Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of top news as of 07.02.2020:

·       The issue of the constitutional amendments has heated social media.

The Armenian parliament discussed Thursday package of amendments to the Constitution during a special meeting, however, did not approve the package. Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia groups voted against the bill while ruling My Step MPs abstained from voting.

Meanwhile, according to the Armenian Constitution, if the parliament does not adopt the draft amendments to the Constitution, it can be put to a referendum by a resolution adopted by at least 3/5 of the total number of deputies. Thus, the Armenian parliament passed later a resolution on holding a referendum in Armenia on the future of Constitutional Court. A total of 88 MPs voted for the bill, with 15 people against.

Armenian PM has also arrived at the parliament ahead of voting.

“I would like to declare that the CC and its president have usurped the power belonging to the Armenian people through manipulation of the Constitution, the PM said adding that in the text of the existing Constitution, CC head Hrayr Tovmasyan - who is charged with abuse of power - has reserved more power to the Constitutional Court than is reserved to the Armenian people.

Meanwhile, Armenian lawyers, human rights activists have issued a statement on a constitutional referendum.  According to first ombudsperson Larisa Alaverdyan, President of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia Avetik Ishkhanyan and lawyer Ruben Melikyan, “the decision of the legislature to designate a referendum is an overt violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and constitutional legislation.”

·       The Armenian NSS has revealed another case of large-scale bribery and detained Armenian customs officials.

The shift manager at Bavra customs checkpoint and two customs inspectors, accepting a cargo forwarding company co-owners proposal, had agreed to release from the customs area about 4.5 tons of cargo from Georgia, but without proper customs inspection and clearance, and for a $3,000 bribe.

These officers of the State Revenue Committee were apprehended by the NSS staff, and one of these customs officers confessed to committing the crime. The NSS has launched a criminal case in connection with the alleged crime, and four suspects have been detained.

·       The criminal case of Henrik Abrahamyan, the brother of Armenia’s ex-PM Hovik Abrahamyan, will go to court on February 3. Henrik Abrahamyan is charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition The case will be heard at a court of general jurisdiction of Ararat and Vayots Dzor Provinces.

·       The coronavirus death toll has reached 638 people, including a doctor who first spoke about it. Dr. Li Wenlian, 34, was warning his colleagues about a new dangerous virus at the end of December last year, however, he was forced to keep silent by the police.

Meanwhile, Armenian ambassador to China Sergey Manassarian said in an interview to Armenian News - NEWS.am that about 470 citizens have already responded to the call of the Armenian Embassy in China to send their data amid the latest developments. According to him, “about 470 citizens have already responded to the call of the Armenian Embassy in China to send their data; some of them returned to Armenia these days.”

As he noted, the embassy has not received yet information about cases of a new type of coronavirus infection among Armenian citizens living in China. Manassarian said two Armenian citizens have been evacuated - to Kazakhstan and Russia.

By the way, according to the healthcare and labor inspectorate, there were Armenians who came to Armenia from China and had a fever. They were hospitalized. A total of 12 citizens hospitalized from the Yerevan international airport have been examined, but no coronavirus has been detected in any of them.

·       Over 10 students have contracted the A H1N1 flu, which is called "swine flu" among people, in the Yerevan school. School Principal Natalya Stepanyan told NEWS. am Medicine that there are more than 10 confirmed cases of this flu, but not all parents have yet brought respective doctors’ reports to the school. The school has 1,500 students on its first shift, of which 452 are absent today.