Category: 2021

Hovik Aghazaryan, an MP of the majority My Step faction in the National Assembly of Armenia, has called First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan “impudent.”

“How impudent a person must be that by rigging the 1995 parliamentary and 1996 presidential elections, to run away—like the most cowardly—from accountability in 1998 from a small ‘thing,’ to announce—just three months before the 2013 presidential elections—that he is already 68 years old, and, in general, to have the greatest share of accountability in all the negative realities registered in the country, and when manifestations aimed at political stability are observed, to make such a cynical proposal.

PS. I am talking about Levon Ter-Petrosyan and his latest thoughts ‘aimed at overcoming’ the political crisis [in Armenia],'” Aghazaryan wrote on Facebook.

First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan issued a statement Monday, noting that the only way out of the current crisis in Armenia was the resignation of PM Nikol Pashinyan and his seeking asylum abroad, and with guarantees for his immunity.

Armenia 1st President: Duties of Nikol Pashinyan need to be performed by his non-partisan deputy

Two-and-a-half years after the revolution, we are in a situation where we still don’t know who killed the 10 citizens during the events of March 1, 2008, who ordered to execute the demonstrators on the street and how they died. This is what independent deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia Taguhi Tovmasyan told reporters today.

“During this period, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Special Investigation Service would constantly assure that several wanted people are hindering revelation of the case of the events of March 1, 2008 and that they will summon those people, but we saw that the Special Investigation Service isn’t accepting the people who say they are ready to testify. It turns out that there are many people who left Armenia and declared that they were politically persecuted and tried to prove it with their statements, and former Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan was one of those people,” Tovmasyan said.

According to Member of Parliament Taguhi Tovmasyan, Interpol rejected the Armenian authorities’ request to issue a red notice for ex-official Gevorg Kostanyan. Citing documents which she said were the paperwork sent by the Interpol General Secretariat to the Interpol National Bureau in Armenia, Tovmasyan claimed that the motion of the Armenian authorities was turned down because it contradicted Article 3 of the Interpol Constitution, which states: “It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”

“This means that Kostanyan’s case was considered to be political and the information about this person was withdrawn from the Interpol database. However, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Special Investigation Service would constantly declare that they have declared a search for Kostanyan,” Tovmasyan told reporters, adding that the two institutions have lied to the public all this time.

“I believe there has to be a direct legal consequence, and yes, those responsible need to be held criminally liable because Armenia can’t have such an embarrassing document, while those people are in liberty,” she said and noted that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declares that the case of the events of March 1, 2008 isn’t being revealed because people have left the country.

President of Armenia, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Armen Sarkissian participated in the 39th extraordinary session of the Board of Trustees.

Issues related to the management and activities of the Fund were discussed during the session held remotely.

At the outset of the session, upon the proposal of President Sarkissian, the participants respected the memory of those who fell in the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) on September 27, 2020 with a moment of silence.

Afterwards, President Sarkissian delivered his opening speech in which he talked about the conditions in which the session is being held, the war that Azerbaijan unleashed against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the consequences and proposed to restore trust in the Fund since the transfer of donations to Armenia’s state budget had sparked concerns among compatriots and friends of the Fund.

Sarkissian said the Fund is in need of major changes and added that not only the charter, but also the strategy and tactics of the Fund need to be changed. He reiterated the idea that Hayastan All-Armenian Fund needs to be an institution that nobody suspects or speculates and has to target the Armenians of Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora. Sarkissian said he still believes that there is a need for a new vision and action plan that will be in line with the present and future because people in Armenia, Artsakh and the rest of the world are living in a new and changing world.

The chairman of the Board of Trustees also called on everyone to set aside all political, personal and other interests and issues and set the goal to make balanced decisions that will help restore trust in the Fund and really turn the Fund into the locomotive that will lead other Armenian benevolent organizations.

During today’s session, the Council of Elders of Yerevan voted against the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the whole Cabinet of Armenia.

The Light faction of the Council of Elders presented the demand and was joined by the opposition Prosperous Armenia faction.

The discussion on the issue led to a clash.

In response to an inquiry from Armenian News-NEWS.am, the Special Investigation Service (SIS) of Armenia reported that the criminal case regarding former director of the National Security Service and leader of the opposition Homeland Party Artur Vanetsyan and other ex-officials has been dismissed due to absence of corpus delicti.

The dismissed case had been launched by the Investigation Department of the National Security Service (NSS) after the detection of unregistered weapons in the arms balance of the NSS in the office of one of the officers of the NSS.

The SIS also reported that the criminal case was connected to various top officers of the NSS, and it was related to Artur Vanetsyan inasmuch as the latter held the position of director of the NSS in the same period.

Vanetsyan wasn’t an accused under this case.

During today’s session of the Council of Elders of Yerevan, Mayor Hayk Marutyan said the salaries of employees of kindergartens have been raised by at least 20% over the past two years, adding that the salaries of employees of sports schools have also been raised by 20%, if not more.

“It’s clear that it is necessary to aspire to pay higher salaries, but the progress is clearly noticeable,” Marutyan mentioned.