2019: The Dust Settles

High Profile Criminal Cases and Investigations

The trial of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan and three other former high ranking officials is ongoing. Kocharyan was arrested in the summer of 2018, accused of overthrowing constitutional order in the aftermath of the controversial 2008 presidential election that brought Serzh Sargsyan to power and left ten people dead. Similar charges were brought against former Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Khachaturov and former Chief of General Staff of Armenia’s Armed Forces Seyran Ohanyan. The former Chief of Presidential Staff Armen Gevorgyan is accused of assisting to overthrow constitutional order. The Special Investigative Service (SIS) claims that the four men illegally used the armed forces against opposition supporters who were protesting the results of the 2008 presidential elections. All four deny the accusations levelled against them as politically motivated. Only Kocharyan has been placed under pre-trial detention.

In February, the SIS brought new charges against Kocharyan and Gevorgyan; they are accused of receiving $3 million and $1 million bribes respectively from businesswoman Silva Hambardzumyan. As a reminder, Hambardzumyan had come forward in 2018 claiming that she had given a $14 million bribe to then Minister of Nature Protection to obtain a mining development license.

In May, the current and former Presidents of Artsakh, Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasyan respectively, came to Yerevan and appeared in court to offer guarantees for Kocharyan to be released from pre-trial detention. On May 18, based on Sahakyan’s and Ghukasyan’s personal guarantees, a Yerevan court released Kocharyan from pre-trial detention.

Blocking Courthouses: On May 19, as a response to Kocharyan’s release, PM Nikol Pashinyan announced on his Facebook page that people must block the entrances and exits of courthouses across Armenia the following day. He referred to it as the second phase of the Velvet Revolution. Both opposition parliamentary factions, political parties, and other groups rushed to condemn this call.
Addressing the nation the following day, Pashinyan stated that the judiciary does not enjoy the trust of the public and that the situation required a “surgical intervention.” He outlined five steps, including a thorough vetting of judges, and a call for “biased” judges to resign. Pashinyan also called for the creation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the circumstances behind the 2016 April War and emphasized the need for a complete and unconditional capitulation of the corrupt former system.

Kocharyan’s case was suspended in May, when presiding judge Davit Grigoryan applied to the Constitutional Court to determine the constitutionality of the article about overthrowing constitutional order that was being referred to in the proceedings. In June, the Court agreed to rule on the constitutionality of Article 300.1 of the Armenian Criminal Code. In a separate decision, the Chair of the Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan, decided to exclude Vahe Grigoryan, the newly elected member of the Court [more on Grigoryan’s election below] from the case. Tovmasyan noted that Grigoryan represented the relatives of those who were killed in the March 1 events, and as such he would have a “biased” attitude in the case, thereby could not take part in the hearings.
In the meantime, Kocharyan was sent back to pre-trial detention on June 25, following a decision by the Court of Appeals. The Constitutional Court also applied to the Venice Commission and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to get an “advisory opinion” on the case.
In July, the Special Investigative Service raided and sealed the office of Judge Davit Grigoryan, who had released Kocharyan from pre-trial detention in May. In August, Grigoryan was charged with forgery and his powers suspended. The Prosecutor General’s Office announced that the case against Grigoryan was based on evidence of forgery of documents of official hearings that he signed but was not physically present at. Grigoryan denied the charges, saying they are a retribution for his ruling regarding the case against Kocharyan.

In September, the Constitutional Court delivered a judgement on the constitutionality of two articles of the Armenian Code of Procedural Justice, which were used to launch the criminal investigation against Kocharyan and keep him in pre-trial detention. The Constitutional Court ruled that Article 35, states that current and former senior officials (who have been granted immunity by the state) may not be prosecuted for actions taken while carrying out their responsibilities, thereby it is unconstitutional to prosecute the former president under that article. But the Court ruled against Kocharyan’s lawyers second motion, saying that Article 135(2) which lists the circumstances under which an arrest can be used against the suspect, is constitutional.
After Anna Danibekyan was appointed as the new judge presiding over the case, Kocharyan’s defense team filed several motions that included requesting their client be released from pre-trial detention, asking the judge and the prosecutors to recuse themselves from the case, all of which were rejected.
In September, a Facebook live showing Anna Danibekyan being followed and harrassed by two Kocharyan supporters went viral on social media. Danibekyan was followed for about 10 minutes as she walked towards a district court in Yerevan. Later, the police reported that the two men, Narek Mutafyan and Sargis Ohanjanyan were arrested and charged with interfering with the work of the court and obstructing the administration of justice. The Human Rights Defenders office as well as the Supreme Judicial Council condemned the two for insulting and psychologically pressuring the judge.

On December 4, 2019 Armenia’s former President Serzh Sargsyan was charged with embezzlement. According to the Special Investigative Service (SIS), Sargsyan embezzled about $1 million US in government funds between January 25 to February 7, 2013. The charges stem from a state assistance program providing farmers with cheap diesel fuel. According to the statement by the SIS, Sargsyan interfered by ensuring the government tender was won by Flash, one of Armenia’s main fuel importers. The Armenian government allocated 1.8 billion drams ($3.8 million) to the Ministry of Agriculture, which was later transferred to Flash to acquire about 17 million litres of diesel fuel.

Former President Serzh Sargsyan’s nephew Narek Sargsyan was extradited to Armenia on December 21. Sargsyan was arrested by Interpol and the Czech police in Prague at the end of December 2018, holding a fake Guatemalan passport under the name of Franklin Gonzalez. Sargsyan is accused of drug trafficking and illegal possession of arms.

Sargsyan fled Armenia before the National Security Service (NSS) conducted a search in his family’s house in Yerevan in July 2018. He is charged with owning illegal guns, cocaine, and other drugs, as well as suspected of kidnapping a man. The NSS also reported that Narek Sargsyan swindled one of the descendants of Martiros Saryan back in 2013 and took 14 drawings of the artist (worth $280,000 US) and promised to pay $28,000 for them and establish a joint venture with the remaining funds. Sargsyan never paid the promised funds. During the search conducted in his residence, NSS officials found expensive watches and jewelry, gold coins, paintings by Martiros Saryan, as well as $115,000 US and €27,000 in cash.

On December 23, the Prosecutor General’s office filed a court motion to keep Sargsyan in pre-trial detention.

In February, former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan’s brother Alexander Sargsyan (known as Sashik Sargsyan) transferred $30 million to the country’s state budget. A criminal investigation against Sargsyan was launched in July 2018 and a lien placed on his assets. After Sargsyan transferred $30 million to the state budget, the National Security Service (NSS) allowed Sargsyan to temporarily leave the country. Then Head of the NSS Artur Vanetsyan did not comment on the reasons for the “donation” by Sargsyan. Reasons for his departure or for how long he would be out of the country were also not provided. Sargsyan returned to Armenia, however, in April at the request of the investigative body.
As a reminder, during the 2018 election campaign PM Nikol Pashinyan announced that Sargsyan had $30 million in one Armenian bank account alone and demanded that he  return the money to the state. In response, Sargsyan claimed that Pashinyan had no right to use his position and authority to threaten him and noted that Pashinyan had infringed upon his rights and obtained and then publicly disclosed information about his personal bank account, the funds in which he claimed were not obtained “illegally.”
Sargsyan is accused of fraud surrounding several drawings by the 20th century Armenian painter Martiros Saryan which were found in his Yerevan apartment in summer. The NSS confiscated the drawings, saying that his son Narek had fraudulently obtained them from Saryan’s descendant.

