Category: 2020

Prime Minister, President Discuss Domestic, Foreign Policy Priorities

Karapet Navasardian
February 5, 2020

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (left) meets with President Armen Sarkissian

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Armen Sarkissian met Tuesday to discuss some of the ongoing domestic and foreign policy priorities, in what has become a regular occurrence for the two leaders of Armenia.

Among those priorities was the heated standoff between Pashinyan’s government and the country’s Constitutional Court, the resignation of whose chairman, Hrayr Tovmasyan, has become point of contention for the government.

“Our discussions have focused on the need to implement institutional reforms in our country in order to formulate the logic of strategic management. I believe that we are just entering such a stage in 2020, and we will continue to keep in the spotlight the development of a system of checks and balances while implementing institutional reforms,” Pashinyan told Sarkissian in comments publicized by both offices ahead of a one-on-one meeting.

“You have responded to the situation around the Constitutional Court, or the crisis, to put it otherwise, and I hope that today we will exchange views about this issue,” Pashinyan told Sarkissian.

“What you said about the establishment of well-balanced institutions is very important, because sustainable development cannot be achieved without it,” Sarkissian said in response to Pashinyan.

The president also said he would brief the prime minister about his trips to the Persian Gulf countries, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and Israel, where he attended the Holocaust Day commemorations events.

Pashinyan reflected on Armenia’s economic strides and offered projections about further advancement in 2020.

Armenia parliament committee chair deeply outraged by government representatives’ disrespect

Jack Hunanian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 5 2020

14:08, 05.02.2020
                  

YEREVAN. – Government representatives were not in attendance to the second-reading debates of the bill on amendments and addenda to the Code on Administrative Offenses at the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly of Armenia, and this caused the dissatisfaction of Andranik Kocharyan, chair of the aforesaid committee and MP of the ruling My Step alliance.

Kocharyan assured that this issue would definitely be raised, stressing that such behavior was simply unacceptable.

Gevorg Gorgisyan, secretary of the opposition Bright Armenia faction in parliament, was also outraged by the absence of government representatives, and suggested that the debates on this legislative initiative be continued as a sign of disrespect in return.

At the request of MP Gevorg Papoyan, the author of the bill and My Step MP, the committee continued its work after a five-minute break, and this bill was debated on.

In event of war, commercial organizations will be instructed to maintain part of Armenia’s material reserve

Manouk Vasilian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 5 2020
In event of war, commercial organizations will be instructed to maintain part of Armenia's material reserve In event of war, commercial organizations will be instructed to maintain part of Armenia's material reserve

13:55, 05.02.2020
                  

YEREVAN. – Given the geopolitical situation of Armenia, in the event of hostilities by the enemy by way of the road blockade of the country, the solution of the issue of providing the needs of the population and armed forces of the republic is at the forefront. Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Ara Nazaryan stated this today at the sitting of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense and Security, during the discussion of the package of bills on material reserves and the legislative amendments to the laws thereon.

The deputy minister also emphasized that the analysis of past experience shows that the approaches adopted in the conditions of liberal economic relations in Armenia can no longer be considered satisfactory as they do not ensure the development of the material reserve.

Nazaryan noted that significant financial resources are required to form a strategic reserve, whereas the current regulatory framework does not provide sufficient efficiency in updating and replacing material assets, and this results in losses and requires large financial investments.

The deputy minister added that under this legislative package, it is proposed to transfer 10 percent of Armenia’s state material reserve to commercial organizations for conservation purposes.

At the same time, the official noted that the purpose of this legislative package is to create a legal framework for the development and reform of the material reserve system in Armenia, as well as its modernization and replenishment.

Newspaper: Armenia opposition was silent during meeting with PACE co-rapporteurs

Lara Chatinian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 5 2020

10:00, 05.02.2020
                  

YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: Armenia’s delegation, which participated in the PACE session last week, had a private conversation with the whole staff with the [PACE] co-rapporteurs on Armenia who had issued a stern warning to the authorities regarding the Constitutional Court.

There were two topics on the agenda of the one-and-a-half-hour discussion: judicial reform, and the dissemination of hate speech. They have mainly spoken about the latter, urged our MPs that this atmosphere being rooted in Armenia is not leading to anywhere good, citing examples of other countries.

Particularly active was the head of the [Armenian] delegation Ruben Rubinyan, which has attracted the attention of the European partners, and they several times demonstratively gave the right to speak to the [Armenian political] opposition. Surprisingly, the opposition lawmakers have not even spoken a word about the situation surrounding the Constitutional Court and the apparent pressure by the legislative and executive authorities. Why not?

In fact, the opposition feared that if they utter a word, they will be spread on the asphalt, slammed into the walls, and their paws will be cut.

Turkey court issues full version of verdict on Armenian soldier’s murder

Vicken Chmshkian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 5 2020

11:10, 05.02.2020
                  

The Turkish court has released the full version of the verdict of on the case into the murder of Istanbul Armenian Sevag Balikci who was killed on April 24, 2011 while serving in the Turkish army.

According to Agos Armenian newspaper of Istanbul, the court's verdict states that the defendant, Kivanc Agaoglu, had deliberately shot Balikci.

