David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
The authorities decided to make several “New Year surprises” for citizens of Armenia. The main surprise is an increase in ticket prices on public transport from 100 to 150-200 drams. Yerevan’s administration remembered the sad experience of previous numerous protests against price rises, when it had to cancel its decision, and chose to do it during the New Year holidays, hoping for a passive reaction from the celebrating population.
The second “surprise” is a decrease in working citizens’ incomes by 6.6%-13%. The government wants to pick citizens’ pockets through a draft initiated by the authorities - On Launching a Defined Contribution Pension System in Armenia. From January 1st, 2014, people who were born after 1947 have to join the system. Monthly obligatory contributions by citizens will be 5% of their salaries. 5% not from the “take-home salary,” but from the total salary, i.e. with all social payments into the budget and the already existing pension fund. Thus, citizens will be deprived of not 5%, but 6.6%-13% of their real incomes. Moreover, it will happen in the context of constant price growth.
The government has also presented amendments to the Law on Citizen’s Internal Passport to the parliament. They require changing from the current internal passports to biometric passports from January 1st, 2014. The new IDs will cost 25,000 drams (more than $61). The deputy head of the police, Artur Osikyan, reported that the new passports will be produced by a Polish company, PW. Osikyan said that the Polish company had a shareholder in Armenia, but he didn’t say who he was.
Law-enforcement agencies are joining in the New Year fines as well. The traffic police impose fines thoroughly on driving regulation breakers. The “crime detection” rate increases at the end of the year as well. There are dozens of cases when innocent people are taken to police offices and “confessionary evidence” is beaten out of them. There was a case when a pregnant woman was kept as a hostage until her husband “admitted” that he committed a crime, even though it wasn’t true. When she had a miscarriage she complained to the court, but it didn’t initiate a criminal case, referring to the fact that her evidence differed from the evidence of the investigators who kept her as a hostage.
As for further plans of the authorities, from January 1st, 2015, they plan to launch compulsory health insurance.
Numerous protests are being held against the Defined Contribution Pension System and police brutality. 11,000 people signed a petition against increasing gas and power prices. The situation is tensed up to the hilt. According to the head of the parliamentary faction of the ANC, Levon Zurabyan, the authorities are actually making the population break the law to overthrow the government.