Retired Army General, Manvel Grigoryan who was arrested in June of 2018 on a number of criminal charges brought against him including embezzlement and illegal arms possession, remains in pre-trial detention. Charges were brought against Grigoryan and his wife Nazik Amiryan after a raid by security forces in 2018 revealed a cache of weapons and ammunition, medical equipment and food for soldiers that was donated by school children and other military hardware, including an ambulance, provided by the Ministry of Defense for the armed forces. Fresh charges were brought against him in February for tax evasion and extortion.
Grigoryan reportedly suffers from several serious illnesses. A Yerevan district court released him from pre-trial detention on health grounds in December, but he was remanded into custody again in January 2019 by the decision of the Court of Appeals.
Grigoryan’s lawyers appealed the decision claiming that their client cannot receive adequate treatment while in prison; they also applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) asking to order the Armenian government to allow Grigoryan to receive treatment in France. The ECHR required the Armenian authorities to submit detailed information about Grigoryan’s health conditions.
In October, a panel of medical experts, established to assess the alleged health issues that Grigoryan has, determined that Grigoryan’s health is not an obstacle for him to appear at his court hearings and that he can continue to be held in detention.  For the past several months, Grigoryan’s lawyers have been arguing that his health had deteriorated to such a degree that he should be released from pre-trial detention. The medical panel said that with appropriate treatment, life-threatening risks can be minimized.
During the past several months, Grigoryan’s lawyers kept talking about their client’s many illnesses and noted that keeping him in pre-trial detention under such circumstances is torture and that his health condition has deterioriated during the past year. Grigoryan missed most of the court hearings and when present in the courtroom, was accompanied by doctors.

On April 15, 2019, corruption charges (embezzlement, fraud and abuse of power) were brought against Mihran Poghosyan, the former Head of the Service for the Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts and a former Republican MP, who currently is in Moscow. According to the statement issued by the Special Investigative Service, while in office from 2008-2016, Poghosyan abused the power of his office for personal benefit. In particular, after becoming the head of the agency, Poghosyan appointed his driver and bodyguard to different positions within the Service, and despite the fact that the two never worked in those positions, they were paid a total of $91,000 US in salaries. The statement also mentioned that during his tenure, the Service purchased 32 cars from a dealership that is allegedly connected with Poghosyan, costing taxpayers an additional $41,000 US. According to the SIS, while in office, he embezzled a total of $132,000 US in public funds. Poghosyan is also accused of failing to remit $1.2 million US in taxes. He denies the corruption charges and characterized them as “political persecution.”

Poghosyan’s name has also been associated with the Panama Papers back in 2016, when Hetq published an investigation claiming that Poghosyan owns three companies registered in Panama. Even though a criminal investigation was launched by the SIS at the time, the case was closed because of lack of sufficient evidence linking Poghosyan with illegal activities. Following the Velvet Revolution, the case was reopened.

On April 19, Poghosyan was arrested in Russia at the request of Armenian law enforcement authorities. While in Russia, Poghosyan applied for political asylum but was granted temporary residence permit. Following his arrest, a local court allowed the Russian police to hold him in detention for up to 40 days, pending a decision on his extradition to Armenia demanded by Armenian prosecutors. Later, however, Russia refused to extradite him citing sovereignty and national security concerns. The Armenian side had requested clarification, which has not yet been provided. As of November 29, Poghosyan is no longer under house arrest in Russia.

Former head of the State Revenue Committee and former Minister of Finance Gagik Khachatryan (widely known as the “Super Minister”) was taken into custody in October following a corruption investigation conducted by the National Security Service (NSS). Khachatryan’s apartment, mansion as well as the properties of people related to him were searched by the security service. Khachatryan is charged with large-scale embezzlement of public funds (purportedly in the tens of millions of dollars) and abuse of power. The NSS also arrested Khachatryan’s nephew Karen Khachatryan, who used to head one of the divisions of the State Revenue Committee.
Since the beginning of the year another case with the involvement of Kahchatryan was being investigated by the Special Investigative Service. Even though the details of the case are still not known, hours after Khachatryan’s properties were searched by the NSS, the SIS announced that it had already recovered $1.7 million US within that case.
Khachatryan’s lawyer said that one of the accusations has to do with payment to a number of employees of the State Revenue Committee, who under the leadership of Khachatryan, systematically did not show up for work. “This raises the question as to what extent Khachatryan was responsible for that,” said the lawyer.
Khachatryan is among the richest people in Armenia and a very controversial figure. His two sons Gurgen and Artyom Khachatryan, and his nephew Aram Khachatryan, own nearly 50 percent of Ucom, one of the largest Internet providers in Armenia. Khachatryan, known for a vast empire of business dealings, denies owning any businesses or properties in Armenia and abroad.

Both Karen Khachatryan and Gagik Khachatryan remain in pre-trial detention.

In June 2019, the Special Investigative Committee announced that it had uncovered evidence regarding the criminal case involving former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan. According to the law enforcement agency, 15 parcels of land in Dilijan, and the communities of Mkhchyan and Narek were illegally sold to relatives and people close to Abrahamyan. Land auctions were in fact not held and the documents were forged. For some of the people involved in the process the recent amnesty law was applicable, for others the time limit for imposing punishments has expired. The investigation is ongoing.

Back in September 2018, Abrahamyan was also charged with “illegal participation in entrepreneurial activity” and abuse of power. Those charges came on the heels of testimony provided by the director of the Avazahitik Mining Company, who said that Abrahamyan and other officials obstructed the company’s operation, demanding 60 percent share in the company, otherwise the mine would be shut down.

Armenia’s former Chief of Police Vladimir Gasparyan was charged on September 18, 2019, for abuse of power that resulted in financial losses for the state. According to a statement by the Investigative Committee, when Gasparyan was the military chief of police in 2000, he created fictitious positions for Levon Sargsyan’s driver and Aleksandr Sargsyan’s two bodyguards (both are former President Serzh Sargsyan’s brothers). Even though the three men never worked in those positions, the three were paid a total of $46,000 US. Even though Gasparyan rejects the accusations against him, the spokesperson of the Committee said that he agreed to transfer the $46,000 to the law-enforcement body for the alleged financial damage to the state. Earlier, his property and bank accounts were frozen. Gasparyan is now in freedom but cannot leave the country. One of his lawyers filed a complaint to the Prosecutor General’s office demanding to end the prosecution against his client.

Deputy Minister of Health Arsen Davtyan was accused of being involved in a large scale corruption scandal. He was arrested on March 30, 2019, on suspicion of receiving a large bribe by Razmik Abrahamyan, the director of the Institute of Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Republican Hospital to secure greater government funding and secure favorable working conditions for him. Abrahamyan is now also charged with child trafficking [see below].

