Author: Antonian Lara

DARCHINYAN VERSUS DONAIRE READY TO EXPLODE
Paul Upham Contributing Editor

SecondsOut
Sept 30 2006

The power of Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan – HoganPhotos.com

By Paul Upham: While most boxing fans are looking forward to the
third fight between Diego Corrales and Joel Casamayor next weekend
in Las Vegas on Showtime Championship Boxing, the main support bout
at flyweight is promising to be just as explosive. IBF/IBO flyweight
world champion Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan and challenger Glenn
"The Filipino Bomber" Donaire have both promised to be aggressive
and come out throwing bombs.

"I am very excited for this opportunity," said Donaire. "This time,
I can really show myself. In my last couple of fights, I wasn’t
throwing as hard a punches as I was before. I’m very excited and
very prepared for this fight. I just can’t wait. All my opponents
have been moving around lately. I’m a pressure fighter. I don’t run,
I don’t slug. I like to throw. I like to throw hard punches. Lately,
I haven’t been doing that. But it’s coming October 7. I am really
hitting hard right now. I just can’t wait."

The 26 year-old has been sparring his younger brother Nonito Donaire,
who competes at junior bantamweight to prepare for his first world
title fight.

"I am more prepared now," he said. "Mentally and physically prepared.

Before, I was working too much. I was working 7 days a week. Right
now, I have days off and I have been training so hard, sparring with
my brother who is a lot bigger than I am. My brother said that I am
hitting him hard. I am just very excited about this. I want to be
one of the champions."

One of the most aggressive punching world champions today, Darchinyan’s
power has been evident this year in his last two knockout wins over
Diosdado Gabi on ShoBox on March 3 and against Luis Maldonado on
Showtime Championship Boxing on June 3. The Armenian born Australian
citizen whose record stands at 26-0 (21), has been training in Los
Angeles for the last four weeks and loves to spar with much bigger
boxers to fine tune his power.

"Sparring is good," he said. "I am sparring with guys 25lbs heavier
than me. I am punching well. I feel my power right now. Donaire says he
has a good punch. His brother is telling him that his punch is coming
harder. When he fights me, he will see a hard puncher. He does not
know what a hard punch means. He will see on October 7. That’s why I
lime to spar guys who are heavier than me. When I am hurting boxers
who are 25lbs heavier than me and they are scared of me, I can feel
my power. When I am sparring guys in training in my own division,
I am not comfortable hitting them hard."

After Darchinyan’s promoter Gary Shaw was unable to entice WBA
champion Lorenzo Parra or WBO champion Omer Narvaez into a world title
unification bout for this fight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center,
Darchinyan specifically asked to be matched with someone who punches
hard to make for an exciting contest.

"I saw one of his fights on tape from a couple of years ago," said
Darchinyan. "Glenn likes to come forward and punch. He is a wild
puncher. I will tell him what is better for him, to run. Over twelve
rounds, if he is a good runner maybe he can survive. But if he stands
and punches with me, he will go down very soon."

"Darchinyan does not have a style," claimed Donaire, during a
midweek media conference call. "He just punches. To me, he is a lucky
puncher. He depends on his left hand. With me, I have not proved my
self lately. In my last fight, I didn’t really throw bombs like I used
to. It’s coming October 7 and he will see. He can be a strong fighter,
but style makes the fight. He will see. I can punch both hands. I
heard he has to lose a lot of weight. I will just give him four or
five rounds. For four or five rounds he is going to be strong. After
that, he is going to be mine."

30 year-old Darchinyan, who has stopped eight opponents in a row,
including the last five in world title fights, was quick to respond
directly to Donaire’s analysis of him.

"Glenn, if you are talking about my left," he asked, "you want me to
knock you out with my right? You choose. You choose which hand you
will like."

"I know we are going to have a good fight," replied Donaire.

The Californian based Donaire 16-2-1 (9) who originally hails from
General Santos City in the Philippines, agrees that Darchinyan is
the best of the flyweight division right now, until he fights him
of course.

"Yes, he is," he said. "You don’t want to take any chances fighting
Vic. The difference between me and Vic’s past opponents, they were
intimidated by him. Not me. I do spar with bigger guys too. I evened
knocked out a 150lbs guy with a body shot. I thank Vic for me being
his opponent."

"You know why Glenn?" asked Darchinyan. "I wanted to fight you because
you challenged me. You told me you can beat me. After I stop you,
everyone can see that it is all just talk."

