NEWS.am daily digest: 04.09.2019

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 04.09.2019:

• The Armenian Constitutional Court partially granted on Wednesday the petition of the second president Robert Kocharyan, who is charged with overthrowing the constitutional order in Armenia in connection with the tragic events that occurred in Yerevan in March 2008, and taking a particularly large bribe.

Earlier, the second president applied to the Constitutional Court for considering the constitutionality of the two articles of the Criminal Procedure Code.

According to the ruling, the Article 35 (preparation for the crime) of Criminal Procedure Code is unconstitutional and invalid but the second part of the Article 135 (defamation in public speaking) of the same legislation is constitutional.

Lawyer Aram Vardevanyan told reporters that according to the decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, if Article 35 of the Criminal Procedure Code is unconstitutional, this means the constitutional right of second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan to personal freedom has been violated.

Vardevanyan also said Articles 35 and 135 complement each other and can’t be applied separately since Article 35 concerns the circumstances excluding criminal prosecution, and this must be taken into consideration when a decision is rendered to detain a person.

According to him, the court of the first instance cannot but change Kocharyan's detention decision.

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday appointed Movses Abelian the new coordinator for multilingualism, Xinhua reported.

Abelian currently is the Undersecretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management.

Abelian will be responsible for coordinating the full implementation of multilingualism secretariat-wide.

• Two men were found dead in Syunik Province of Armenia on Tuesday, at about 5:00 pm, when police received a call informing that there were dead bodies with gunshot wounds in the gardens across Torunik village.

Police and investigators found out that Samson Gh., 27, a resident of the said village, had found the dead body of his father, Samvel Gh., 51, in the pasture, with a wound to his head, and there was a stone with bloodstains on his neck, and about one meter from his father’s body, Samson Gh. found the dead body of fellow villager Nelson A., 27, with a gunshot wound to his chin.

• The election campaign headquarters of the incumbent president and presidential candidate Raul Khajimba of Abkhazia has issued a statement that the opposition representatives were intimidating the “residents of Armenian villages,” primarily in Gagra and Galsk districts, AIAAIRA.com reported.

As per this statement, there are facts of intimidation of residents of Armenian villages and other settlements.

Opposition presidential candidate Alkhaz Kvitsiniya’s election campaign headquarters has made a counter-accusation, saying that Khajimba’s supporters are intimidating citizens of “Armenian and Russian nationality.”

• The electricity-natural gas exchange deal is the largest deal between Iran and Armenia and comprises the axis of the economic relations between Iran and Armenia, said Armenian Ambassador to Iran Artashes Tumanyan during a discussion on the current issues on Eurasian and regional integration held by the Standing Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration Affairs of the National Assembly today

“This deal is about how strong the existing infrastructures are and the two high-voltage lines between the two countries and the major sub-structure is the Iran-Armenia natural gas pipeline. Through the exchange of natural gas and electricity, Armenia receives 1 million cubic meters of natural gas and exports electricity with a ratio of 1-3, and this is mutually beneficial,” he stated.

According to the ambassador, the electricity-natural gas exchange deal must be expanded when construction of the third high-voltage line ends.