2019 January 28

Anti-Corruption Daily

by ar_david_hh

All the accused are innocent until proven guilty by the court of law. Currency in Armenian Drams unless specified otherwise.

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A decision was made to publish the names of Yerevan municipality employees who received bonus salary payments for the year 2018, says mayor Marutyan, after consulting with Justice Ministry (who informed about the data being private) and lawyers (who insisted that the info should be available to public).

All employees, except mayor Marutyan himself, received bonuses. Some of the names are in the article. Mayor says some employees had worked in municipality for years but never received these encouragement bonuses in past. They have been included in the list this time around.

https://news.am/arm/news/492896.html

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Mihran Poghosyan, the former HHK MP whose offshore property was revealed by Panama Papers, has left the country.

The neighbors say he stopped the construction of the newest property, and that they haven't seen his family in the main residence for several months now.

The investigators re-opened his case last week.

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/153216

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The police will have a brand new multi-functional patrol service, and the officers will see their salaries rise, said PM Pashinyan. This is part of reforming the police force to make it more efficient in the fight against crime, added the PM.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/962156.html

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Former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan claims the army was involved in politics only after president Kocharyan declared a state of the emergency on the evening of March 1st.

Witnesses and pictures prove otherwise, say the prosecutors, citing March 1st morning photos.

Ohanyan is, too, accused of breaking the Constitutional order in the 2008 March 1st case.

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/153373

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Ashotsk's new skiing center has opened. It's a project financed by EU meant to help the athletes better prepare for international competitions, and to promote tourism in the region. 50km additional tracks will be created in the near future. The resort will have a small buffet and a resting place.

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/arti:cle/153362 - - -

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/153298 ------- https://armenpress.am/arm/news/962142.html

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Tsakhkadzor skiing resort is becoming more popular among Russian tourists. Most of them arrive for the first time. They say it's almost 3 times cheaper than in Sochi. The new lighting system allows the resort to remain open until 11:00 PM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=121&v=CQl9sbKG1s0

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Today is army's 27th anniversary.

The president's office, the government, Defense and Health Ministries, have launched a project called "Homeland Defender", which will help the soldiers who received disabilities during the service to find jobs in government, non-profit and private sectors.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/962218.html

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Interactive quiz: How much do you know about the armed forces?

https://www.lragir.am/2019/01/28/412808/

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1990: First videos of the newly created Armenian army.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDoFU1rURm8

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Many mayors have quit HHK and will seek reelection as independents in the upcoming municipal elections in over 10 regions.

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/153360

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Health Minister says 52% of men still smoke. As a result, men are 6 times more likely to have a lung cancer. 19% of all non-virus related early deaths are linked to smoking. Early deaths in Armenia are significantly more common than in Europe. The numbers have remained the same 2014.

The public spends 6.4% of GDP (356bln) to treat cardiovascular, cancerous, diabetes, COPD problems. (Part of the money is in the form of a lost workforce.)

Top killer disease in Armenia: Cardiovascular is 56% of all deaths, Cancer 20% , Diabetes 3%, COPD 2%

Minister says smoking reduction is the fastest and most cost effective way to reduce illnesses. If Armenia continues to participate in EU's anti-smoking campaign, it'll be possible to save 187,000 lives in the next 40 years, says Minister Torosyan.

http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/264783/

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"Armenian Eagles Party"'s vice-president, who was arrested few months ago with corruption and $10,000 bribery charges, has passed away from a heart attack. He held a hunger strike which ended on January 17th. He died on January 26th after falling ill.

During the hunger strike, he routinely received a medical, psychological and legal assistance over 35 times, and was notified about the health risks, says Justice Minister. The law prevents the authorities from forcing someone to end the hunger strike.

There is an investigation to find out if the death could have been prevented.

http://investigative.am/news/view/mher-yeghiazaryan.html ---------- https://factor.am/119078.html - - - - - -

https://yerevan.today/all/iravakan/27382/ardaradatutyan-nakharari-parzabanumnery-mher-eghiazaryani-mahvan-veraberyal ---- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYdF7sE_0e4

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Few months ago the government announced that it will create a database of professionals, which can be used by the government and the private sector to hire qualified workers.

Stats: 2100 resumes received, 800 examined, 50 interviews scheduled by the government.

https://www.facebook.com/armgovernment/photos/a.465404970149239/2164805200209199/?type=3&theater

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Pashinyan had earlier met Apple CEO Tim Cook during the Davos trip. He invited Cook to visit Armenia for the international IT World Congress high-tech forum, which will be held in Armenia this Fall.

http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/264816/

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Russian tech-hub Deworkacy will expand outside of Russia. They plan to launch a co-working space in Yerevan on February 5th, says CEO Angrei Kulagin.

