Category: 2022

 12:17,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The Parliamentary Committee on State-Legal Affairs approved the government-authored bill seeking to make amendments into the stolen asset recovery law.

The stolen asset recovery law, officially known as the Law on Confiscation of Illegally-Obtained Assets, was adopted by parliament in 2020 April. In September of 2020 the division in charge of investigating alleged illicitly acquired assets was launched in the general prosecution.

Deputy Prosecutor-General Srbuhi Galyan said at the committee meeting that the amendments will expand the meaning of the term “official person” and in addition to public office holders anyone having the obligation to asset disclosure in terms of public service will be considered an “official person”.

In addition, the amendments seek to authorize the investigative body to launch studies at its own initiative, but only in the event of suspicions arising on an illegally-obtained asset during existing proceedings. 

The term of the studies will be extended to 3 years instead of 2, among other envisaged changes aimed at more effective and comprehensive studies of suspected cases.

 12:38,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The operation of the Yerevan metro has been paralyzed amid the anti-government protests, the Yerevan Subway said in a statement.

“The citizens carried out a protest action in Yeritasardakan metro station, disrupting the traffic of the subway.

At the moment the doors of all metro stations are closed to avoid overcrowding”, the Yerevan Subway said, adding that additional information will be provided as soon as the subway traffic is restored.

 13:18,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The parliamentary committee on state-legal affairs approved the government-authored bill on changing the prison system to three-level security classifications instead of the current open, semi-open, semi-closed and closed and medical correctional facilities.

The new changes will introduce the minimum, medium and maximum security level systems of prisons.

Deputy Justice Minister Arpine Sargsyan said the new correctional code is aimed at having individualized planning for every convicted inmate.

“The entire code is built on the logic that every convicted inmate must have an individualized planning of serving the sentence,” she said.

For example, if a convicted inmate must serve a 5-year sentence, the department of prisons must have a preliminary planning on the kind of correctional work envisaged for the incarcerated individual in terms of what resources and potential must be involved for their reintegration into the society. “After all, the convicted individuals themselves must also have a clear understanding on the kind of work the correctional facility must undertake with them so that we don’t have risks of recidivism,” the deputy minister added.

Inmates will be housed in institutions with security classifications corresponding to the severity of the crime they are guilty in committing. For example, inmates serving life sentences will be housed in the maximum security prison. Over course of serving the sentence, the inmate will be evaluated by a special commission for the possibility of transferring to a lower security prison.

The law will also stipulate the guarantees for medical treatment of inmates.

 14:25,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The United States highly values its partnership with Armenia, which is based on shared democratic values, and continues to see a positive future for the U.S.-Armenia relationship, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy said in an exclusive interview to ARMENPRESS on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and the United States.

During the interview the Ambassador talked about her diplomatic mission in Armenia, the past and present experience, her impressions on the country, the agenda of the Armenian-American relations, as well as regional and international developments.

She also touched upon the general dynamics of the Armenia-U.S. relations over the past 30 years, their development prospects, sharing important information about the current development of the bilateral ties.

Ambassador Tracy said “the U.S. Embassy is committed to supporting Armenia’s democratic and economic reform agenda and partnering with Armenia to achieve its goals”. 

“We are committed to continue helping the Armenian people build a future based on shared democratic values, a path they chose in 2018 and to which they recommitted themselves during the 2021 parliamentary election”, Ambassador Lynne Tracy said.

 

The full text of the interview with the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia will be published soon.

 15:14,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Due to the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, the process of immigration from these countries to Armenia has been activated, Head of the Strategy Development Department at the Office of High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia Hovhannes Aleksanyan said during a press conference in Armenpress.

He said that many ethnic Armenians are interested in acquiring Armenian citizenship, getting different residency statuses.

“According to the data of the first quarter, there have been around 6000 border crossings into Armenia with Ukrainian documents, in other words, they entered our country with Ukrainian documents. Most of them are Armenians. Due to the escalation of the situation, the government of Armenia prepared brief information about the checkpoints of crossing by the Western border into the EU states – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, which helped many of our compatriots to leave Ukraine. In addition, we gathered the Armenian communities in these 4 EU states, who managed to create stop stations for our compatriots for organizing the return to the homeland. The Armenian communities provided major support in accommodating the people, solving the documentation issues, assisting financially, sending them off, for which we are grateful”, Hovhannes Aleksanyan said.

Armenia provided some support to those ethnic Armenians who lacked financial means of leaving Ukraine, tickets were purchased for their return to homeland. Aleksanyan said that there was a moment when the Armenian communities in the EU states, especially that in Poland was very overloaded and the capacities were not so big. The Office of the High Commissioner sent a letter to the government requesting to rise the funding of the embassies in order to continue providing the support to the citizens.

“Yes, a special flight was not organized, but there is support in other format, and the families, who apply to the embassy, are able to use that opportunity. I would like to state that the German government finances the return program. “Those who are citizens of Armenia and have temporarily resided in Germany after leaving Ukraine, could apply to the German government for getting a financial aid”, Hovhannes Aleksanyan said.

The next stage of the support provided to Armenians who left Ukraine is already being done in Armenia. The Office of High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs is currently implementing a 4-component project with the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA). The first component is subsidizing the rent of the apartment up to 70,000 drams. The second component is educational as there are families from Ukraine whose children study in Armenian universities. If they submit the respective documents, they could get a subsidy for the tuition fee. The third component relates to healthcare issues, and the 4^th one is the one-time assistance. Nearly 80 families from Ukraine, who have settled in Armenia, have already applied to the Office for using the different components of this project.

