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Vardan Oskanian has brushed aside the allegations brought by the National Security Service against him and Civilitas Foundation, detailed by the NSS on 12 June. “In order for there to be money laundering, there must first be dirty money,” he said in a statement. “In this case, the source of the funds is known, the buyer is known, the transfer of the funds to me and to Civilitas according to the donor’s wishes have been transparent and electronic. The attorneys have said that no tax obligation was created as a result of the transaction.” Oskanian also insisted that his foundation did disclose the donation in its 2011 financial report which he said was drawn up by an independent accounting firm. “Only those with political motivations will attempt to reduce a good man’s good work to political currency” he said. “If tax authorities have some suspicions, there are other ways [to verify them]. The fact that the National Security Service deals with it means that there definitely was a political order to fabricate something against Oskanian or Civilitas. I can’t find any other explanation right now,” the former FM was quoted saying. Hetq.am, RFE/RL, News.am, Panorama.am, Aravot, Azg daily
Representatives of oppositional ANC, ARF-D, Heritage, and Free Democrats parties have not excluded political motives behind the criminal action against Oskanian’s Civilitas foundation. “Since we have precedents [of politically motivated prosecutions] I will not be surprised if it emerges that this is indeed political persecution,” Levon Zurabyan has suggested. Vahan Hovhannisyan has not excluded that the case may be connected with Oskanian’s recent political activism, while Aleksandr Arzumanyan believes that political implications are “obvious”. Political analyst Yervand Bozoyan has directly linked the case to politics and to 2013 presidential elections in particular. “The authorities have started preparing for the presidential elections and are ready to neutralize anyone standing in their way,” he said. ArmInfo, RFE/RL, Lurer.com, Yerkir daily, ArmenaiNow.com, 7or.am
The Court of Cassation has condemned the unprecedented strike involving some 600 Armenian lawyers [11 June] and backed by the Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates against what they see as arbitrary decisions routinely made by the country’s highest body of criminal and civil justice. The lawyers specifically protested against the high court’s refusal to even consider the vast majority of appeals lodged by defense attorneys and litigants in civil cases, often without any explanation. Hayk Alumyan, one of the organizers of the protest, accused the tribunal of waging a “cold war” against lawyers. “Even after winning cases at the Constitutional Court we are unable to ensure the restoration of our clients’ rights by the Court of Cassation,” he said. Lusine Sahakyan, another well-known lawyer, said the court’s stance contributes to a lack of judicial independence and violations of due process by law-enforcement bodies. She says more than 97% of verdicts handed down by the courts of first instance last year were not struck down by higher courts. But a senior aide to the Chairman of the Cassation Court dismissed the lawyers’ demands as “ridiculous” saying the court would not even discuss them with the protestors. “A lawyer is an entrepreneur. A lawyer cannot go on strike against a court,” Sergey Marabyan told journalists, suggesting that “evaluating the court beyond the law” is politics. Marabyan has also claimed that the judicial system in Armenia is devoid of corruption. RFE/RL, Lragir.am, Haykakan Zhamanak
The Administrative Court has announced a verdict concerning the case of Mashtots Park activist, filmmaker Tigran Khzmalyan, in favor of the Police. Khzmalyan who was engaged in demolition activities of the stands in the park together with a large number of environmental and civic activists [before President Sargsyan ordered to remove the kiosks] was fined by 50,000 AMD on 12 June for disobeying police orders during their maintenance of public order. Khzmalyan intends to appeal the ruling. He says he has not received a reply to his question as to “how the protection of an illegal construction by the police can be considered legal?” Aravot daily, A1+
A cooperation agreement has been signed between the HRD/Ombudsman and several Armenian NGOs concerning the organization and implementation of joint rapid response activities. Following bilateral discussions the terms of the agreement have considerably modified. The rapid reaction group under the HRD has been re-established since 1 June of this year. News.am, 1in.am
OSCE chairman-in-office, Irish FM Eamon Gilmore urged the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to withdraw snipers from the line of contact and jointly investigate ceasefire violations. Gilmore made the appeal in Yerevan after talks with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian on 12 June, and reiterated OSCE support to all efforts targeted at the creation of mechanisms for the prevention and investigation of incidents at a subsequent meeting with President Sargsyan. He expressed hope that Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers will make progress towards agreeing on a mechanism for joint investigation of truce violations when they meet in Paris next week. “Armenia has been and is for the creation of the mechanisms of investigation and, unlike Azerbaijan, when we agree on something, we do not backtrack on it the following day,” Nalbandian was quoted saying during the joint press conference. Commenting on Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu’s condolences addressed exclusively to Azerbaijani victims of the border incidents, Nalbandian has qualified Davutoglu’s statements as “racist”. “Such statements by the Turkish Minister only encourage Azerbaijan to new provocations,” he said. RFE/RL, Public Radio, ArmeniaNow.com, Hayastani Hanrapetutyun
In Yerevan, Gilmore also held a meeting with NKR President Bako Sahakyan on 12 June. Sahakyan highlighted the necessity of restoring the negotiation format adopted at the OSCE Budapest Summit, noting that a comprehensive settlement of the conflict is impossible without Karabakh’s participation. Mediamax, Armenpress
Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Traian Hristea has expressed optimism about the prospects of integration of Armenian political parties into the European family during a discussion organized by the EU Advisory Group on the integration of national political parties of EaP countries into the EU political family. Mediamax
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