Month: February 2015

VARDGES GASPARI AGAIN LIES ON GROUND, CALLS FOR FAIR INVESTIGATION INTO GYUMRI FAMILY MURDER (VIDEO)

16:58 | February 27,2015 | Politics

Activist Vardges Gaspari is now staging a protest outside the
Prosecutor General’s Office calling for a fair investigation into
the killing of the seven-member Avetisyan family in Gyumri.

He is holding a poster which reads, “The tragedy in Gyumri does
not only refer to the relatives of the Avetisyan family and Gyumri
residents.”

Lying on the ground, he silently expresses his protest against the
heinous murder.

Relatives of the seven-member Avetisyan family murdered in Armenia’s
second largest city of Gyumri on January 12 gave Prosecutor General
Gevorg Kostanyan until February 26 to reveal details about the
investigation of the murder case.

They demand that the accused, Russian soldier Valeri Permyakov,
be handed over to the Armenian side to stand trial for the murders.

Six member of the Avetisyan family, including a two-year-old girl,
were killed in Gyumri on January 12. The only survivor, a 6-month-old
boy, was hospitalized in critical condition with stab wounds, but he
died in hospital a week later.

On the night of January 13, Russian frontier guards detained the main
suspect, conscript of the Russian 102nd military base Valeri Permyakov,
when the latter was trying to cross the Armenian-Turkish border. He
confessed to the killings and was taken into custody.

Armenia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against
Permyakov under Article 104 part 2 point 1 of the Criminal Code –
murder of two or more people.

03/08 ANNIVERSARY: SEVEN YEARS ON, NO ONE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE FOR “MARCH 1” KILLINGS

NEWS | 27.02.15 | 16:16

Photolure

GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

In two days Armenia will commemorate the seventh anniversary of the
“lost spring”, when on March 1 2008 ten citizens were killed as a
result of post-election clashes; however, so far nobody has been
brought to justice for their lives, and this makes the parents of
the victims continue the fight.

Sargis Kloyan, the father of Gor Kloyan – one of the victims of the
March 1 tragic events – as the victim’s successor, called a special
investigation service last week where he met the new investigator
and although before he gave testimony to two former inspectors,
but he was told that new interrogation must be held.

“But throughout these seven years we’ve understood that all these
actions bear imitative nature, so that they show the world that they
are dealing with March 1 case. But we understand that the 2008 March 1
page will be disclosed and the guilty will be punished only if there
is a change of government,” Kloyan told reporters Friday.

March 1 NGO coordinator, writer, publicist Arakel Semirjyan thinks
that at the moment the prosecution is trying to sort the crimes
according to the type of the weapon, according to which they conduct
a separate investigation.

“Gor Kloyan and Armen Farmanyan were killed from the Cheryomukha
tear gas gun, and only the police possessed them, we have only four
servicemen who shot from Cheryomukha, and they have to find who among
these four did it, but not even a trial was held for the case to
be disclosed,” Semirjyan said, adding that disclosure of the March
1 tragic events is highly important for Armenia, both for internal
and foreign affairs,” If March 1st is not disclosed then Armenia
appears in the hands of killers, this is the problem of everyone,
without disclosing March 1 it is impossible to put this country on
a correct path, those killers are wandering around and are ready to
organize another March 1, besides with March 1st the government and
Armenia’s foreign policy become vulnerable.”

However, both Semirjyan and other victims’ parents are convinced that
the difficulty is not about disclosing the crimes, but it is about
publicizing it.

“We do not have a problem of disclosing March 1, it has long been
disclosed, the killers as well, those who ordered as well, we simply
need to publicize, but after that it is possible that nobody in our
current government stays out,” Semirjyan said.

RUSSIAN RUBLE DEVALUATION BLAMED FOR FALL IN ARMENIAN EXPORTS OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

ECONOMY | 27.02.15 | 16:13

Alina Nikoghosyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

Armenia registered a 27-percent decline of exports of alcoholic
beverages at the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015, Avag Harutyunyan,
head of the Armenian Winemakers Union, said, adding that official
data is not published yet.

Harutyunyan told reporters Friday that in the past Armenia experienced
such crises also in 1998, 2008 and 2009.

“The decline of brandy export in 2014 is explained by tendencies
that started in November of 2014 connected with the Russian ruble’s
devaluation and that got more intense gradually, and in January of
2015 we could see no light,” he said, adding that if this situation
continues till June they will not be able to purchase the whole
harvest from villagers.

