Day: July 10, 2024
Traitor & former Chief Justice of the Ukrainian Supreme Court Kniazev apprehended as he was attempting to flee to Romania, just 1km from the border in Solotvyno. Charged with taking a $2.7M bribe, he was released on bail in January 2024. https://t.co/HeaUKlANig pic.twitter.com/S5HFvQGpKS
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) July 10, 2024
Sen. Bob Menendez’s lawyer tells jury that prosecutors’ bribery case ‘dies here today’ Bowling Green Daily News
US appears to be taking over #Russia in calling meetings between #Armenia and #Azerbaijan officials, urging a peace treaty to be signed between the two. https://t.co/zT3C0WcA2n
— Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver) July 10, 2024
Another high-level US official to visit #Armenia. These past two months have seen an unprecedented number of high-level US officials visit the country as the current government reorients itself (foreign and internal policies) towards the West and becomes overtly anti-Russian. https://t.co/cvGrGeIATH
— Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver) July 10, 2024
While continuing to be vague about whether what happened in Artsakh was ethnic cleansing, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said that the U.S. is calling on Azerbaijan to ensure the rights for safe return of Artsakh Armenians.
Speaking at a press conference in Yerevan on Wednesday, Power said that events in Nagorno-Karabakh are being “examined” by the State Department, noting “with regret” that should could not give an assessment on the matter before the State Department does.
“We are aware of the latest reports that have recently been released, where there is documented data and interviews with numerous families who survived the events of recent years and specifically September 2023,” she added, referring to Azerbaijan’s attack on Artsakh that led to the forced exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians from their ancestral homes.
She called for ensuring the rights of Artsakh residents and the families to return safely to their homes.
Power explained that there must be proper conditions for return, fundamental among which is a change in circumstances.
“I was at the border in September 2023, and I still remember the stories of the families from Nagorno-Karabakh who fled to Armenia and the fear they endured. They were unable to get food and medicine for months before Azerbaijan took these communities. The persons I met had lost contact with their families during the hasty exodus [from Artsakh],” Power explained.
Power said she was satisfied that many of these families were able to reunite, but not in all cases. She recalled that on Tuesday she visited a place run by a businessman from Nagorno-Karabakh who fled to Armenia several years ago.
“He employs people who have recently come to Armenia. The spouse of one of the female employees is missing, the spouse of another was killed in the fighting. This reflects what many families have experienced,” Power explained.
“The data for June shows that employment rates have increased, but the suffering of this group of population continues to be extremely great, as they have left a lot there. We support this population, and we support kindergartens and schools that have hosted children who have experienced serious traumas,” Power said, voicing confidence in the Armenian government’s effort to ensure the welfare of the forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians. https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FUSAIDArmenia%2Fvideos%2F1774511816287810%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0
Power emphasized that peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan would go a long way in alleviating some of these challenges.
“The U.S. Agency for International Development and the United States stand ready to help Armenia strengthen democracy and achieve peace with Azerbaijan. I am here today because Armenia has an opportunity to prosper, strengthen its democracy, and achieve the peace that people have dreamed of for so long. The United States stands ready to help Armenia make the most of this window of opportunity,” Power said.
She pointed out that trade turnover between Armenia and the United States has tripled since 2020.
“If in 2020 the figure was $96 million, in 2023 it was $321 million. This pace can accelerate. We are moving from support for Armenia to trade with Armenia. We have helped the Armenian government improve investment opportunities in imports and experts in agriculture, tourism, and technology. In addition, we are working to encourage local food production, including the cultivation of crops suitable for Armenia’s climate,” Power explained.
The post Power Calls for Ensuring Rights of Artsakh Armenians to Return appeared first on Asbarez.com.
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Law-enforcement authorities have reportedly a launched a criminal investigation into financial irregularities allegedly committed by Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party.
The investigation stems from mandatory audits of Civil Contract’s 2022 and 2023 financial reports that were conducted by a private firm, Trust Audit. The audits concluded that the party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan exceeded a legal limit on donations and failed to return the surplus funding to donors or contribute it to the state in another breach of Armenian law.
They found that the party also violated the law by accepting money from anonymous donors as well as businesses and other entities. Those donations too should be handed back or transferred to the state treasury. Civil Contract did not do that either, according to Trust Audit.
The state Commission on the Prevention of Corruption looked into the findings of the 2022 audit before asking the Office of the Prosecutor-General to launch criminal proceedings. A commission spokesperson told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday that the prosecutors have instructed another law-enforcement agency, the Anti-Corruption Committee, to open a criminal case.
The commission is also examining the results of the 2023 audit. It will decide later this year whether to recommend a criminal inquiry into them as well.
Vahagn Aleksanyan, Civil Contract’s deputy chairman, downplayed these irregularities last month, saying that they are mere “technical” errors that can be corrected “very quickly.”
Earlier this year, two Armenian media outlets reported that ahead of local elections held in 2023 and 2022 Pashinyan’s party received lavish and dubious campaign donations on behalf of scores of mostly low-income individuals unaware of them.
The party claimed to have raised 506.5 million drams ($1.3 million) in the run-up to last September’s municipal elections in Yerevan. The investigative publication Infocom.am revealed in January that the bulk of that sum was generated by donations ranging from 1 million to 2.5 million drams, the maximum amount of a campaign contribution allowed by the law. Their nominal contributors included presumably non-rich people, linked to senior government officials and businesspeople, as well as ordinary residents of Yerevan who could hardly afford such payments.
For its part, CivilNet reported in March that ahead of local elections held in other parts of Armenia in 2022, Civil Contract received 170 million drams ($435,000) from 140 persons, the vast majority of them its own election candidates. The media outlet randomly interviewed 31 such individuals and found that 15 of them categorically deny making any campaign donations.
“Others avoided answering or said they do not remember, and some said they are too busy to answer the question,” it said.
Critics suggested that Civil Contract arranged these shady payments to circumvent the cap on political donations. Pashinyan flatly denied this. He claimed that the payments made on behalf of third persons unaware of them resulted from human or organizational “errors.”
The post Criminal Probe Launched Into Finances of Pashinyan Ruling Party appeared first on Asbarez.com.
Categories