The Armenian community of Ukraine is the 4^th largest in the world, with a population of about 400,000 ethnic Armenians. Hovhannes Aleksanyan said that thousands of ethnic Armenians in Ukraine have no plans to leave the country as they have conscription-age sons, husbands, property, etc.

 15:56,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs received around 4000 repatriation applications in 4 months.

Hovhannes Alexanyan, the Director of the Department of Strategy Development at the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs said at a press conference that most of the applications concern the citizenship acquisition procedures, enrollment in educational institutions, healthcare issues, relocating businesses to Armenia and possibilities of importing personal-use cargo through customs borders.

“The repatriation process is rather difficult; there are cases when we work with families for 6 months or even a year before they arrive to Armenia. Many of them want to get citizenship, status initially and then benefit from the privileges envisaged for repatriates. For example, in 2021 we had around 7300 compatriots from 45 countries who obtained Armenian citizenship. Most of them come from Russia, Lebanon, Iran, Georgia, Syria, and the United States and European countries. Last year, 2070 of our compatriots obtained the status of permanent residency or special residency in Armenia. Surely it is difficult to say what percentage of our compatriots are permanently residing in Armenia, but at least it is obvious that half of them are in Armenia. Many of them have dual citizenship, even three citizenships and are organizing their lives in different countries,” Alexanyan said.

Alexanyan said in the context of repatriation they view not only the compatriots representing the classic Diaspora, but also those who left Armenia years ago due to socio-economic or other reasons and are now returning.

“Repatriates encounter several issues, particularly accommodation. They even apply to us with requests to find apartments for rent. They ask for legal support while buying apartments. The next issue concerns customs regulations. Our legislation enables repatriates to move their personal property to Armenia without customs payments,” Alexanyan said.

Armenian language courses are also organized for repatriates.

 16:38,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a Security Council session, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

In addition to the members of the Security Council, the President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office Arayik Harutyunyan and Deputy Minister of Defense Karen Brutyan also participated in the meeting.

“Current issues related to the dimension of the powers of the Security Council were discussed during the session.”

 17:11,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. On May 18, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, who is on a working visit in Brussels, paid tribute and laid a wreath at the Khachkar-monument dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims in Henri Michaux Square in Brussels, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.

The khachkar-monument had recently been vandalized, then hours later it was restored with the efforts of the city authorities.

 17:24,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Vice Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Hakob Arshakyan received the delegation led by the First Vice President of the Senate of the Czech Republic Jiří Růžička, the Parliament’s press service said.

The delegation included the members of the Standing Senate Commission on Media.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport Sisak Gabrielyan and the Head of Armenia-Czech Republic Friendship Group Artur Hovhannisyan attended the meeting.

Hakob Arshakyan underlined with satisfaction that at the level of Friendship Groups and on the international different platforms the Armenian-Czech cooperation effectively develops. In this context the Vice Speaker has noted that Armenia expects the political support of the Czech Republic in the visa liberalization, taking into consideration the fact that in the second half of the current year the Czech Republic will assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Touching upon the role of the free press in our country and the steps being undertaken in strengthening democracy, Hakob Arshakyan assured that after 2018 revolution Armenia recorded progress in those issues. According to him, the opposition press prevails in the field, and the opposition voice is completely audible.

Speaking about the regional and humanitarian problems created because of 44-day war, Hakob Arshakyan voiced the issue of the release of Armenian prisoners of war and other held persons being Azerbaijan. It was noted that in the last report of the Human Rights Watch organization there are facts on the inhuman conditions and tortures of holding Armenian prisoners of war.

“We expect our Czech colleagues’ practical support in urgently returning Armenian prisoners of war to the homeland, as well as our efforts being made in saving the Armenian historical-cultural and the religious heritage on the territories of Artsakh appeared under the Azerbaijani control,” Hakob Arshakyan said.

The First Vice President of the Senate of the Czech Republic has noted that his country is also interested in the release of the persons being under captive in Azerbaijan. According to him, as an EU member and a Christian country, the Czech Republic highlights the preservation of the Armenian Christian values. The necessity of the regulation of the problems through peaceful means was stressed.

Emphasizing the stability and peace in the region, the Vice Speaker of Parliament reaffirmed the freedom and security of Artsakh, the determination of the self-determination of the people living in Artsakh and the Armenian side protecting the right to live in its historical Motherland. To his assessment, the issue of the security and status of Nagorno Karabakh can be solved only through negotiations with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

Hakob Arshakyan expressed his gratitude to his colleague for recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide by the two chambers of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, noting that the condemnation of crimes against humankind has no alternative.

“Your aspirations and steps in the spheres of media, democracy and the democratization of the legislative field are welcomed for us,” Jiří Růžička stressed.

Hakob Arshakyan also related to the efforts of the Armenian side aimed at the normalization process of the Armenian-Turkish relations and the establishment of peace in the region. Issues on the internal political situation of the country were presented.

The sides discussed the problems of the media sphere, referred to the legislative steps and measures being taken for the unbiased work of the mass media. The Armenian-Czech cooperation was highlighted in this field.

 17:29,

YEREVAN, 18 MAY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 18 May, USD exchange rate up by 2.63 drams to 457.49 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 2.90 drams to 481.19 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.04 drams to 7.22 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.08 drams to 567.15 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 380.98 drams to 26843.27 drams. Silver price up by 10.76 drams to 320.35 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.