The main reason if favorable business conditions, the presence of American investors in Armenia, and good climate, added the CEO.

http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/264814/

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Galaxy Group and the Armenian high-tech sector have been working on a tech accelerator/incubator/ startup park in Yerevan. It'll house 6,000 professionals and work with wide variety of organizations, which will make it the largest such project in the region.

More details will be unveiled in the near future.

https://www.a1plus.am/1659073.html

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Gevorg Kostanyan, former HHK MP and former Armenian representative to ECHR (European Court for Human Rights) says Azerbaijan is preparing a lawsuit against Armenia in ECHR, similar to the one filed by Georgia against Russia, Cyprus vs Turkey, and several citizens vs Transnistria (east of Moldova) and Russia.

In all of the lawsuits, ECHR had ruled that the lands are de-jure part of one country, but de-facto belong to another country, which holds legal liabilities too. Azerbaijan is seeking to use ECHR as a method to put international pressure on Armenia, and to theoretically seek $50 billion in damages (Kostanyan is skeptical about the number).

https://news.am/arm/news/492866.html

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Beginning 2019, Armenia took the role of the presidency of EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union). This was the primary reason for Pashinyan's latest visit to Moscow, where he met Russian PM Medvedev.

During the speech, Pashinyan spoke about using the EAEU platform to improve the energy transfers and control the pricing for EAEU members. Earlier, he mentioned EAEU as a great way to find long term solutions for Armenia's energy costs.

https://factor.am/118709.html ------ https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3866082?from=main_4&fbclid=IwAR1ykxD_Gqz7ohdi7YboudbQoVlCpixdvQn3LK_wzcVtXHPBxzQu-fced8o

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Israeli Defense Ministry has suspended the exporting licenses of the directors of Aeronautics Ltd company for illegally exporting and using a suicide drone against Artsakh Republic at the request of Azeri government on 2017.

The company's engineers refused to operate the drones knowing that it would be illegal, so the directors stepped in and operated it themselves. Because they were inexperienced, they were unable to hit the Armenian target, concluded the investigation.

The footage of the flying drone was later features in an Azeri army propaganda video.

https://www.lragir.am/2019/01/28/412741/ ------------- http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/23270/israeli-company-allegedly-flew-a-suicide-drone-on-a-real-combat-mission-in-azerbaijan

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Heritage Foundation releases 2019's Economic Freedom Index.

Armenia is on 47th place (up 30 places), Georgia 16, Azerbaijan 60, Turkey 68, Iran 155.

https://www.lragir.am/2019/01/26/412579/

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More fake news from the Azerbaijani media. Someone created a website titled Narco Karabakh which spread made-up information by unknown sources.

The alleged author is presented as Harold Cane. The website, which cites its sources from a new book by the same author, claims it is a pseudonym and not the real journalist's name. The book's author is also unknown in the British database, where it was published. The author claims to have spent several weeks in Armenia and Artsakh.

He claims that the Interior Ministry police forces beat him in his Yerevan hotel room on one occasion, and that he witnessed human and weapon trafficking regularly.

(What the fake news peddler forgot to research is that Armenia does not have an Interior Ministry.)

He also portrays Artsakh as a place where the Iranian army, Afghan drug dealers and Armenian mafia and others allegedly conduct dirty business. The author injects a political reasoning behind this claim, suggesting that this is all possible because Artsakh is independent and isn't under the control of international bodies.

The author attempts to make the book look more authentic by linking it to credible media organizations on multiple occasions while citing other claims.

There are several other contradictions in the book. It was circulated by lesser known media outlets in Azerbaijan, and was picked up by the Azeri version of Russian Sputnik media.

Similar false propaganda about Artsakh Republic was spread on 2008 and 2016, when Azeri and Turkish media outlets tried to claim Kurdish PKK terrorist group was actively settling and sheltered in Artsakh Republic.

The purpose of the propaganda piece is to exaggerate crime and to portray Artsakh in a bad light, due to Aliyev's inability to stop actual journalists and tourists, such as Alexander Lapshin, from visiting there and presenting it to the rest of the world as an independent and developing nation.

https://fip.am/5853

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European Parliament MP Frank Engel has been elected as the leader of Luxemburg's ruling Christian Social People's party leader.

Engel is pro-Armenia. He has visited Artsakh Republic and complained about Azerbaijan's tourism blacklists in past. His wife is Armenian.

https://www.a1plus.am/1658838.html

Link to original report: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/akrndz/anticorruption_jan282019/