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New Promising Era "President" & VP Nikol Pashinian

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#201 Yervant1

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Posted 19 June 2018 - 11:32 AM

Panorama, Armenia
June 18 2018
 
 
Detained senior army officer’s attorney refuses to defend him

The attorney of retired Army General Manvel Grigoryan has refused to defend him.

Grigoryan, an MP of the Republican Party of Armenia who heads the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union, was detained on 16 June after security officers found and confiscated a large quantity of “illegally acquired” arms and ammunition in his villa. 

Attorney Hrant Ananyan cited the “other circumstances” existing in the case that he was not aware of as the reason behind his decision.

“Yesterday, after the prime minister’s speech and the release of a footage by the National Security Service, I was surprised to hear that at the time of assuming Manvel Grigoryan’s defense, in addition to the suspicion of illegal possession of firearms in the group, there are other circumstances that I have not been informed about before,” the attorney said on Facebook.

“Under these conditions, I do not find it appropriate to continue providing legal assistance to Mr. Grigoryan any longer, and on my recommendation and with Mr. Grigoryan’s consent (which is prescribed by law), the investigative body recorded that fact a while ago, and I have stopped being his defender.”

Apart from illegal possession of weapons, Manvel Grigoryan is also suspected of appropriating the goods, including food, hygiene items, medicine and clothing sent to the servicemen as assistance during the 2016 April War, according to the NSS report. 

https://www.panorama...ttorney/1965927



#202 Yervant1

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Posted 19 June 2018 - 11:37 AM

A1+
 
Food and clothing sent to Artsakh from Shirak region not reached their destination (video)
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Food and clothing sent to Artsakh from Shirak region has not reached their destination. The parcels were discovered by NSS employees at Manvel Grigoryan’s summer residence.

The residents of Shirak are indignant, demanding justice restoration.

 

It should be noted that General Manvel Grigoryan is an honorary citizen of Artik.

 

 

http://en.a1plus.am/1275152.html



#203 Yervant1

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Posted 19 June 2018 - 11:39 AM

168.am
 
09:09 | June 18 2018
Category
    Ejmiatsin Mayor steps down
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Mayor of Ejmiatsin Karen Grigoryan has resigned.

“I, Karen Grigoryan, am voluntarily resigning”, he said on Facebook.

Karen Grigoryan is the son of MP Manvel Grigoryan, the former general who was arrested by national security service agents on June 16.

 
 
 

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#204 MosJan

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Posted 19 June 2018 - 12:08 PM



#205 MosJan

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Posted 19 June 2018 - 12:29 PM



#206 MosJan

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Posted 19 June 2018 - 12:41 PM



#207 MosJan

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Posted 19 June 2018 - 04:00 PM

https://newsday.am/archives/2270

 

Իրավապահ մարմիններին մոտ մեր աղբյուրը տեղեկացնում է, որ վերջերս հարցաքննվել է Մարտի 1-ի իրադարձությունների ժամանակ ներքին զորքերի հրամանատար Գրիգոր Գրիգորյանը: Գրիգորյանի հարցաքննությունը կարևոր է այնքանով, որ հենց նա էր ղեկավարում խաղաղ ցուցարարների դեմ իրականացված հատուկ միջոցառումը, որին զոհ գնացին ՀՀ 10 քաղաքացիներ, որոնց թվում՝ 8 խաղաղ ցուցարարներ:

Եվ ահա, ըստ մեր աղբյուրի, Գրիգոր Գրիգորյանը հարցաքննության ժամանակ հայտնել է, որ ցուցարարների վրա կրակելու հրահանգը ստացել է այն ժամանակվա նախագահ Ռոբերտ Քոչարյանից: Ավելին՝ Քոչարյանը մանրամասն հրահանգավորել է, որ ցուցարարների վրա դիմահար կրակ բացվի և կիրառվեն նման դեպքերի համար արգելված հատուկ միջոցներ: Քանի որ Քոչարյանը լինելով նախագահ, միաժամանակ գերագույն գլխավոր հրամանատարն էր, ներքին զորքերի հրամանատարը չի կարողացել ընդդիմանալ և չկատարել երկրի ղեկավարի արյունոտ հրամանները:

Ավելին՝ Գրիգորյանը տեղեկացրել է, որ ինքը իր անձնական ապահովության համար ձայնագրել է իր և Քոչարյանի միջև տեղի ունեցած հեռախոսազրույցը, և այն կարող է ներկայացնել որպես իր ասածների հիմնավորում:



#208 Yervant1

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 11:17 AM

Polygraph.info
June 19 2018
 
 
Armenia: General’s Allies Allow Prosecution After Party Leader Called Charges “Fabricated”
 
 
Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly, press secretary of the Republican Party, Armenia
 
“Manvel Grigoryan does not accept fabricated charges against him.”
 
 
The Armenian security presented evidence that the Parliament deemed sufficient
 
On June 16, the Armenian security service announced it had detained General Manvel Grigoryan, the member of the National Assembly, Armenia’s parliament, and a decorated Hero of Armenia, along with a mafia boss, Artur Asatryan, also known as Don Pipo. At the time of his detention, Grigoryan was immune from criminal prosecution as a member of Parliament.
 
Armenian Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan said Grigoryan was charged with illegal possession of firearms. He also requested an “extraordinary meeting” of the National Assembly asking the lawmakers to revoke Grigoryan’s immunity and to approve his criminal prosecution.
 
The initial reaction of the general’s political allies in the Armenian Republican Party to the detention of one of the country's leading figures was one of outrage and denial. The general has been decorated as a hero for his leading role in the creation of Armenian voluntary army, which fought against neighboring Azerbaijani forces for the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabach region.
 
One of the party’s leaders, Eduard Sharmazanov, deputy chairman of the National Assembly and Republican Party press secretary spoke to Radio Free Europe after visiting Grigoryan in detention. He called the case against the general “unacceptable, illegal, unconstitutional” and “fabricated.”
 
We have settled on the verdict of “misleading,” because of a later comment from Sharmazanov. As you will see, he has yet to revise his initial accusation that charges were “fabricated.”
 
On June 17, newly elected Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan went live on Facebook pointing to more accusations against Grigoryan.
 
Armenia - PM Nikol Pashinyan during Facebook Live, Yerevan, Jun 17, 2018
 
“I would like to clearly state that the detention of Marvel Grigoryan is tied not only with the possession of the large amounts of illegal weapons and ammunition. It is also connected with suspicion that he was involved in appropriation and theft of the aid intended for the army,” Pashinyan said.
 
The prime minister’s accusations were confirmed by the Armenian security service, which published a video of the search of a house owned by Grigoryan in the city of Echmiadzin.
 
 
Along with an arsenal of hundreds of firearms, rockets and thousands of packs of ammunition, the video showed stacks of paper boxes marked as “humanitarian aid” and packed with canned food, first aid supplies and clothes. Security service personnel showed handwritten letters to soldiers from children who had collected and donated the aid for the soldiers. The video also showed Grigoryan’s collection of vintage cars and his private zoo, with exotic animals kept in small cages.
 
“He was illegally appropriating the food the school students have been collecting for the soldiers and feeding it to his animals – the bears, the tigers and others,” Prime Minister Pashinyan said.
 
The security service’s video provoked a wave of public outrage in Armenia.
 
On the evening of June 17, the general’s son, Karen Grigoryan, announced on Facebook his resignation as mayor of the city of Echmiadzin.
 
Republican Party members publicly condemned Grigoryan's actions, calling them “unacceptable and disgusting.” They also stated that they “respect the presumption of innocence, but if the charges brought against him (are) proved according the law, he must be held accountable.”
 
One indication of the strong feelings in Armenia: Somebody edited Grigoryan’s Wikipedia page, adding the word “traitor” to his career achievements, while “Hero of Corruption” was added in next to the picture of the Armenian Order of Hero he had been awarded.
 
Screenshot of a vandalized Wikipedia page of the Armenian General Manvel Grigoryan
 
On June 19, Armenia’s National Assembly revoked Manvel Grigoryan’s parliamentary immunity and approved his criminal prosecution, with the approval of almost all the general’s supporters in the Republican Party.
 