According to a statement issued by the National Security Service, a criminal investigation has been launched and both men will be prosecuted on corruption charges. The director of the hospital was released on bail taking into consideration his age and poor health. The deputy minister who was being held in pre-trial detention, was also released on bail on July 8.
In a Facebook post, Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan wrote that if convicted Davtyan must be punished to the full extent of the law and that such practices are inadmissible and condemnable. “We voice our support for law-enforcement bodies in their fight against corruption,” the minister said. “We sincerely believe that disclosure of corruption and other illegal practices in the healthcare system will help to root them out and make the system healthy.”

Following concerns raised by the Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan regarding the supply of expensive dialysis machines, two senior officials from the State Oversight Service (SOS) Samvel Adyan, the acting head of a division monitoring procurements, and his top aid, Gevorg Khachatryan were arrested in February on corruption charges. The National Security Service (NSS) claimed that the two colluded with a private firm (Zorashen) from 2018-2019 to personally benefit from government-funded supplies of medical equipment to three hospitals. They have been formally charged with forgery of documents and abuse of power resulting in “dire consequences.”

In April, corruption charges were also brought against the head of the State Oversight Service Davit Sanasaryan (this is the government agency tasked with combating financial irregularities in the public sector).
In a statement, the NSS informed that they have sufficient evidence to charge Sanasaryan with abuse of power aimed at benefiting the “company effectively managed by his subordinates.” If convicted, Sanasaryan will face up to four years in prison. Earlier, Sanasaryan made assurances that his name could never be associated with a corruption scandal because he rejects any corrupt practices and there was no evidence linking him to the scandal. Sanasaryan also raised concerns about the NSS investigation and added that he does not believe that Prime Minister Pashinyan ordered the NSS to prosecute him for political reasons.
Sanasaryan has not been arrested but was suspended from his position pending the investigation.

The director of the freight and agribusiness company Spayka, David Ghazaryan was arrested in April. A Yerevan court ordered he be kept in pre-trial detention. Ghazaryan was released on May 4 with the decision of the Prosecutor General’s Office. According to the State Revenue Committee (SRC), Ghazaryan’s company failed to pay over $14 million dollars in owed taxes. The SRC said that in 2015 and 2016 Greenproduct (a company allegedly controlled by Spayka) imported cheese and agricultural products to Armenia from a number of European countries. The company then rigged customs documents to avoid paying customs duty and value added tax.

Back then, Ghazaryan denied the accusations and blamed the authorities for “paralyzing” his company’s operations. He also claimed that Spayka is not connected to Greenproduct and has only carried out cargo shipments for it. He noted that Spayka planned to invest an additional $100 million this year but because of the tax fraud case, that funding has been frozen.
Following the decision, hundreds of Spayka employees protested in front of the court and later by the government building, demanding Ghazaryan’s release.

Amulsar Gold Mine

Amid ongoing protests against the operation of the Amulsar gold mine, Armenia’s government allocated $300,000 US in March of this year to hire a team of international experts to assess the environmental risks of the mine. PM Pashinyan had said that if the inspections show that the chemical compounds of the mine are polluting Lake Sevan and the mineral springs of Jermuk, its activities will be permanently terminated. However, if the impact can be mitigated, the mine will continue its operations, considering that Lydian International, the owner of the mine, had already made significant investments in the project.
In August, Armenia’s Investigative Committee publicized a 220-page-report by the Lebanese environmental consultancy (ELARD) regarding the potential environmental impact of the mine. The assessment found no connection between the underground waters of Amulsar and mineral waters of Jermuk or rivers flowing into Lake Sevan. Lydian Armenia also pledged to address 15 out of 16 mitigating measures proposed by ELARD. While the findings of the report were being discussed in the government, several dozen environmental activists and concerned citizens were protesting in front of the building, demanding a meeting with the PM.
After the report was published, PM Pashinyan announced his intention to allow Lydian International to resume operations and that the company will have to adhere to “unprecedentedly high environmental standards that have not been applied in Armenia until now.” Earlier, Pashinyan held a closed-door discussion with members of government, environmental activists as well as residents of the communities around Amulsar. According to the official statement, the PM introduced participants to the work carried out within the frames of the criminal case on operation of the Amulsar mine and spoke about the report by the international expert group.
In light of ongoing protests, Pashinyan tasked the Ministry of Environment to decide if there is a need for a new Environmental Impact Assessment before a decision on the operation of the controversial gold mine was made. Later in September, during a consultation with PM Pashinyan and relevant government agencies, Minister of Environment Erik Grigoryan said the ministry has found that Lydian presented inaccurate baseline data before being granted its mining license in 2016, however, they still need to look into the legal framework that would allow the government to demand a second assessment.
By the end of August, InfoCom reported that the former Minister of Environment Aramayis Grigoryan who approved the environmental impact assessment for the operation of Amulsar in 2016 and the head of the investigative group working on Amulsar case Yura Ivanyan are relatives. This raised many concerns about the objectivity of Ivanyan’s investigation, which was launched on the grounds that officials intentionally concealed information about the environmental impact assessment (meaning Ivanyan also investigated the activities of his uncle’s son). Grigoryan confirmed that Ivanyan is his cousin. He also said that the main environmental impact assessment was approved in 2014 and that he approved only the additions to the already existing assessment. The Investigative Committee issued a statement saying that their family ties should not be used to call into question the results of the investigation into the Amulsar criminal case.
An investigation was launched against Yura Ivanyan.
In July 2018, Pashinyan instructed the Investigative Committee to launch a criminal inquiry in order to establish whether a government body that issued Lydian’s operating license in April 2016 broke any laws or regulations.
In September, PM Nikol Pashinyan said that the government does not have any legal basis to terminate operations of the gold mine. He urged the residents of Jermuk and environmental activists to open the roads leading to the mine. Pashinyan also raised concerns that if the Armenian government prohibits the operation of Amulsar, it can be easily viewed as a discriminatory approach. He said if they pull Lydian’s licence, they have to then explain why the Zangezur and Teghut mines have been allowed to operate and that it could lead to serious issues with foreign partners and investors. At the same time, he emphasized that the government cannot ignore public concerns. Pashinyan said that Lydian Armenia made assurances that the operation of the mine is safe, meaning that there will be no contamination of the country’s water and soil and biodiversity will not be impacted once the mine starts active excavation. According to the prime minister, if any of these commitments are not met, the government will demand the closure of the mine within 90 days.
Lydian will not be able to launch the mining operations before the beginning of 2021, because it will need several months of preparation before resuming the construction of its gold mine. In response to the PM’s announcement, activists from the SaveAmulsar environmental movement said that they do not plan to open the roads leading to the mine.
Lydian Armenia started its operations at Amulsar in 2014, after it was given the final permission by the Ministry of Environment (back then it was the Ministry of Nature Protection). The operations of the mine were stopped in June 2018, one month after the Pashinyan government was elected, and when local residents and environmental activists began a permanent blockade of all three roads leading to the mine, saying that the operations of the mine would contaminate the environment. Pashinyan said that he would issue a final decision regarding Amulsar after reviewing the findings of an independent environmental impact assessment report. The blockade continues to this day.