ARMENIA: HAIKO SAYS NO OFFICIAL PROPOSAL FROM ARMTV TO PARTICIPATE IN EUROVISION 2007

oikotimes.org, Greece
Sept 29 2006

Fotis Konstantopoulos reporting from Athens (Greece)
source: panorama.am – photo: oikotimes resources

Singer Haiko addressed to the president of the republic to know why
he has awarded him the title of honored artists, Haiko told a news
conference today. "Because there are many singers who come and go but
you stay for a long time," the president has answered. Haiko said he is
not involved in politics and will not participate in any pre-election
campaigns. The singer said he is doing well and the tickets of his
upcoming concert are sold well. Haiko said there will be no dances as
it is not within his style. He said there will be dozens of cameras
"to approach to the international level."

About Eurovision The singer said he has received no concrete
suggestions to participate in Eurovision contest. He even said he
is a little scared from rumors that he may participate. The singer
is in search of his soul mate. He said he devotes his songs to those
who feel attached.

Anatolia news agency, Ankara,
27 Sep 06

Turkish parliament passes law on private schools for minorities,
foreigners

Ankara, 26 September: The Private Educational Facilities Bill has
been passed into law by the Turkish parliament.

The bill defines minority schools as: "Pre-schools, primary schools
and secondary schools established by the Greek, Armenian and Jewish
minorities, assured by the Treaty of Lausanne, and which are attended
by students of Turkish nationality who are members of their own
minorities."

According to the bill, the term "foreign schools" covers private
schools opened by foreigners.

The terms dershane [privately run education centre], private
education school, drivers licence course, student study and education
centre, private training and rehabilitation centre, international
private teaching institution and distance learning institution are
all separately defined.

Treaty of Lausanne

The "qualities that must be demonstrated" by minority schools covered
by the 23 August 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and Law No 340 will be
defined by a directive. This directive will be drawn up by taking
into consideration the regulations and practices adopted by the
respective countries in these areas. Only the children of Turkish
citizens who are members of their own minorities will be able to
study in these schools.

International schools

Private international education establishments that are outside the
Turkish higher education system and attended only by students of
foreign nationality may be set up by foreign nationality real or
juristic persons or in partnership with Turkish nationals with the
permission of the cabinet in accordance with the Law on Direct
Foreign Investments.

Real persons of Turkish nationality, private law juristic persons or
juristic persons governed by the provisions of private law may set up
private international educational establishment in their own names
for the same purpose.

No teaching or instruction shall be given at these schools that is
counter to the indivisible unity of the country and nation of the
Turkish state, its security or interests, or that runs counter to the
national, moral, humanitarian, spiritual and cultural values of the
Turkish nation.

Foreign schools

Foreign schools may obtain new land with the permission of the
cabinet and increase their capacities by a maximum factor of five.

They may increase or renew the student and equipment capacity of
buildings on existing land by a maximum of one floor with cabinet
permission and providing that the land on which they are built is not
expanded.

Outside of these conditions foreign schools may not expand their
buildings, open branches, construct new buildings in place of
existing buildings, or obtain or lease land for this purpose.
Buildings may be repaired and renovated subject to the permission of
the provincial governor.

The immovable assets of foreign schools may on proposal by the
founders or authorities and with Cabinet permission be transferred
over to the Ministry [of Education] or to foundations set up for the
purposes of education in accordance with the Turkish Civilization
Law.

Assistant principals of foreign schools

The assistant principals who will work at schools opened by
foreigners where the language of instruction is not Turkish must be
Turkish citizens, must be qualified to teach Turkish and Turkish
culture, and will speak the language of instruction. In the event
that nobody with these qualifications can be found, this duty may be
given to teachers of Turkish nationality who have had specialist area
education in the school’s language of instruction.

Additional employment opportunities for teachers

Should the need arise then teachers at state schools may give up to
30 hours a week tuition at private schools. These teachers may only
work at schools with the permission of the institution they actually
work for and on condition that they do not suspend their actual
duties and do complete the requisite number of weekly classroom
hours. These teachers may give paid lessons for up to half the number
of weekly classroom hours they must teach in return for a monthly
wage.

In private educational establishments the job of giving paid lessons
may be given to specialist teachers, expert teachers and to other
civil servants who fulfil the requirements of teaching with the
permission of the pertinent units for a maximum of 10 hours a week.
The provincial governor’s office shall provide permission for
suitably qualified managers, teachers, specialist teachers and expert
teachers. The Provincial Governor’s Office will also be able to
revoke permission.

