The Price of Words

According to our information, after Vladimir Gasparyan was appointed as the RA Chief of Police, the US Government decided to terminate the financial and technical assistance provided to the RA Police.

Whereas in May or June, before saying goodbye, the former US Ambassador to the RA, Mary Yovanovitch, told Alik Sargsyan, the former Chief of Police that US cooperation with the RA Police would continue, particularly, in implementing reforms.

According to the same source, the decision to cut funding for the police is motivated by the fact that before becoming the chief of police, while still in the capacity of the Deputy Minister of Defense, V. Gasparyan, in different interviews, labeled non-governmental organizations and human rights activists,who are fighting against vicious incidences in the army, specifically Artur Sakunts, Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, as ‘grant consumers,’ and ‘traitors,’ who ‘do not have a fatherland.’

A. Sakunts and some representatives of the Open Society Institute (“Soros” Foundation, and OSCE Yerevan) were also present at one of the closed-door meetings of the human rights activists and the administration of MoD. On November 10, 2011, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor filed a complaint with the RA Court of Common Jurisdiction in the Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun Administrative Districts, demanding that Vladimir Gasparyan compensate for damages caused to the honor, dignity, and business reputation of the organization.

For many years, the US Government has been providing huge financial assistance to the police and to law enforcement bodies in general. For instance, in 2009, the US Government provided the Police with cars and computer equipment, worth ,000. Earlier, the USA provided funds for renovating one of the educational institutions of the Police, and gave athletic equipment in the amount of ,000 (gym pads, boxing pears, athletic-protective uniforms, rubber training knives, guns, handcuffs, and other equipment). This was done within the framework of the complex assistance program by the US Government for the law enforcement sector in Armenia.  After the amendments in the 2005 agreement between the RA and US governments on cooperation in the spheres of drug control and law enforcement, the US Government provided 2.4 million dollars to the RA Government for implementing 6 projects. By the way, since the agreement was signed between the US and the RA governments, the RA law enforcement institutions have received 5 million dollars in assistance from the US Government.

As we learned about this only yesterday, we were unable to obtain any comments from the US Embassy in Armenia. We will present their comments in the next issue of the newspaper.

Source: www.168.am