Illegal Adoption Scandal

In November, the National Security Service reported that two citizens of Armenia, using their connections in one of the state hospitals, in a number of state agencies and orphanages, organized the adoption of more that 30 children by citizens of Italy. According to the statement, between 2016-2018, more than 10 women who wanted to terminate their pregnancies were pressured by some of the employees of the hospital (name not mentioned) to give up the child for adoption. After getting a written consent, newborns were transferred to orphanages. The officials of all involved institutions abused their official power and falsely claimed that the children had certain disabilities, when they didn’t. The NSS said that those involved in this illegal adoption ring made sure that Armenian citizens would not be able to adopt the babies, violating their rights, because according to Armenian law, citizens of Armenia must be given priority over foreigners.
As part of the investigation into illegal adoption cases, three suspects were arrested on December 18 and one in early December, among them the director of the Republican Maternity Hospital Razmik Abrahamyan, the deputy director of the same hospital Arshak Jerjeryan and the director of a Yerevan orphanage Liana Karapetyan (the name of the fourth suspect remains unclear; she is a 43-year-old woman based in Yerevan). After being arrested, Razmik Abrahamyan was taken to hospital, allegedly suffering from health issues. All four of them have been charged for illegally separating a child from parents.
According to the statement by the Investigative Committee, they are suspected of forcing young women to abandon their babies who were later adopted by foreign nationals (after paying bribes). It is estimated that 101 cases were reported to the police, all of which took place at the Republican Maternity Hospital. Investigators said that Abrahamyan would be kept under pretrial detention. Later, however, a Yerevan court delivered a judgement saying that the suspect cannot be kept under pre-trial detention. Karapetyan was also released from pre-trial detention on bail for 3 million AMD ($6200 US).

North-South Highway

In August, fraud and embezzlement charges were brought against the director of the Spanish construction company that in 2012 won a $280 million US contract to rebuild more than 90 kilometers of the North-South Highway. According to the Investigative Committee, a Spanish executive, who allegedly stole $1.8 million US, is one of the five people included in the ongoing criminal investigation. He is under international investigation and an arrest warrant has been issued for him.
As part of the ongoing investigation, criminal charges were also brought against the executive director of Multi Group Concern, Sedrak Arustamyan. He is accused of fraud and tax evasion. According to the Investigative Committee, he helped a Chinese Construction company (Sinohydro Corporation) building a 56-kilometer highway as part of the North-South highway, to evade $503,000 US in taxes. The company paid an Armenian firm owned by Arustamyan and run by two other men (one of whom was Gurgen Sargsyan, Transport Minister from 2008-2010) $2.2 million US in consulting fees as part of the scam. Arustamyan was released on bail for 20 million AMD, while Sargsyan remains in pre-trial detention.

Criminal charges were also brought against the brother of former president Serzh Sargsyan, Levon Sargsyan for alleged abuse of power during the construction of the highway. Sargsyan is charged with money laundering and bribery. An arrest warrant has been issued against Sargsyan, who is currently under investigation. Armenia’s Investigative Committee said that Sargsyan illegally intervened in a $250 million US project to rebuild major Armenian highways for personal gain for himself and two business associates. Investigators said that the company who won the tender for the construction, did so through the intervention of Sargsyan, who was expected to receive 50 percent of the expected profits in kickbacks.
Levon Sargsyan was already charged with illegal enrichment, and he, along with his two children has been under investigation after law-enforcement agencies discovered that they hold about $7 million US in undeclared deposits in an Armenian bank (the name is not known).
Former Minister of Transport and Communication (2008-2010) Gurgen Sargsyan was arrested as part of the ongoing criminal investigation. Sargsyan, is accused of fraud and tax evasion. According to the Investigative Committee, in 2012 he was the project lead of a company that was a subcontractor in the construction of the highway.
The investigation into the alleged financial abuse and mismanagement of resources during the construction of the North-South Highway was launched in 2018 and the Prosecutor General’s Office estimates the losses between 2009 and 2018 amount to about $48.7 million US. So far, more than 1000 people have been questioned as part of the investigation, among them a number of former high ranking officials. More than 15 people are suspects in the case. Although it was expected that the construction of the highway would be completed in 2019, so far only 31 kilometers of the 550-kilometer-long road is complete.

Government Structure

In April, parliament voted in favor of a bill setting the new structure of PM Nikol Pashinyan’s cabinet. The bill, however, did not receive the support of parliamentarians from Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia factions. They accused the government of reducing the number of ministries from 17 to 12 without considering its efficiency and failing to limit the powers of the prime minister.

With the proposed structural changes:

• the post of the first Deputy Prime Minister as well as the Diaspora Ministry were abolished;
• Ministries of Culture, and Sports and Youth merged with the Ministry of Education turning it into a single ministry;
• the Ministries of Energy and Natural Resources were turned into Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures.
• The Ministry of Agriculture merged with the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments;
• The Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies became the Ministry of Communication and High Technologies

Armenia’s police, National Security Service (NSS) and the State Revenue Committee (SRC) remain under the purview and subordinate to the prime minister with no possibility of parliamentary oversight. These two posts became subordinate to the post of the prime minister after the 2015 Constitutional referendum.
Artak Zeynalyan, who was appointed Minister of Justice following the Velvet Revolution and reappointed after the 2018 parliamentary election, resigned on June 7.  Rustam Badasyan was appointed as Armenia’s new Justice Minister. The 28-year-old Badasyan worked as the Deputy Head of the State Revenue Committee.

Civil Aviation

Starting from January 2020, Ryanair will launch flights between Armenia and Europe. The Chief Commercial Officer of the low-cost airline, David O’Brien, made the announcement during a press conference in Yerevan. To start, the airline will offer biweekly Yerevan-Milan and Yerevan-Rome flights, and then add the Berlin-Yerevan route; flights between the German city of Memmingen and Armenia’s second largest city Gyumri will also commence. O’Brien noted that the four new routes will help to promote tourism and bring 130,000 customers to and from European cities to Armenia. The average fair of Ryanair for all routes across the year is about 35 euros ($38.5 US).
The route from Gyumri will be that city’s first European link, which until now only hosted  flights to and from Russia. Armenia International Airports is planning to invest $20 million US to upgrade and renovate the Gyumri airport, in preparation for the new flights.