Armenia became a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) since
January 2, 2015, and the Russian ruble has been in fluctuations since
earlier in 2014.

According to the data published by the National Statistical Service
(NSS), in January this year, compared to January 2014, a 4.3-percent
inflation was registered, electricity production fell by almost 20
percent, a 7.4-percent decrease was registered in sales, a 6.3-percent
decline in the volume of industrial production.

According to Harutyunyan, in 2014, compared to 2013, export volumes
of wine grew nearly by 49 percent, and brandy exports declined by
5 percent.

“2014 was the best year for vodka, it is the second year Armenians,
unfortunately, have restored their lost tradition. In 2014 we imported
an unprecedented number – never in our history had there been such
an amount – 9 million bottles and nearly 250,000 liters of vodka,
mainly from Russia, and we imported a huge amount, 700,000 liters of
alcohol,” he said.

NEW MISINFORMATION FROM AZERBAIJAN: ARIZONA SENATE DIDN’T RECOGNISE EVENTS IN AGHDAM IN 1992 AS ‘GENOCIDE’

17:13 27/02/2015 >> POLITICS

Azerbaijani media are once again spreading disinformation about
Legislative assembly in Arizona Senate (US) passing a resolution which
“recognizes the events in Khojaly as genocide” thus attempting to
create an illusion of “victory of Azerbaijani diplomacy”.

Yet, watching the video from the senate hearing, it becomes evident
that Senator Don Shooter’s statement, read in a half-empty hall,
called on “to honour the memory of the victims of the tragic events.”

As it was expected, the text read lacked the word ‘genocide’.

Moreover, it’s noteworthy that it was only a proclamation, yet the
Azerbaijani propaganda is trying to present it as a Senate resolution.

On February 26, 1992, during the war in Karabakh, around 200 to 300
people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the
version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances
near the city of Aghdam. They have been deliberately withheld by the
Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions.

Population of the village of Khojalu, which was one of the firing
points shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others)
was kept in the village for months by force and was not evacuated by
the authorities of Azerbaijan deliberately, in order to use them as
human shields later.

Residents of Khojalu coming out through the humanitarian corridor,
that the self-defense forces of NKR had left open, freely passed more
than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani
troops. Later, not far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops dead
bodies of the villagers were found. The exact death toll remains
unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other.

Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the
civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev,
the investigative materials are kept secret.

ANC MEMBERS MEET WITH EU AMBASSADORS

16:24 27/02/2015 >> POLITICS

A delegation of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) on
Friday met with ambassadors of the European Union member countries
accredited to Armenia. The ANC delegation was led by party’s chairman
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the press service of ANC reported.

The meeting addressed issues related to Armenia’s domestic and
foreign policy.

At the ambassadors’ request, Ter-Petrosyan made a brief speech. Then
he answered their questions.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

RAFFI HOVHANNISIAN MEETS EU AMBASSADORS

Lragir.am
Country – 27 February 2015, 17:08

Raffi K. Hovannisian, Heritage Party chairman and founding director of
the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS),
attended today a meeting organized by Ambassador Traian Hristea,
European Union mission chief in Armenia. The ambassadors of EU
member-states accredited in Armenia, together with Heritage MP Zaruhi
Postanjyan, also were invited to the meeting.

During the discussion, Hovannisian and the EU ambassadors discussed
the importance of EU-Armenia relations in all areas of collaboration
and confidence-building. They exchanged perspectives on issues of
efficiency and EU efforts to promote reforms in Armenia, as well as on
recent political and public currents in the Republic. The participants
agreed that the strategic partnership with the European Union bears
great potential for the future development of Armenia.

Heritage Party Press Service

WHAT DID ARMENIA LOSE ABANDONING THE PATH OF EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION?

Lragir.am
Politics – 27 February 2015, 10:57

The video discusses in detail the losses incurred by Armenia as
a result of abandoning the path of European integration. The main
part of the Association Agreement was related to the trade between
EU and Armenia. According to this part of the Agreement, known as
the Agreement on deep and comprehensive free trade area, mutual
cancellation of duties on all goods and services between the EU and
Armenia, as well as simplification of procedures, was planned.