Sharmazanov has shifted his opinion, saying: “If all of this turns out to be true, I think this has no justification that is my opinion.” Still, he has not publicly taken back his initial statement that the charges were “fabricated,” even as the general’s defense rests on the notion.
 
Later on June 19, Grigoryan’s legal team said he rejects all accusations, including any knowledge of the goods and weapons stocked on the premises of the property he claims he barely visits twice a year.
 
The VOA Armenian Service contributed to this report.
 


#209 Yervant1

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 11:23 AM

A1+
 
Prosecutor General: Some members of Manvel Grigoryan’s family have been involved in some actions (video)
  • 17:53 | June 19,2018 | Social
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Artur Davtyan, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, stated that some people will be prosecuted within the criminal case against Manvel Grigoryan.

Referring to the rumors that Manvel Grigoryan’s wife may be arrested in the near future, Artur Davtyan underlined that some members of his family had been involved in some actions, which would be assessed appropriately.

 

To the question whether former Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan may be involved in this criminal case, the Prosecutor General responded:

“The case will be investigated fully. Anyone who has participated in this case and in whose actions attributes of the crime will noticed, will be given adequate evaluations and publicity will be provided.”

 
 
 


#210 Yervant1

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 11:25 AM

Asbarez.com
 
More Food Earmarked for Soldiers Found in Ex-General’s Organization
11 hours ago
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The canned foods, marked “Not for Sale, Army Ration” were found in trucks belonging to arrested ex-genera;l’s organization

Wife is Implicated
YEREVAN—As part of the ongoing investigation into retired Army General Manvel Grigoryan’s alleged embezzlement of military supplies and illegal possession of firearms, the organized crime unit of the Yerevan police department was tipped off that two trucks loaded with food supplies earmarked for the military have been spotted in a parking lot.
After following the lead, the drivers of the trucks, both members of the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union, an organization chaired by Grigoryan, have been placed under arrest.

Police found nearly 3,000 cans of canned meat labeled “Not For Sale: Soldier’s Ration.” This type of canned meat is not available for sale anywhere and is the military food supply for the armed forces.

According to the drivers, Nazik Amiryan – the wife of the arrested general– had instructed them to load the supplies into the truck on June 16, the day Grigoryan was arrested in his hometown of Etchmiadzin. The drivers said Amiryan instructed them to move the goods from the Yerkrapah headquarters in Yerevan.

 

On Tuesday, parliament voted to prosecute Grigoryan, who represents former president Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia in parliament. Armenia’s Prosecutor General charged Grigoryan with grand theft and illegal possession of weapons.

After his arrest, officers of the National Security Service of Armenia raided Grigoryan’s properties in and around Etchmiadzin and found among other things a large cache of weapons and ammunition, a trove of vehicles, a zoo and a stockpile of food and canned goods earmarked for soldiers, some of which were donated and accompanied with letters written by kindergarten and school children to soldiers fighting in the 2016 April War. Investigators say that Grigoryan used the food earmarked for the army to feed his animals that included bears and tigers.

 

 

http://asbarez.com/1...s-organization/

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#211 Yervant1

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Posted 20 June 2018 - 11:26 AM

168.am
 
18:35 | June 18 2018
Category
    Yerevan Police Chief fired
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Police Chief of Armenia Valery Osipyan has dismissed Yerevan Police Chief, Colonel Sargis Martirosyan, Head of Public Relations and Information Department of Police Ashot Aharonyan told ARMNENPRESS.

According to him, another police colonel, Chief of Mashtots Department Grisha Amirkhanyan has also been dismissed.

“The Police Chief has not made any appointments to the vacant positions yet”, Aharonyan added.

 
 
 

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#212 Yervant1

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Posted 22 June 2018 - 11:17 AM

168.am
 
08:39 | June 21 2018
Category
    There are doubts that donations to “General Manvel Grigoryan” Charity Fund were spent not for the purpose – Special Investigation Service
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The Special Investigation Service of Armenia has issued a statement over the criminal case initiated against MP Manvel Grigoryan, presenting new details.

In the sidelines of the investigation into the criminal case initiated against Member of the National Assembly of Armenia, Chairman of Yerkrapah Volunteer Union Manvel Grigoryan it turned out that in 12.02.2013 Manvel Grigoryan established a charity fund called “General Manvel Grigoryan” to which different citizens and organizations made donations both in cash and through bank transfers.