Starting April 2020, the second low-cost airline WizzAir will launch flights between Armenia and Europe. The airline will offer biweekly Yerevan-Vienna and Yerevan-Vilnyus flights. The ticket prices will start from 25 euros and will be sold only online. During a press conference held at Zvartnots airport, the Corporate Communications Manager of WizzAir Andras Rado said that they are glad to be in Armenia, and that this is only the beginning of their collaboration.
The government attracted both low-cost airlines with a pledge to exempt them from a fixed $21 US air tax, which is collected from every ticket sold. The tax cut would apply to any other airline launching flights to new destinations from Yerevan or Gyumri.

related

Housing

According to 2019 data, there are 2589 refugee families living in Armenia that need housing (1070 are based in Yerevan and 1519 are in the regions). These are people who were displaced from Azerbaijan 30 years ago. This year, 112 of those families, who are in most urgent need, will be given permanent housing. The project, initiated by Armenia’s government, will cost about 1.5 billion AMD ($3.1 million US) and will be implemented by the Migration Service.
The government allocated 1.9 billion AMD ($3.9 million US) to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to provide housing to 300 orphans. Each of them has already received certificates valued at 6.3 million AMD ($13,000 US) in order to buy apartments. According to Minister Zaruhi Batoyan, beneficiaries are those individuals who left orphanages between 1991 and 2013 when they became age of majority. Within this program, assistance will also be provided to people with disabilities, who despite being 18 years old continue living in special orphanages because they have nowhere else to go. Batoyan also said that the state’s goal is to contribute to the development of people’s abilities, therefore as of 2020 the ministry will no longer provide housing certificates to age of majority orphans and instead will provide assistance to rent an apartment, get an education and acquire professional skills.
In 2020, the government will allocate 3 billion AMD ($6.3 million US) to address the housing problem of citizens affected by the 1988 Spitak earthquake. “Our current agenda is to clearly define the scale of the problem and the scope of work, find solutions and solve the problem so that Gyumri and other earthquake-affected settlements could come out of the current urban development-related deadlock,” said PM Pashinyan. Approximately 450 families will receive funding to cover their housing needs.

Domestic Violence Database

In October, the government voted in favor of a draft proposal by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to create a comprehensive database of all domestic violence cases in Armenia. Currently, there is no centralized registry of domestic violence cases and the information is usually based on cases reported by law enforcement agencies and surveys conducted by various organizations, which is not sufficient to assess the situation and take preventive measures. It is expected that the database will provide a clear picture of domestic violence in the country and, if needed, initiate legislative changes based on that.
Also, starting from 2020, all the regions of Armenia will have centers providing assistance to victims of domestic violence. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs announced that the state policy envisions the creation of a comprehensive mechanism that would prevent cases of domestic violence in the first place as well as providing assistance to victims. Currently, there are six support centers in Armenia, three of which are located in Yerevan, while the rest are in Lori, Syunik and Shirak regions. The Ministry signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Women’s Support Center and Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, and within this collaboration six more centers were set to open by the end of the year.
In September, the government approved the gender equality national strategy and action plan of 2019-2023. The goal of the strategy is to ensure equal rights and opportunities between men and women in all spheres and to counter gender-based discrimination.

Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice drafted a bill that would criminalize hate speech in Armenia, including public calls for violence, or publicly justifying/propagating violence. The Ministry will submit the proposed amendments to Armenia’s Criminal Code to the government, and if approved, such statements will be punished by fines or imprisonment for up to three years. Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan said that hate speech became quite common in Armenia and that the proposed amendments will mitigate calls for violence, as well as discriminatory and intolerant rhetoric in the Armenian discourse. Badasyan said that while drafting the amendments to the code, international practices and standards on combating hate speech were studied.
The government approved the bill proposed by the Justice Ministry to confiscate illegally acquired properties and other assets. According to the law, a property is considered illegal, when its acquisition cannot be justified by legitimate income. The bill would allow prosecutors to investigate individuals in case of having sufficient grounds to suspect that the market value of their assets exceeds their legal incomes by more than 25 million AMD ($52,400 US). The property can be confiscated only if with a court decision.

Venice Commission About Judicial Reforms

The Venice Commission, which is an advisory institution to the Council of Europe, positively assessed the Armenian government’s proposals to change the country’s judicial code. In August of 2019, Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan applied to the commission for an expert opinion on the amendments to the Constitutional Code of the Judicial Code and related laws. The Commission noted that most of the recommendations of the judicial reform package are in line with the European standards and contribute to the accountability of judges and prevention of corrupt practices.
The Commission spoke about the early retirement scheme offered to Constitutional Court judges. According to the Commission, it is important to respect the stability of the judiciary, and that the composition of the Constitutional Court cannot change every time a new government comes to power. The experts concluded that as long as the proposed retirement remains voluntary and does not hinder the effective functioning of the Court, the proposed recommendation is not objectionable from the standpoint of international standards.

Ministry of Defense

The government also approved the legislative package tabled by the Defense Ministry that will affect all those who have not completed their mandatory military service. The current regulations allow citizens who are 27 or older and who have avoided military service by leaving the country, to pay a fine and return home. With the proposed changes, those who have turned 27 until March 1, 2019 and have not served in the military as of January 1, 2020, will face criminal prosecution. The proposed legislative package still needs to be approved by the parliament.

Law on Internet Providers

Armenia’s Public Service Regulatory Commission put a draft bill into circulation, which if adopted, would oblige all Internet service providers in Armenia to collect and store data on their subscribers. This would effectively give law enforcement agencies access to visited sites, operating systems, emails, etc. A number of media and civil society organizations have condemned this move saying that it contradicts several
domestic laws and constitutional provisions.

Istanbul Convention

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (known as the Istanbul Convention), prompted heated  debates in Armenia during the year. In May during a meeting with the head of the Council of Europe (CoE) office in Armenia, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Zaruhi Batoyan said that Armenia is planning to draft a gender policy and that she wanted the input of the CoE on the matter. Batoyan also said that she is working to have Armenia quickly ratify the Istanbul Convention.
The Convention was signed in Istanbul in 2011. The goal of the Convention is to prevent and protect women from all forms of violence, eliminate discrimination, promote equality between men and women.

Bonuses

In January, it became known that a number of governors of Armenia paid themselves and their senior staff members bonuses, causing a wave of criticism. Among them were the governors of Syunik, Ararat, Armavir and Kotayk. PM Nikol Pashinyan and other senior government officials defended the payments, arguing that bonuses have been given for many years to public sector employees. In a Facebook live, Pashinyan noted that his administration is having trouble attracting skilled professionals, who work in the private sector, because public sector salaries are very low.
Similar bonuses were given to employees in the Municipality and Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC). Mayor of Yerevan Hayk Marutyan said that ahead of the New Year the Municipality allocated $974,000 US for bonuses, because they had been able to reduce expenditures, leaving extra funds.

Salary Increase

The average salary of firefighters will increase from 85,000 to 130,000 ($180 – $275 US), while the average salaries of forest rangers will increase by 20 percent (approximately 20,000 AMD or $42 US).

related

International Republican Institute

In 2019, the International Republican Institute conducted two nationwide polls in Armenia. For each poll, interviews were conducted with 1200 permanent residents of Armenia who are eligible to vote.
The results of the poll released in July show high public confidence in government and optimism about the country’s future. According to the results, 72 percent of respondents are satisfied with the performance of the Prime Minister’s office, 60 percent think the country is headed in the right direction, and 59 percent of respondents believe that the government is making enough effort to fight corruption. Armenians, however, remain concerned about a number of issues facing the country. When asked about the government’s greatest failure, 22 percent of respondents cited bad management. Although 42 percent think that the economy as a whole has improved over the last six months, just 24 percent cited improvements in the economic situation of their own households over the same time period.