Teachers’ pay will not be less than state schools

Those working in an administrative or instructional capacity at
private schools will not be given less pay than the monthly wage and
additional social aid payments paid at equivalent state schools in
accordance with the teacher’s seniority (with the exception of
retired teachers).

Additional social aid payments will be paid to school teachers and
staff in accordance with the rights given to school teachers and
staff at state schools under budget laws. Income tax will be taken
from additional payments. The amount of pay for additional lessons at
these institutions will not be less than the amount worked out for
state schools.

Private educational establishments may only advertise and promote
themselves in accordance with their aims. These establishments shall
not make false statements in their advertisements or notices, and
they shall not advertise or broadcast notices on television.

The water, natural gas and electricity bills for these schools shall
be applied at the same rate as for state schools.

Religious education

Private educational establishments that are the same or similar to
military schools, police-affiliated schools and institutions
providing religious education and instruction shall not be opened.

Anybody who wants to open or take over a private school must not have
served more than six months in prison for a disgraceful or
premeditated crime, even if they have been released on amnesty.

Public places such as bars, coffee-houses, card game cafes, video
game arcades, and places where open alcohol beverages are served must
not be located close than 100 meters from school premises.

Education fees

The education and other fees shall be worked out every year by the
institution, and will be notified starting in January but no later
than May.

A directive will state the criteria for determining, allocating,
advertising and collecting fees.

All institutions are obliged to teach a minimum of 3 per cent of
their students for free. The ministry may see this figure rise up to
10 per cent. The percentage of students who will study for free,
their selection and conditions of acceptance will be stated in a
directive. Institutions may also give scholarships. The number of
foreign national students that may be taught in a school must not
exceed 30 per cent of the number of Turkish national students at that
school.

Permission to open

In order for an institution to begin teaching it must receive
permission to open. The relevant national education director’s office
will handle the requests to open. Permission may be given to
institutions outside those schools deemed fit to open following an
inspection by the Provincial Governor’s Office. The requests for
permission to open will be sent to the Ministry for permission to be
given. Should the request to open an institution be rejected by the
Governor’s Office, the founder or their representative may appeal to
the Ministry within 15 working days of the notification of rejection
being received.

The curriculum and weekly lesson programme to be applied at private
educational establishments will be determined in accordance with the
procedures and principles applied at state schools. Different
curricula and weekly lesson programmes may be applied if the Ministry
sees fit.

If no teaching is begun within two years of permission being given to
open a private educational establishment that permission will be
revoked.

If the number of personnel in the regulations are not employed or if
personnel are employed in contravention of the regulations, the
institution may be closed down temporarily for between 15 days and
three months. Any institution not complying with the general and
specific aims and basic principles of the Basic Law for National
Education; any institution that does not close down in accordance
with regulations; any institution that receives a provisional closure
penalty but then repeats the same fault shall be closed down
permanently.

DEPUTIES REVOLT

A1+
[02:00 pm] 27 September, 2006

The National Assembly finished the discussion of the drafts about
"Amendments to the RA Law on Television and Radio and Amendments to
the RA Regulations of the National Commission on Television and Radio"
which was represented by the RA Government.

During the discussions which lasted two days the oppositional deputies
called on everyone to vote down the draft. According to Viktor
Dallakyan, the law gives punitive functions to the National Committee
of TV and Radio against private TV Companies. And Arshak Sadoyan
announced that the draft is "anti constitutional, wrong and criminal".

Gegham Manoukyan spoke on behalf of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun faction. He
introduced himself as a person who has worked in the television field
and called on all the deputies to reject the draft. He wondered why
they try to make amendments in such a rush, taking into account the
fact that Constitution demanded to change the staff of the National
Committee of TV and Radio and not the law itself. The ARF deputy
also assumed the draft gives the monopoly of TV commercials to the
Public Television.

NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan was perhaps the only one who called on
everyone to vote for the draft saying "Let’s adopt it, and amend
it later".

By the way, in his final speech Minister of Justice David Haroutyunyan
too asked to vote for the draft claiming that there was no rush. "If
we tried to adopt it in a rush, we would organize the second hearing
in the special session at once".

TURKEY SAYS REFORMS ON TRACK
By Gareth Jones

Reuters, UK
Sept 26 2006

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s prime minister insisted on Tuesday
that European Union reforms were fully on track, but the EU’s top
enlargement official said he was tired of telling Ankara to change
laws that restrict free speech.