There are doubts that it’s possible that the sums did not enter the charity fund or in the future were spent not for the purpose. We ask all the citizens and organization that made donations in cash or by transfers to the mentioned Fund to apply to the Special Investigation Service of Armenia.

Address – V. Vagharshayn street 13/a. Tell. (+374) 11 900 008:

Investigation is underway.

 
 
 


#213 Yervant1

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Posted 22 June 2018 - 11:18 AM

168.am
 
09:03 | June 21 2018
Category
    Police Armenia launches special operation – over dozen “thieves in law” detained
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In the sidelines of a criminal case initiated by the General Department of Criminal Intelligence of the Police of Armenia police officers conducted searches in the houses of the so-called thieves in law.

The press service of the Police of Armenia reported that the searches were conducted in the houses of over a dozen of prominent “thieves in law” of Armenia, such as Gevorg Melikyan, aka Oshakanci Gevorik, or Andranik Soghoyan, aka Zap.

In addition to “thieves in law”, searches were conducted also in the houses of numerous prominent “criminal authorities”.

Weapons and drugs were found as a result of the searches.

The “thieves in law” and “criminal authorities” have been detained.

 
 
 


#214 Yervant1

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Posted 22 June 2018 - 11:19 AM

168.am
 
09:59 | June 21 2018
Category
    Yerevan restaurant suspected in embezzlement
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The investigative committee said it is probing financial fraud discovered in the city’s “Yans” restaurant complex. The restaurant is located in the city’s Teryan Street.

The investigative committee said it discovered fraud in the restaurant complex back in a 2017 internal inspection. The restaurant is owned by Selena LLC.

The bookkeeper of the restaurant is suspected in carrying out embezzlements from 2012 to 2017, causing over 25,000,000 drams in damages to the restaurant. In some cases, the bookkeeper acted with the knowledge of the manager, the investigative committee said.

The bookkeeper had returned over 6 million from the total embezzlement to the director of the restaurant as a restoration of the damages.

Police have searched the premises of the restaurant, as well as the homes of the director of the company owning the restaurant, and the home of the owner of the company itself.

Financial records, computers, electronic devices have been confiscated.

Two handguns and more than 1 million dollar in cash was also discovered. Police didn’t say where the cash and the gun were discovered specifically.

 
 
 


#215 Yervant1

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Posted 22 June 2018 - 11:21 AM

The sewer rats are being caught one by one, no place to hide!

 

 
168.am
 
13:17 | June 21 2018
Category
    Military officer busted red-handed for embezzlement of technical supplies – NSS
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National security service (NSS) agents of the general department of military counter-intelligence have discovered cases of embezzlement in military bases on June 11 and June 12, the NSS said.

The NSS said that commanders of several units of a military base have misappropriated significant amounts of petrol in a period spanning from December 2017 to June 2018.

Investigation revealed that the ranking commander in charge of the storage facility conspired with the command of the base to commit the crime, NSS said.

The ranking officer is suspected in illegally selling the misappropriated petrol to nearby gas stations. He then distributed the money made from the deal between the commanders of the base.

The suspects have been apprehended red handed at the gas station, NSS said.

In another similar investigation, the NSS has revealed that ranking officers of another military base have embezzled technical spare parts meant for military vehicles. They are suspected in illegally selling the equipment.

The investigation continues, NSS said.

 
 
 

 



#216 Yervant1

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Posted 23 June 2018 - 08:48 AM

PanArmenian, Armenia
June 22 2018
 
 
Many American Armenians want to repatriate, Glendale Mayor says
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June 22, 2018 - 18:11 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Many Armenians living in the United States are going to return to Armenia, Glendale Mayor Zareh Sinanyan told a press conference on Friday, June 22.

According to him, the last revelations by the National Security Service and the Armenian police have inspired many, Sputnik Armenia reports.

"Of course, the residents of Armenia were directly affected by corruption, but the fact that justice triumphs is very important for the Diaspora," Sinanyan said.