If new parliamentary elections were conducted in May, 59 percent of the respondents would vote in favor of My Step (during the 2018 parliamentary elections My Step received 70 percent of the votes), 12 percent in favor of Prosperous Armenia, and 5 percent for the Republican party.
The results of polls released in December show that 62 percent of Armenian society believes that the country is heading in the right direction, which is a two percent increase compared to the previous poll conducted in May 2019. But it is also a 9 percent decrease compared to 2018 poll results, where 73 percent of the respondents viewed the country as heading in the right direction. When asked about the biggest failures of the new government, the top three responses were: bad management; unfulfilled promises; and perceptions of political instability. Economic concerns were ranked fourth. Also, 75 percent of the respondents mentioned the need for much quicker implementation of economic reforms, while in May poll, 63 percent voiced such concerns. So, citizens are becoming observably more impatient with time and the demand for quicker

Pensions and Salaries for Public Servants to Increase

Starting from January 1, 2020 pensions will increase by 10 percent. It is expected that the increase will impact over 560,000 people in the country. The changes are reflected in Armenia’s 2020 state budget. In November, the government also raised the minimum pension from 16,000 AMD to 25,000 ($33 – $52 US), which impacted about 7 percent of pensioners.
Also, starting from January 1, 2020, salaries of a number of state employees will increase. Salaries of 5000 employees of sport and cultural centers of Yerevan will increase. Salaries of employees in music and art schools will by up to 25 percent, while in sports schools by up to 56 percent. Employees will also be provided with health insurance. Starting from 2020, the government will set minimum of 108,000 AMD ($227 US) salary for teachers (after taxes).
The Military Insurance Fund will extend the assistance it provides to the families of soldiers killed while on military duty back to 1998. Initially, when the Fund was established, it extended assistance to the families of soldiers killed or injured on the Line of Contact.

On January 14, the National Assembly held its first session. The new parliament is composed of 132 members representing three political forces. This is the first time since the 1990s, that the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation are not represented in parliament. Former First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan from the My Step faction was elected as the President (Speaker) of the National Assembly. Mirzoyan pledged to strive for stronger “parliamentary oversight” of the government and said he would be “open to dialogue” with the opposition. Lena Nazaryan and Alen Simonyan of My Step were elected as Deputy Speakers.
The Armenian Constitution reserves the third post of deputy speaker for a representative of the parliamentary opposition. Following much heated discussions between two opposition parties (Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia), both of which had candidates for the position of the third deputy speaker, Vahe Enfiajyan from Prosperous Armenia was elected.
Of the 11 Parliamentary Standing Committees, eight are headed by MPs from the My Step faction, two by Prosperous Armenia, and one by Bright Armenia.

In November, the National Assembly elected the five members of the newly created anti-corruption committee (Commission on Preventing Corruption). They were nominated by the government, the Supreme Judicial Council and the three political forces represented in parliament (My Step, Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia). The anti-corruption body will replace the Ethics Committee for Senior Officials and will be tasked with overseeing income and asset declarations submitted by Armenia’s top state officials. Aside from processing asset declarations, the Commission can also ask law-enforcement bodies to investigate officials suspected of engaging in corrupt practices or submitting false documentation.
During the committee’s first session, Haykuhi Harutyunyan, who was nominated by Bright Armenia, was elected president of the commission. Harutyunyan is a human rights activist, and since 2013 heads the Protection of Rights Without Borders NGO.

On June 18, parliament elected prominent lawyer Vahe Grigoryan to the post of Constitutional Court (CC) judge. This was Grigoryan’s second nomination, the first was under the previous parliament, when the Republican party was the ruling majority and failed to elect him to the country’s highest court. This time, Grigoryan, was backed by 99 parliamentarians and opposed by 22, and he was the third candidate nominated by President Armen Sarkissian (the previous two did not receive the required number of votes).
During his swearing in ceremony on June 20, Grigoryan declared that he could now act as the Chair of the Constitutional Court, challenging the legitimacy of the presiding Chair, Hrayr Tovmasyan. He explained that following the Constitutional referendum in 2015, the CC consists of judges rather than members, which was the case prior to 2015. And that it is only he and Arman Dilanyan, who was elected a member of the CC last year, who can serve as judges and make decisions (suggesting that the other six do not have that power). Since Dilanyan was currently absent from Armenia, Grigoryan said that he was single-handedly “taking over the powers (presuming the responsibilities) and duties of the Constitutional Court chairman.”
Grigoryan’s nomination was criticized by opposition lawmakers from Bright Armenia, who claim that the Constitution specifically mentions that a new candidate has to be nominated. They also questioned Grigoryan’s impartiality, noting his close relations with the country’s current leadership.

In September, after the Constitutional Court delivered a decision on the legality of charges brought against former President Robert Kocharyan, the Chair of the Court Hrayr Tomvasyan came under criticism by the ruling My Step faction. The ruling party said that Tovmasyan mishandled the appeal by Kocharyan’s lawyers. Head of the My Step faction Lilit Makunts announced that they will urge the court to replace Tovmasyan. Eventually, My Step tabled a 94-page bill on September 18, identifying the legal grounds for terminating Tovmasyan’s powers.
Some of the justifications at the core of the bill stipulated that before joining the Constitutional Court, Tovmasyan was a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and held a number of key positions. Therefore, while making decisions he may be constrained by his ties to RPA. Tovmasyan is also the godfather of one of Kocharyan’s lawyers, Aram Orbelyan. According to MP Suren Grigoryan, who tabled the bill, Tovmasyan did not disclose his relations with Orbelyan and did not voluntarily recuse himself from the proceedings. Grigoryan also pointed out that Tovmasyan had previously made public statements regarding the crackdown on protesters on March 1, 2008, which should have been sufficient grounds for withdrawal from the proceedings. Before joining the RPA, Tovmasyan said that the post-election unrest was shameful for the country; after his appointment as justice minister, he described it as mass disorder.
On October 3, hours before parliament started debating the draft bill, Tovmasyan issued a statement saying he will not participate in the session because he believes that the process is driven by political and subjective considerations. He went on to list some recent events to prove his point. Tovmasyan mentioned PM Nikol Pashinyan’s call in May 2019 to blockade the entrance of court buildings as one example. He also mentioned CC judge Vahe Grigoryan’s announcement during his inauguration in parliament, when he said that after his oath he will take on the duties of the chair of the Constitutional Court.
On October 4, the National Assembly passed a bill terminating Tovmasyan’s powers. Prosperous Armenia announced that they will not participate in the vote, while Bright Armenia voted in favor of the bill. “Parliament is not the body to decide whether Hrayr Tovmasyan should stay or leave,” said the head of the faction Gagik Tsarukyan. The Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs also endorsed the bill.
After the bill was voted on in the parliament, it was sent to the Constitutional Court, which duly rejected the motion on October 14. Tovmasyan himself did not participate in the vote.

