From 1 to 10 May, 2020, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the RA Deputy Prime Minister, Commandant Tigran Avinyan’s personality and activities.
35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 519 articles were declared, 38 of which were negative, 13 were positive and 468 were neutral.
Tigran Avinyan has been criticized. In particular, Avinyan’s activity of a Commandant has been criticized. In the publications referring to this topic, the following is noted: “Tigran Avinyan and the RA Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan announced live about the decentralized fight against coronavirus epidemic. The essence of the decentralized fight is that the issue is directly put under the individual responsibility of the citizens. In other words, if the situation worsens tomorrow and becomes uncontrollable, the authorities may declare that the citizens are the ones to blame, because the issue is under their personal responsibility.”
The media outlets note that it is not a secret that many officials register their income in the name of their relatives. In particular, the Declaration of Assets of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan’s advisor Avetik Eloyan states the income of 4,760,000.00 AMD, his wife Lia Avanesyan, actually, is close to being part of the oligarchic class. The latter’s income is 130,000.00 USD.
According to the press, the investor has decided to grow hemp in Armenia, but the authorities have violated the agreements. In his speech, Ruben Mkrtchyan, the founder of Armerica LLC, noted that there was a verbal agreement with Tigran Avinyan’s office, as well as, they officially signed a contract with the RA Police for the protection of plantations in May 2019. According to the contract, the businessman pays one and a half million drams (more than $ 3,000) a month for 16-hour security a day, and takes on the responsibilities of properly organizing the plantations. However, in August, the same police, but from another department, appeared in all three lands situated in different regions of Armenia and destroyed the entire crop. Moreover, according to Mkrtchyan, this whole story has turned into a criminal case, and he has lost about $ 170,000.