There is one more category of U.S.-based Armenians who want to return, Sinanyan said, citing, in particular, low-income citizens.

Not everyone in America is rich, he said, and many, especially people of retirement age, would like to spend their old age in their homeland.

"It is difficult for them to live on the state pension, but in Armenia they can live well with that money. These people are also thinking about repatriation today," Sinanyan said.

The Mayor stressed that the number of repatriates will also grow with the deepening of the processes of democratization.

http://www.panarmeni...dale_Mayor_says



#217 Yervant1

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Posted 24 June 2018 - 08:14 AM

Regnum, Russia
June 21 2018
 
 
 
The arrest of 'General Manvel' is aimed at disarming paramilitary feudal lords, who emerged from the Karabakh war

 

by Ruben Grdzelyan
 
[Groong note: the below is translated from Russian]

The arrest of Gen Manvel Grigoryan ("General Manvel") [on 16 June] and a heightened emotional follow-up of the act without any more or less appropriate assessment of what is happening has become an informational trend in Armenia over the past few days.

The government and the state-run and private media that serve them have done a lot to make the public perceive this issue only within the emotional sphere. However, this act is far from comprising an emotional component alone. The Armenian government are quite pragmatic in their objective of getting rid of the remaining vestiges of the war that ended back 24 Years ago and transferring certain powers back to the state.

On the one hand, Grigoryan's arrest is a demonstrative punishment for those, who continue to live and become rich in Armenia and [Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-]Karabakh at the expense of the past war. Grigoryan is a classical representative of the class, paramilitary bourgeois, who rose due to the war and were becoming rich for decades at the expense of ancient glory [Grigoryan was awarded the title of hero of Karabakh for his contribution to the victory of the Armenian forces in the Karabakh war]. The Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers public organisation that he headed was in high demand in the 1990s. The regular army of the country was only being formed at that time and it was volunteers organised in various formats, who replaced the state institutions that were inexistent or inefficient due to the lack of experience. After the war, such organisations helped veterans and families of the deceased and defended volunteers' rights, often interpreting these rights in a peculiar manner.

Later, as the army and state institutions came into being, the formal need in organisations like Yerkrapah started decreasing. However, changing their aims and aspirations, they joined politics. Yerkrapah became involved in politics back during the Karabakh war in 1992-1994. At the beginning, they resorted to petty criminal activities (for example, taking cars and real property allegedly for the needs of the army) and by the elections of 1996, they were already an influential force in politics, their methods remaining within the frames of the definitions of the Criminal Code. This is not a specifically Armenian phenomenon. It is called "Vietnam syndrome" and it emerges in societies effectively after any war. This is how historian Karen Ghazaryan described the phenomenon for the Regnum news agency:

[Passage omitted: description of the Vietnam syndrome by Ghazaryan]

Up until now, Grigoryan has efficiently combined complexes (psychological traumas) with the political purposes of his clan. He and his Yerkrapah that had effectively turned into a militarised structure have always been necessary to the government - [former presidents] Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, and Serzh Sargsyan. Local feudal lords used to suppress dissent during elections and ensure votes in favour of the government not only within the frames of their dominions - the area of Ejmiatsin, but also in other regions, where Yerkrapah members were present. Due to this, the government was ready to forgive them anything. Moreover, the government delegated to General Manvel the exclusive right of the state to use force. In the meantime, duplication of absolute and exclusive rights of the state weakens the latter and, among others, reduces the standing of the state even in the eyes of those, who are part of the state machine.

It is obvious that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan does not need Yerkrapah's support at the forthcoming early parliamentary elections. The denial of rumours that Pashinyan's companion Sasun Mikayelyan intended to head Yerkrapah also confirms this. It is obvious that the organisation will be dissolved as something that turned into an atavism on the body of the state long ago. I would like to repeat that the essence of what is happening cannot be reduced to the new government's struggle against corruption. A couple of KamAz trucks full of tinned meat and a couple of offroaders stolen from the army are just an insignificant part of the top of the iceberg of corruption.

Police shake-ups of the representatives of the "thieves'" and criminal world are in the same line with the case of "General Manvel". Pashinyan is depriving individual groups the right to violence government has granted them over 25 years, obviously concentrating it in the hands of the state, which is how it should be. It is another issue, how the government will use the right of the state to use force, when it becomes exclusive.