Parliament voted in favor of an early retirement scheme offered to Constitutional Court judges (with 65 in favor and 33 against). According to the bill, judges who voluntarily step down before January 31, 2020, will receive monthly compensation equivalent to their current wage until their term was foreseen to end. Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan estimated that the possible early retirement of Tovmasyan and the six other justices will cost 630 million AMD ($1.3 million US) in taxpayers money.
Based on the request of the Justice Minister, the Venice Commission provided an expert opinion regarding the bill in August. It said that as long as the proposed retirement remains voluntary and does not hinder the effective functioning of the Court, the proposal is not objectionable from the standpoint of international standards. Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia voted against the bill saying that it is politically motivated and is an attempt to appoint judges more favorable to the government. The controversial bill has been criticized by some legal experts as well, who say that it amounts to a legal “bribe.”

In June, the National Assembly unanimously passed a draft on providing compensation to the family of the victims of the March 1, 2008 post-election unrest. The bill was proposed by Deputy Speakers Alen Simonyan and Lena Nazaryan. The law stipulates that assistance will be provided to the families of those who died in the clashes, as well as those who suffered serious injuries. According to Nazaryan, there are approximately 63 such cases. Assistance will also be provided to police officers who were severely injured and were not prosecuted.
In July, the government adopted a decision on the type of compensation that will be provided to the victims. According to the decision, families of those people who died during the clashes will receive 30 million AMD ($63,000 US) in compensation, those who were severely injured will receive 15 million AMD ($31,500 US) and people who suffered minor injuries will receive 5 million AMD ($10,500 US). Eleven years have passed since those deadly events, which left 10 people dead and about 200 injured.

In July, the National Assembly voted in favor of the draft bill introducing stricter forms of punishment for illegal logging. The package of amendments imposes 2 years of imprisonment for damage caused to the forest that is estimated to be more than 100,0000 AMD ($210 US). Previously only a fine was imposed on a similar offence. Causing less than $210 US damage to a forest for a second time will also be punishable by imprisonment. Minister of Nature protection Erik Grigoryan believes this will help halt the country’s deforestation and counter the organized underground wood business in Armenia with links to corrupt state officials of the previous regime. Also, with the new legislation, the fine for hunting Caucasian leopard increased from 3 to 100 million AMD ($210,000 US).
Following the adoption of the bill, residents of Tavush region started protests in the regional capital Ijevan. About 500 demonstrators blocked the highway passing through the city, demanding the government allow cutting and selling wood from forests, which they say is their primary source of income. At about midnight, protests led to clashes between security forces and demonstrators which left 14 people injured (mainly police officers, who were hit by stones).
A criminal case was launched for hooliganism and using violence against security forces.

In June, parliament passed a government bill introducing changes to Armenia’s tax code. Both opposition parties, Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia voted against the bill.
According to the changes, Armenia will switch to a flat income tax rate of 23 percent starting from January 1, 2020. It is expected that by 2023, income tax will be further reduced to 20 percent, after which the contribution to the mandatory pension fund paid by citizens will increase to 5 percent (now citizens’ contribution is 2.5 percent, while the government compensates the remaining 7.5 percent). The bill also calls for significant increases in excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol, which is meant to compensate for a short-term loss of the government’s budgetary revenues, expected following the tax cuts. Taxes on gambling are also expected to rise to 20 percent.
According to the current tax code, those who earn up to 150,000 AMD ($309 US) pay 23 percent income tax; those who earn anywhere between $309 US and $4130 US pay 28 percent, while those earning more than 2 million AMD pay 36 percent income tax.
PM Nikol Pashinyan said that the tax cuts will discourage employers from underreporting their workers’ wages for tax evasion purposes. Opposition lawmakers who voted against the tax cuts, dismiss these arguments saying that the flat tax is unfair and would only widen the already serious income inequality in Armenia.

In October, despite government opposition, parliament voted in favor of a bill banning to take more than 170 million cubic meters of water from Lake Sevan. Bright Armenia abstained from the vote. The head of the faction Edmon Marukyan said he believed the bill was merely symbolic and that it would not prevent authorities from using water from the lake when and if necessary.
In July, Lake Sevan started changing its color because of the growth of blue-green algae. The Ministry of Nature Protection announced that similar algae was first noticed in Sevan back in the 1940s and several times since. According to experts, there are several reasons for this, among them is the lack of precipitation, high temperatures and climate change, wastewater from recreational and leisure centers surrounding the lake as well as phosphorus and nitrogen that enter the lake as a result of fish farming. The quality of the water at the lake also deteriorated due to the large amount of water released from the lake for irrigation.
After the amount of phosphorus started declining algie subsided. “Lake Sevan has begun a self-cleaning process,” the Deputy Minister of Environment Irina Ghaplanyan wrote on her Facebook page.

Parliament approved the bill on increasing the minimum wage from 55,000 to 68,000 AMD ($115 – $142 US). Salaries of nearly 57,000 public servants and nearly 130,000 employees of the private sector will increase in 2020. Salaries of 950 ambulance workers will also increase by 10 percent (300 of those employees are doctors).

The 2020 state budget passed by a vote of 67 in favor, 37 against. Both of the opposition parties voted against the budget because they say it is not in line with the economic revolution that PM Pashinyan promised.

During the first reading, parliament voted in favor of the government proposal to ban smoking in public spaces across Armenia starting from March 2022 (with 83 in favor and 15 against). Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan justified the delay stating it would give businesses ample time to reconfigure/reorganize. The bill proposes to prohibit the use of tobacco products in cafes, restaurants, bars as well as municipal and government buildings. The legislation also bans the sale of cigarettes within 100 meters from schools and advertisements for tobacco products. The government also expects to raise taxes on tobacco by 15 percent by 2021. Indoor smoking will be punishable by fines ranging from 50,000 to 200,000 AMD ($105 – $419 US). Bright Armenia voted against the proposed legislation saying that it still requires some changes.

Foreign Relations

Meetings Between Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers

In September, French President Emmanuel Macron declared April 24 as “A National Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide” during the annual dinner of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France. Macron promised this back in his 2017 election campaign. During his speech, Macron stressed that France was among the first to denounce the atrocities of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. France in 2001 also became one of the first major European countries to call the mass killings a “genocide” and in 2016 passed a law criminalizing the denial of that status.
In April, Italy’s legislature passed a resolution calling on the government to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Fffairs issued a statement welcoming the decision, noting that it was “yet another important input to the efforts of the international community to respect and restore the rights of the Armenian people who suffered the Genocide.”
The Portugese Parliament also passed a resolution in April recognizing the Genocide. The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the resolution stating that “such approaches that politicize history, disregard international law and European law can absolutely never be accepted.’’