According to the research done by the Dutch Ecotys organization, as
a result of the association with the EU, Armenia’s GDP would grow by
2.3 percent, and revenues of the state budget would increase by 146
million dollars. The volume of exports from Armenia was supposed to
grow by 15 percent, and the wages would increase by 2.7 percent

The cancellation of import duties on European goods in Armenia would
lead to a 1.2 percent offset in the growth of consumer prices.

The European Union was supposed to give Armenia a gratuitous grant
in sum of 4 billion 856 million euro.

Despite all this support, we would not lose our right to independent
foreign trade policy and would be free in establishing independent
trade relations with other countries.

“Union of Informed Citizens” NGO

NOT EXPOSING MARCH 1ST MAKES ARMENIA VULNERABLE IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA

02.27.2015 15:35 epress.am

The March 1st case has been revealed a long time ago and only needs to
be made public, however in that case it might turn out that some people
in the ruling authorities had played their part in the criminal act,
said coordinator of the “March 1st” NGO Arakel Semirjyan at a Media
Center discussion today, February 27.

“The killers have been identified, those who gave the command have
been identified, all the murders have been discovered. In world
history there has been no case where a murder occurs with thousands
of witnesses, and is left, let’s say, unexposed,” said Semirjyan. He
added that in addition to the thousands of eyewitnesses to the
incidents, there are hundreds of photos and videos, based on which
an investigation should have been launched a long time ago.

The speaker noted that testimonies have also been given by 500 injured
people, who claimed that they had seen who shot at them, however an
investigation has not not been launched.

According to Semirjyan, today the prosecutors are attempting to assort
the crime accordiong to the types of guns the people were killed with.

Gor Kloyan, Armen Farmanyan, and Tigran Khachatryan were killed by a
“Cheryomukha 7â~@³ riot gun, which was only held by police officers,
therefore there is no issue in exposing or investigating this
particular incident, said the NGO coordinator.

“We have 4 people, who have shot from a “Cheryomukha” and what’s left
is to expose who made the killing shots,” said Semirjyan, adding
that a judicial process must begin in order to expose the murders,
where the 4 people (potential shooters) should testify and it would
subsequently become clear who the murderer or murderers are.

Semirjyan stated that the Armenian ruling authorities need to
understand that exposing March 1st is beneficial, firstly for
them, because the way they behave toward March 1st is the same
way international community behaves toward Armenia. “If Armenia is
raising an issue of violations by Azerbaijan, then the international
community can say ‘you can’t even find your murderers, how can we find
Azerbaijani murderers’. The March 1st issue makes Armenia vulnerable
in the international arena,” concluded Semirjyan.

Recall, that on March 1st, 2008, early in the morning, police
violently dispersed an opposition camp site in Freedom Square. After
the Presidential elections on February 19, 2008, there were 10 days of
peaceful protests at Freedom Square. On March 1st, protesters gathered
on Grigor Lusavorich St. for many hours. During the evening hours, the
protesters were shot at. 10 people were murdered: 2 police officers
and 8 citizens. Until this day, no one has been accused or tried for
the March 1st deaths. Photos and videos have been released of the
March 1st incident which clearly proves that the actions against the
opposition was by the armed forces.

From: A. Papazian

METS AYRUM ALDERMEN’S COUNCIL GAVE GREEN LIGHT TO NEW TAILING DUMP DESPITE VILLAGERS’ OBJECTIONS

14:11 February 26, 2015

EcoLur

Not taking into consideration the villagers’ objections, Mets Ayrum
Aldermen’s Council reached a decision to change the category of 12
ha land areas from agricultural to industrial for the construction
of a new tailing dump for Akhtala Ore Dressing Combine on 26 February.

Without holding any discussions three members of Mets Ayrum Aldermen’s
Council, Mets Ayrum School Principal Sofya Ayvazyan, Ex Village Head
Papik Aruzhanyan and Akhtala Ore Dressing Combine employee Samvel
Mirzoyan hastily signed under the decision on changing the category
of the land areas for the tailing dump and immediately left the
rural municipality.

The villagers, who oppose to the tailing dump, argued with the village
head and the combine representative and they outlined that they will
be fighting till the very end irregardless of the adopted decision.

TONSILLECTOMY GONE HORRIBLY WRONG: MINISTRY OF HEALTH ABSOLVES PHYSICIANS OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Ani Hovhannisyan

16:10, February 26, 2015

A special investigative committee looking into a possible medical
malpractice case that left six year oldHasmik Martisrosyan with brain
damage after a simple tonsillectomy has concluded that physicians
weren’t at fault.

