Is we look at the archives you will see how often during the recent years various organizations initiated actions on different occasions, however today unhealthy passiveness reigns in the public and political life of Armenia. Vice speaker Vahan Hovhannisian gives rather an peculiar explanation to this phenomenon. When asked to comment on the issue taking into account the faults of the law “On marches, rallies and demonstrations”, he brought...

Long live to our court………. “Fortunately I have never dealt with our courts but I have never heard a court to take a just decision”, a woman of 30 said when responding to our question whether our juridical power can administer justice. “Our court is dependent and unjust”, a man said. 48% of the respondents consider that there is no justice in our juridical system. They condition it by the fact that the juridical system depends on the...

Will the Armenian juridical system become independent after the constitutional reform is carried out? The coalition forces are optimistic on the issue. They consider that the constitutional amendments will create all the preconditions for the independence of the juridical system. Head of the RPA Galust Sahakyan expects rather serious progress. “Each member of the Justice Council has equal rights...

The problem of the independence of the juridical power has not been solved yet, representatives of the parliamentary opposition consider. Independent deputy Manuk Gasparyan supposes that despite all the amendments introduced in the organic law of the country it still preserved its negative points. “The fact that the Justice Council will not be appointed by the President will certainly give a positive...

Provide a judge with proper salary and then urge justice. The courts in Armenia will be independent only under the condition of financial independence. This is the opinion held by Ruben Nersisyan, the judge of the Court of First Instance of Kentron and Nork Marash communities. Though his salary can be rated as satisfactory he renders a part of it to the needs of the court. He noted that it’s not...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is concerned by reports that a transfer of the beneficial (or economic) ownership of Armenia’s energy distribution company (Electric Networks of Armenia, or ENA) from its currently licensed owner (Midland Resources Holding) may have taken place. {BR} If these reports are correct, this transfer occurred without following important...

Though the National Assembly discussed three drafts constitutional amendments, only was adopted. At that the opinion of the authors of the other two drafts was not taken into account. Arshak Sadoyan succeeded to present his views to the Venice Commission. The latter suggested he submitted his draft in the form of proposals during the period between the first and second reading. With his colleagues...

“The draft constitutional amendments sent to the Venice Commission does not reflect the political and economic situation in Armenia”, first secretary of the RA Communist Party Ruben Tovmasyan says. The project did not undergo democratic discussions, even the deputies themselves are not acquainted with the draft sent to the Commission. According to Tovmasyan that “when speaking of independence...

The draft constitutional amendments has already been sent to the Venice Commission for final resolution. The Council of Europe urges Armenia to submit to referendum the draft approved by the Venice Commission. July9-12 we asked 100 citizens what do they think about the fact that the constitution reform is being carried out under the immediate supervision of the commission. 54% of the respondents...

According to the agreement achieved by the working group of the Venice Commission and the RA authorities in Strasbourg June 23-24, the Armenian party had to submit the reviewed draft constitutional amendments to the Venice Commission till July 7. Constitutional right specialist Vardan Poghosyan assures that considerable changed have been inserted into the three disputable issues. According to him,...

If you think that your demands have not been satisfied yet, if you said you will participate in the process only in case they are satisfied, everything is obvious” After the last PACE session representatives of both Justice bloc and National Unity faction did not rule out their participation in the discussions of the constitutional amendments. Nevertheless proceeding from the above mentioned statement...

Will the RA Constitutional referendum and the Azeri Parliamentary elections have any effect on the course of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict? {BR} In answer to this question the OSCE Minsk group French co-chair Bernard Fassier noted that theoretically they must not have any effect on the settlement of the conflict. As for the practical influence, he cannot say anything. By the way, referring...

Today in Stepanakert the NKR President Arkadi Ghoukasyan rendered a press conference in which he appreciated the intentions to restore the transport communication between Armenia and Azerbaijan as positive. {BR} As for the opening of the highway Aghdam-Shoushi-Lachin-Ijevan he hinted that it is not the most important issue in today's discussion, and referring to the most important issue he mentioned,...

“This summer there is more progress than last summer”, the OSCE Minsk group co-chair Steven Mann evaluated the course of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. And if there is progress, according to the Russian co-chair Yuriy Merzlyakov, «it is the result of the compromise of the two sides». {BR} As for what compromise the sides have made, the co-chairs did not inform considering it confidential. Neither did they speak about the possibility...

Analyzing the revised draft constitution sent to the Venice Commission on July 7, the Justice bloc came to the conclusion that that some steps have been taken to take the offers of the opposition into account, but they cannot be evaluated as the full realization of the 3 principle approaches represented on January19, 2005. {BR} Some conditions necessary for the participation of the bloc in the Constitutional...

Today the Justice bloc was discussing for 4 hours to say “no” to the revised draft Constitution now or later. No common solution was found, and the session decided that the Republican Party will make an announcement saying “No” to the Constitution, and the other members of the bloc, including Shavarsh Kocharyan, will make a similar announcement later, and there will be only strategic differences. {BR} The “constructive” part of the bloc...

It turns out that the Azeris are not pleased with the meeting about the Karabakh conflict organized in Georgia by the International Crisis Group. «After familiarizing with the documents prepared by the International Crisis Group I realized that it corresponds to the interests of Armenia. That's why the Azeri experts disagreed with the document and expressed their discontent», said the Azeri Parliament...

The OSCE Minsk group co-heads have not yet left the region, while Azerbaijan is already making plans about activity in Karabakh. In particular, the Azeri Deputy Minister of Transportation Musa Panakhov has represented the ambitious plans of Azerbaijan. {BR} According to the information, Azerbaijan is going to make large investments for the development of the highways and railroads in Karabakh. «At...

“The extra presidential election should be held on the first Sunday of 2006 and the parliamentary elections – on the last Sunday of September”, this is one of the 64 proposals by leader of the National Democratic Alliance Arshak Sadoyan. {BR} None of these proposal was adopted. “It’s strange that neither Shavarsh Kocharyan nor Artashes Geghamyan paid attention to this fact in Strasbourg though they have promised radical changes”, Arshak...

RA Human Rights Defender Larisa Alaverdyan sent a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. The letter says, in part: {BR} “The RA Ombudsman considers that presently a number of operating laws contain clauses, whose correspondence to the Constitution can be seriously questioned. The matter concerns some articles of the RA law “On Social Insurance Cards”. The citizens have sent a great number of complaints. They claim that the dependence...

Two policemen of the Georgian Finance Ministry were wounded in a skirmish that took place yesterday at the checkpoint of Lagodekhi at the Azeri-Georgian border. As reported by IA Regnum, the skirmish followed a dispute between the policemen and a group of Azeris, who were crossing the border. {BR} The collision was stopped after Georgian interior officers arrived at the scene. It is supposed that...

«The party “New Times” is decisive in the national revolution process which it has announced», said the leader of the party Aram Karapetyan. {BR} Tomorrow the party will have a meeting in the Nor Norq community, but this does not mean that the revolution will be in summer. According to Aram Karapetyan, “The process will start in September, and at preset serious work is being done to put powers together”. The leader of the party thinks...

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will have their usual meeting on August 22. {BR} That very day in Moscow the session of the CIS countries Foreign Ministers Council will take place, the Azeri Foreign Ministry Press service informs.

«In which street do you live, Mr. Architect?» asked the correspondent of “Haylur” to the guest of the National Press Club Yerevan chief Architect Samvel Danielyan. “I do not live in a street, I live in a yard near the school N71”, informed the latter. {BR} He informed that construction work is also being done in the yard where he lives, but the yard of the school N 71 will be preserved. The correspondent of “Armenian Times” asked what...