#218 Yervant1

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Posted 25 June 2018 - 10:19 AM

Asbarez.com
 
Un-F’in’-Believable
June 22, 2018
Garen-Y.13-1.jpg

Garen Yegparian

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

Maybe he didn’t think he would be caught.

Maybe he was too arrogant.

Maybe he was too cocky.

Maybe he was too plain dumb.

Maybe he thought he was untouchable.

Maybe he is the most flagrant.

Maybe someone was out to get him.

Maybe he thought the stories about his less than savory doings while fighting for Artsakh in the early years would be forgotten.

Maybe he was so full of himself that he couldn’t see the resentment his grotesque activities engendered.

Maybe he has no heart or conscience.

Maybe he is just the tip of the iceberg.

Maybe he will rat out others like him.

Maybe he is just a good representative of the oligarch class and its sense of impunity.

So many maybes, and only one certainty – the oligarchs in the Republic of Armenia will no longer have free rein to wreak misery upon the citizens of the country as they please to satisfy their rapacious economic gluttony.

Of course all this is about Manvel Grigoryan, the “oligarch” and kingpin of Etchmiadzin who was busted last weekend. No doubt you have already seen the YouTube video of footage from the bust. Rooms full of boxes of canned food. Other boxes contained clothing. The crates full of guns and ammunition, even grenades and RPGs, belong on the front lines, not a room in a vacation home. Then there were the dozens of cars and other vehicles packed together warehouse-style that were “owned” by this guy, including some military-use jeep-like vehicles. Let’s not forget the stacks of property deeds shown in the video.

The stash of foodstuffs, munitions, clothing, vehicles, etc. that were found on properties he owns is mind-bogglingly revolting. These supplies and materials had come from all over the country and Diapsora. Some of the boxes full of these supplies seen in the footage still had notes in children’s handwriting on them, children who had worked to gather them for the soldiers on the front during 2016’s 4-day war. Then, to learn that the canned meats were being fed to the wild animals Manvel has caged up – viewers are treated to shots of bears and a tiger (there may have been more) – is beyond despicable. Remember that the backdrop to this story is that we learned, shortly after that 4-day war, that many soldiers on the front were lacking in essentials, both human and military.

As if all this were not shameless enough, after Manvel was arrested, his family and followers took to the streets to protest his “unjust” treatment. The Republican Party of Armenia, of which he is a member and sits in parliament as one of their deputies, issued a statement expressing “concern” about the “impropriety” of arresting a member of parliament. Recall that they have immunity unless stripped of it by parliament. But it turns out that while this technicality is true and valid, there are other countervailing technicalities that enabled law enforcement to act in the way it did. He has since been stripped of his immunity.

We must resist the temptation to simply sneer at these crocodile tears being shed over a (falsely asserted) lack of due process of law by people who have done nothing but abuse, break, or circumvent the country’s laws for years. Riding roughshod over anyone’s rights, even someone as debauched as Manvel, would simply perpetuate the cycle of lawlessness and impunity that has marked the country’s quarter century of independence. It is good to see that the new government and law enforcement are acting properly.

While you may be ready to wretch, the chatter one hears, though unconfirmable at this point, is that Manvel is not even the “richest” of the oligarchs who have been sucking the country dry. But, I suspect he may have been one of the most blatant, overt, and open about his ill-gotten gains, time will tell (hopefully this is not just a one-off instance of law enforcement).

This depth of depravity may be hard to fathom for many Armenians in the Diaspora who are used to thinking in nurturing, loving, and caring terms about their homeland. It should serve as a stark and painful wake-up call to drive more alert engagement with Yerevan.

Let’s all get busy finding ways to build up the homeland’s economy now that corruption there seems to be getting serious attention and response. This kind of input will create conditions enabling locals to remain and Diasporans to resettle there.

 

 

http://asbarez.com/1...fin-believable/



#219 MosJan

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Posted 25 June 2018 - 10:49 AM



#220 MosJan

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Posted 25 June 2018 - 10:50 AM

:pissed:  :angryfire:  :wallbash:






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