On January 12 this year, the court ruled that Agaoglu be sentenced to 17 years in prison.

On the morning of April 24, 2011, Sevag Balikci was killed by fellow soldier, Kivanc Agaoglu. The Turkish gendarmerie had stated that it happened while joking around with a fellow soldier, allegedly, shot by accident. But Sevag's parents claim that their son was killed for being Armenian.

Travel blogger David Hoffmann shares impressions from Artsakh visit

George Mamian
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 5 2020

State funds’ theft by Yerevan Municipality, administrative districts’ officials uncovered

Ophelia Vardapetian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 5 2020

11:53, 05.02.2020
                  

The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia has revealed a case of large theft.

The NSS informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that fact were ascertained that some officials of the Yerevan Municipality and administrative districts did not properly supervise the activities of Davars company’s contract-based duty of residential building refuse service, construction waste removal, and river-bed cleaning.

These officials ignored this company’s regular breach of contract clauses, signed exaggerated enforcement acts by company employees, as well as records of acceptance and delivery of works and services.

As a result, about 450,000,000 drams of state funds have been stolen.

The NSS has initiated a criminal case.

An investigation is underway.


Bountiful attempted-murder convict loses appeal based on claims of faulty Armenian interpretations

Manouk Vasilian
Standard Examiner, UTAH
Feb 4 2020
 
 
 
By MARK SHENEFELT Standard-Examiner
 

SALT LAKE CITY — Stepan Badikiyan said he was failed by his first Armenian interpreter and did not fully understand the “critical elements” of the attempted-murder charge he pleaded guilty to five years ago in the stabbing of his estranged wife.

But the Utah Supreme Court, in a ruling Thursday, refused to overturn the conviction of the 55-year-old, who sought to withdraw his guilty plea, which resulted from a plea bargain with Davis County prosecutors.

Badikyan’s wife told him May 29, 2014, in their Centerville apartment that she wanted a divorce, according to police and prosecutors at the time.

He punched her and stabbed her with a box cutter, then told her he would take her to the hospital, court records said. But while driving to the hospital he told her they were “both going to die” that day, according to the documents.

She jumped out near a convenience store in Bountiful and he tried to run her down with the car, prosecutors said.

Witnesses told officers Badikyan got out of the car, tackled the woman and stabbed her in the neck and side, again with the box cutter. Bystanders stopped Badikyan and held him down until police arrived.

Badikyan

Photo supplied Utah Department of Corrections

At a hearing where he pleaded guilty, Badikyan was assisted by an Armenian interpreter because he could not read English or speak it well.

Before sentencing, a handwritten note Badikyan sent to the court earned him another hearing. At that evidentiary hearing, Badikyan said his former interpreter “mistranslated” the plea agreement.

But 2nd District Judge David Connors refused to allow a new plea, saying “there were no specific instances given or particular inaccuracies of translation” that influenced the guilty plea. Connors also ruled Badikyan’s public defender did not oversell the plea bargain and clearly communicated its potential immigration consequences to the Armenia native.

Badikyan next appealed to the Utah Court of Appeals, which upheld the decisions by Connors.

In that appeal, Badikyan argued for the first time “that he did not understand the critical elements of attempted murder.”

The court of appeals ruled that, under Utah’s Plea Withdrawal Statute, it lacked jurisdiction to consider Badikyan’s critical-elements challenge, because that challenge was not first “preserved” by it being appealed to the district court.

“So we take this opportunity to clarify that the Plea Withdrawal Statute’s preservation rule applies to all plea challenges made after sentencing, even where a defendant has made an otherwise timely plea-withdrawal request,” the Supreme Court opinion said.

Badikyan, it said, should have presented his critical-elements challenge to the district court in order to give that court an opportunity to rule on it prior to appeal.

“The plain language of the Plea Withdrawal Statute prohibits appellate courts from hearing any claim raised for the first time on appeal of the denial of a plea-withdrawal request — even if the defendant made the request before sentencing,” the high court said.

In November 2017, Connors sentenced Badikyan to three years to life in prison. According to the Utah Department of Corrections, Badikyan remained incarcerated as of Tuesday.

Animals die at Yerevan Zoo

Aram Torosian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 5 2020

One of the two camels kept at the Yerevan Zoo has died, EcoNews.am reported. The exact cause of the animal’s death is still unknown.

The two Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) are one of the oldest “residents” of the zoo. Currently, the Bactrian camel is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and is restricted to two Asian countries – China and Mongolia. A few of them can be found in Russia as well.

Over the past two months, several other animals and birds, including pigs, a pheasant and a lizard, also died at the Yerevan Zoo, but no respective information is available on the official website of the zoo.  

OSCE Minsk Group made 176 statements on Karabakh conflict in 25 years

Tania Jagharian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 5 2020

The OSCE Minsk Group dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has made a total of 176 statements in 25 years – from 1995 to date, the infographic of statements posted by blogger, journalist Sedrak Mkrtchyan on Twitter revealed.

According to the infographic, the statements reached their peak in 2008. The Minsk Group released a total of 17 statements throughout the year.