The committee was convened at the behest of Armenia’s Ministry of
Health after press reports covered the case involving the young girl,
a resident of the Shirak Province village of Bayandour.

Last November 28, Hasmik was taken to the Mother and Child Austrian
Hospital in Gyumri to have her tonsils removed. Hasmik was then
transferred to the Sourb Astvatzamayr Medical Center in Yerevan where
she sunk into a coma for six days. The diagnosis on the medical chart
accompanying Hasmik to Yerevan read that the patient had brain ischemia
(is a restriction in blood supply to tissues, causing a shortage of
oxygen and glucose needed for cellular metabolism)

The Ministry of Health has concluded that Hasmik had experienced a
unique complication caused bypneumothorax; i.e. a collapsed lung.

A primary pneumothorax is one that occurs without an apparent cause
and in the absence of significant lung disease, while a secondary
pneumothorax occurs in the presence of existing lung pathology.

Spontaneous pneumothoraces are divided into two types: primary,
which occurs in the absence of known lung disease, and secondary,
which occurs in someone with underlying lung disease.

In children, additional causes include measles, echinococcosis,
inhalation of a foreign body, and certain congenital malformations
(congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation and congenital lobar
emphysema)

Primary to the operation Hasmik had no breathing or lung-related
problems. But the health ministry is avoiding getting into details as
to why the young child experienced pneumothorax during the operation.

On the day of the operation, when Hasmik was transferred to the Sourb
Astvatzamayr Medical Center in Yerevan, the resuscitation unit’s head,
Anna Chobanyan, told the child’s relatives that her lung was punctured
to allow for the removal of excess anesthetic.

Hasmik’s mother, Lianna Rafayelyan, says that a copy of the lung x-ray
proves that her daughter’s lung had been punctured. On February 23,
Lianna asked the medical center to provide her with a medical history
and x-rays of Hasmik. The center told her that x-rays could only be
granted with permission from the health minister.

That mistakes were made during the operation is proven by the
comments made by the surgeon and otolaryngologist Yeranouhie
Varagyan. When confronted by Hetq, she shifted all responsibility to
the anesthesiologist Ashik Dalibaldyan.

“The examination committee from Yerevan found that my surgery to
remove the tonsils went without problem. You should direct your
questions to the anesthesiologist because the equipment had broken
down. I am amazed you even telephoned me because I operated without
a drop of blood being spilled,” Varagyan told Hetq.

A few days after the operation, Dalibaldyan called the girl’s
relatives, asking that they not make a fuss and offered to pay for
her medications. After shelling out 220,000 AMD for medications,
Dalibaldyan and his wife started to complain, arguing that they
weren’t willing to take care of Hasmik forever.

We should point out that the special investigative committee’s report
does not mention that the anesthetic equipment used during Hasmik’s
operation was faulty.

The statement released by the health ministry merely says “The type
of anesthetic was correctly chosen. During its application, a very
rare complication unique to artificial respiration was experienced.”

The health ministry also failed to note that Hasmik was transferred
to Yerevan in a coma which lasted for six days.

In fact, the ministry, in its statement, applauds the surgeon and
anesthesiologist for quickly reacting to the crisis and saving
Hasmik’s life.

On February 24, Hayk Martirosyan, an investigator with the Shirak
Provincial Department of Investigations, requested that Hasmik’s mother
and grandmother come to his office for a discussion about the case.

Lianna Rafayelyan, the little girl’s mother, explained to Martirosyan
in detail what had happened. The investigator took three pages of
notes. Afterwards, he gave Lianna another 3-4 pages of blank paper
and asked her to sign her name at the bottom.

Martirosyan explained to Lianna that he had to rush off to see Hasmik
and that he would interview her later by phone and that he would fill
in the blank pages.

Two days later, Martirosyan telephoned Lianna Rafayelyan and asked
her if she ever experienced pregnancy complications. The child’s
mother repeated that she hadn’t and that she had brought Hasmik to
the hospital merely for a tonsillectomy.

Thus, Armenia’s investigative agencies seem to be in cahoots with the
physicians involved to quash an apparent case of medical malpractice.

Everyone wants to wash their hands of any responsibility regarding
what happened to little 6 year-old Hasmik.