
My Step bloc has drafted constitutional changes that would dismiss seven of the
nine members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court locked in a bitter dispute with
the government.
The amendments were unveiled on Wednesday one day before an emergency session of
the Armenian parliament which will discuss a separate My Step bill limiting the
court’s powers.
They call for the replacement of the court’s embattled chairman, Hrayr
Tovmasian, and six other judges who were installed by the former Armenian
governments.
An explanatory note released by 37 co-sponsors of the proposed changes argues
that they are not covered by the 2015 constitutional changes envisaging shorter
tenures for new members of the country’s highest court. It also claims that the
court lacks “democratic legitimacy.”
“The three branches of government in Armenia were usurped by the former
authorities: [former Presidents] Serzh Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian and their
satellites,” said deputy parliament speaker Alen Simonian.
“The people of Armenia liberated the government and the National Assembly from
their claws and they are now going to liberate the judicial system as well,” he
added, referring to the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” that toppled Sarkisian and
brought Pashinian to power.
Representatives of the two parliamentary opposition parties rejected the
proposed changes and questioned their legality, however.
“This path chosen by the authorities carries a great danger for the rule of law
in Armenia,” Edmon Marukian, the leader of the Bright Armenia Party (LHK), told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “It could set a bad precedent for any future
government to oust judges and handpick new ones in the same way.”
Marukian also warned that the authorities risk putting Armenia at odds with the
Council of Europe. “If they want to get Armenia in serious trouble and relegate
us to the level of Azerbaijan, which is criticized for similar problems, then it
means they … do not realize what dangers this decision is fraught with,” he said.
Tovmasian has faced in recent months growing government pressure to resign, with
the ruling political team accusing him of maintaining ties to the “corrupt
former regime” and impeding judicial reforms. Prosecutors charged him in late
December with abusing his powers when serving as justice minister from 2010-2014.
The Constitutional Court chairman rejects the accusations as politically
motivated. He said last week that he has no intention to resign.
Earlier in December, the parliament passed a government bill offering Tovmasian
and the six other Constitutional Court judges financial incentives to retire
before the end of their mandate. None of them has accepted the offer so far.
In a statement released on Monday, the president of the Council of Europe’s
Venice Commission, Gianni Buquicchio, warned against “any undue political or
personal pressure on the judges concerned.”
Speaking to reporters later in the day, Marukian said that the authorities are
planning to hold a referendum on the draft amendments to the constitution. He
deplored their unwillingness to have the Venice Commission examine the
amendments before such a vote.
The parliament may debate the amendments as early as on Thursday. The official
agenda of its extraordinary session, approved by the parliament leadership after
repeated delays on Wednesday evening, includes a package of other legal
amendments also drafted by the ruling bloc. They would allow the 132-member
National Assembly, in which My Step holds 88 seats, to bypass the Constitutional
Court to amend the constitution.
Under existing Armenian laws, the high court has to examine and validate any
constitutional changes before they can be put on a referendum or be passed by
the National Assembly.
Senior Armenian Official Held For Bribery
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia -- Vahagn Vermishian, head of the Urban Development Committee, speaks at
a news conference in Yerevan, July 1, 2019.
The head of the Armenian government’s Urban Development Committee, Vahagn
Vermishian, was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly taking bribes from real
estate developers.
The National Security Service (NSS) arrested Vermishian as well as two other
individuals hours after searching his office. NSS officers confiscated a
computer and documents kept there.
In an ensuing statement, the NSS said Vermishian has admitted receiving five
bribes, worth between 1 million drams ($2,100) and 2.5 million drams each, from
private construction firms that were given privileged treatment by various
government bodies in return. It said that the kickbacks were channeled into an
architectural firm which the official had set up and registered in a friend’s
name.
According to the NSS, Vermishian, who has headed the government agency since
March 2019, also received $5,000 in cash and $4,800 worth of construction
materials last October to secure a state award to the unnamed owner of several
construction firms. It was not immediately clear whether that businessman was
also taken into custody.
The high-profile arrest came nearly four months after Sarhat Petrosian, the
prominent head of the government’s Cadaster Committee, resigned in protest
against government policies on urban development. Petrosian hit out at
Vermishian and the previous head of the Urban Development Committee, Avetik
Eloyan, after tendering his resignation.
In particular, Petrosian claimed that Eloyan, who now works as an adviser to
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, has used his position to win lucrative
contracts for an architectural firm registered in his brother’s name in May 2019.
Avinian and Vermishian dismissed those claims at the time. The deputy prime
minister also denied that government regulation of urban development in Armenia
has “regressed” since the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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