US Weapons Sale to Azerbaijan

Artur Vanetsyan

Valeri Osipyan

Trdat Sargsyan

Sarhat Petrosyan

Viktor Mnatsakanyan

Gagik Harutyunyan

Vazgen Manukyan

Hovhannes Kocharyan

Sanitek Waste Management Company

In October, the Yerevan Municipality unilaterally terminated its contract with Sanitek waste management company. In a short video message, Mayor Hayk Marutyan pointed out that since 2017, Sanitek had failed to provide the necessary garbage disposal services in the capital; the situation continued to deteriorate and came to an impasse on August 29, 2019 when the company stopped providing cleaning services and garbage disposal in Yerevan. Marutyan said that the municipality looked into the company’s contractual obligations and identified a number of violations, including insufficient number of garbage trucks and containers, including the poor condition of their fleet.

Marutyan said that this was sufficient basis for the municipality to begin the process of terminating the contract with the company. Earlier, in a letter addressed to Marutyan, the director of Sanitek said that the municipality owes the company more than 330 million AMD ($693,000 US) and that the company cannot keep working under such financial constraints.
After the Municipality terminated its contract with Sanitek, the company issued another statement accusing the Municipality of fabricating contract violations. The statement noted that the municipality’s decision came after a criminal case was launched by the Prosecutor General’s Office (based on the evidence provided by the municipality). Sanitek believes that the municipality violated the company’s right to presumption of innocence and terminated the contract based on a criminal case that is still in progress. Sanitek described the actions as “discriminatory and punitive” and designed to expropriate a foreign investor company by seizing its assets. Later, Sanitek announced that it is in the process of applying to the International Court of Arbitration.

Background: The garbage disposal issue in the capital started escalating in April, when after continuous concerns raised by residents of Yerevan as well as the Municipality, Sanitek (which was the only operator) was fined for 13 million AMD ($27,000 US). Up to this point, the Municipality had refrained from imposing fines and wanted to reach a systemic solution. Sanitek issued a statement clarifying that since October-November of 2018, the company warned the municipality that if they don’t collaborate, Yerevan would have serious garbage disposal issues. The statement also mentioned that the company had suffered irreversible losses and did not receive any form of compensation. At one point the situation was so bad that the Council of Elders adopted a decision on establishing “Yerevan municipal waste management and sanitary cleaning service,” which became the second operator.

The deadlock between the Yerevan Municipality and Sanitek further escalated in August when Sanitek called a press conference in Tbilisi. This move by Sanitek was largely criticized in Armenia, with officials and residents pointing out that talking about the issues of Yerevan in Tbilisi is counter constructive and sets a bad precedent. Sanitek eventually postponed the scheduled press conference and moved it to Yerevan. Still, Nikolas Tawil, the director of Sanitek joined the press conference online from Tbilisi saying the decision came after the severely harsh and unlawful administrative measures against the company. An example of the unlawful administrative treatment according to Tawil was the “unfounded” case launched against the company in February of 2018 for tax evasion. He called it a politically motivated attempt to expropriate the means of the company.

Transportation Reform

In the summer of 2019, the Municipality announced that the final design of a new public transportation route network was complete. It was developed with the help of the British WYG consulting firm, which was selected through an international competition announced by the Asian Development Bank. The implementation of the new system will take up to two years.
With the proposed changes, it is expected that instead of the current 109 routes, the transportation network will have only 42, which will consist of 11 main and 31 interim routes. The number of vehicles is also expected to decrease from the current 2039 to 939, which will include 18- and 12-meter-long buses and trolleybuses. Service will not decrease, instead routes will be streamlined and capacity of vehicles increased.

Protests Against the New Education Bill

In early November, students of Yerevan State University (mostly from the faculty of Armenian Philology) staged a protest against the Education Ministry’s legislative initiative to make the teaching of the Armenian language, literature and history optional in universities. The youth wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), also joined the action against the ministry’s latest initiative and staged their own protest in front of the government building demanding Minister Arayik Harutyunyan’s resignation. Members of the AYF then staged a sit-in in front of the Ministry.

Talking to reporters, Harutyunyan urged the ARF to “look back at its failures and analyze why it was rejected by society.” Harutyunyan went on to say: “I am ready to resign only when I feel I have not fulfilled my duties. This is not the case.” The Minister called on ARF leaders outside Armenia to “take care of their party, because the undisciplined behavior displayed by Armenia’s Dashnaktsutyun does not give credit to one of our oldest political parties.”

The Ministry also issued a statement clarifying that the draft law allows universities to determine the content of educational programs, and that after the program is adopted, each university is free to decide what subjects must be taught in all faculties. Faculty members were mostly supporting the students’ initiative saying the Armenian language curriculum at universities is far more advanced than what students learn at schools.

The protests by the Youth Wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation continued up until early December. They were demanding a meeting with Minister Arayik Harutyunyan and chanting “Go away, Arayik!” Protestors also tried to storm the ministry but they were forcefully removed from the area by the police forces; 24 of the activists were detained (all of them were released a day later). Minister Harutyunyan told the protestors that if they want to have a meeting with him, then they will need to follow the official procedure and wait for their turn. During the Q/A session in Parliament in December, PM Pashinyan talked about the demands for Harutyunyan’s resignation and noted that a political force that has zero influence cannot demand a minister’s resignation.

Vardanyan and Nunushyan Against Armenia

Aghayan and Others against Armenia

Tadevosyan Against Armenia

Mirzoyan Against Armenia

Hakobyan and Amirkhanyan Against Armenia

Samvel Mayrapetyan

UN Human Rights Council

Fighting Fake News

In April, PM Nikol Pashinyan ordered then Head of the National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan to crack down on those using social media platforms to spread fake news and manipulate public opinion. Although Pashinyan reaffirmed that freedom of speech and information is guaranteed in Armenia, he also said that it is a matter of national security when public opinion is being manipulated through social media. Vanetsyan noted that his agency will act “very carefully” on the issue and that law enforcement bodies will not take any action if the posted information, whether by a fake or an actual user, does not contain any criminal elements.
Pashinyan’s order was criticized by civil society representatives. Daniel Ioannisyan of the Union of Informed Citizens said that the NSS does not have the legal right to fight against misinformation or fake users, unless those who spread fake news also commit a crime. Ioannisyan told Azatutyun: “We have to bear in mind that in a democratic society the dissemination of fake news cannot be deemed a crime and prosecuted by the state.” When asked whether the crackdown could become a threat to the freedom of expression, Ioannisyan noted that it depends on what actions will be taken by law enforcement bodies.

Hayeli.am

In October, a group of people threw eggs at the office of the news publication Hayeli.am online. The four men in question also put up posters showing the Chair of the Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan and his sister Anjela Tovmasyan, the editor of Hayeli, alongside a picture of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. The attack came after an article titled “Aliyev’s belated but ‘strong’ response to Pashinyan,” was published by the news website (Aliyev’s response to Pashinyan’s statement in Artsakh during a rally).
The publication issued a statement saying that the attack was an act of “political persecution” and demanded law-enforcement authorities take immediate action to “punish the hooligans.” All three political forces in parliament (My Step, Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia) were quick to condemn the attack. Human rights defender Arman Tatoyan and Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan also condemned the attack, saying that freedom of speech must always be respected and that such incidents should be punished.
A Criminal investigation was launched. The four men involved in the incident have been released on bail pending their trial.

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Reporters Without Borders

Upcoming Elections in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)