In a move underlining the EU’s human rights concerns, dozens of Kurdish
mayors in Turkey’s troubled southeast went on trial for opposing the
closure of a Kurdish broadcaster.

"The reform process is continuing at full speed and without us losing
any of our enthusiasm," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told lawmakers
from his ruling centre-right AK Party.

"We are doing these reforms not because the EU wants them but because
Turkey needs them," he said.

Erdogan was speaking as members of the European Parliament in
Strasbourg, France, debated a report critical of Ankara’s reform
record over the past 12 months.

Parliamentary sources said the report by Dutch MEP Camiel Eurlings
was likely to be adopted on Wednesday in an amended form, deleting a
clause which urges Ankara to recognise the mass killings of Armenians
in Ottoman Turkey as "genocide".

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told the Strasbourg assembly
Turkey must implement more reforms before the Commission’s own annual
report, due to be published on November 8.

Rehn said he was tired of pressing Turkey to abolish or reform
an article of its penal code that makes it a criminal offence to
"insult Turkishness", and which has been used to prosecute a number
of intellectuals.

"Despite the acquittal of the novelist (Elif) Shafak, freedom of
expression remains under threat in Turkey," he said, arguing that the
mere existence of such judicial proceedings had "a chilling effect"
on journalists, writers and activists.

CHANGING MENTALITY

Erdogan gave no indication on Tuesday that his government might be
ready to scrap or modify the controversial article 301.

"It is not enough just to change laws to entrench human rights
and freedoms. You also need to change the mentality…. We must be
patient," Erdogan said.

Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, an opponent of change, said Shafak’s
acquittal last week showed the law was working well.

Opposition leader Deniz Baykal, whose nominally centre-left Republican
People’s Party has taken an increasingly nationalist stance ahead
of national elections due next year, made clear he did not back any
change to the present law.

"(Erdogan) is seeking a partner to share the shame of making it
possible to insult the Turkish identity. He should knock at another
door… We will not support him," he said.

Against similarly loud nationalist opposition, Erdogan defended plans
to ease property restrictions for non-Muslim minorities, another key
EU demand.

A pious Muslim, Erdogan ridiculed suggestions that the plans would
bolster the influence of Orthodox Christian Patriarch Bartholomew,
based in Istanbul, and pave the way for the creation of a
"mini-Vatican" in Turkey’s biggest city.

Parliament, where the AK Party has a big majority, is now debating
the ‘religious foundations’ law, though EU diplomats say the current
draft does not go far enough in restoring confiscated properties to
non-Muslim religious minorities.

In Diyarbakir, biggest city of Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast,
56 mayors faced charges of "knowingly and willingly" helping Kurdish
rebels by writing to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen
earlier this year urging him not to close Denmark-based Roj TV.

Ankara views Roj TV as a mouthpiece for "terrorists" and has urged
Copenhagen to shut it down. Rasmussen has refused, citing freedom of
expression. He has also criticised the trial of the mayors, who face
up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

The criminal court judge adjourned the trial until November 21.

Turkey blames rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since it began its armed
campaign for a homeland in the southeast in 1984.

International Crisis Group, Belgium

Abkhazia Today

Europe Report N°176

15 September 2006
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Conflict over Abkhazia, squeezed between the Black Sea and the
Caucasus mountains, has festered since the 1992-1993
fighting. Internationally recognised as part of Georgia and largely
destroyed, with half the pre-war population forcibly displaced,
Abkhazia is establishing the institutions of an independent state. In
twelve years since the ceasefire, the sides have come no closer to a
settlement despite ongoing UN-mediated negotiations.

Tensions rose in July 2006 when a forceful Georgian police operation
cleaned a renegade militia out of upper Kodori Gorge, the one part of
pre-war Abkhazia not controlled by the de facto government in Sukhumi.
Since then Georgian-Abkhaz negotiations have been frozen. While
Georgia asserts that it is committed to a peaceful resolution of the
conflict, its military budget rose in 2005 at a rate higher than any
other country in the world. Bellicose statements by some officials do
not increase confidence. Georgia insists that the problem is Russia,
whose increasingly assertive policy in the region includes support for
Abkhazia.

Abkhaz seek independence, arguing that they have a democratic
government, rule of law, defence capabilities, and economy worthy of a
state. In the past decade they have made strides to re-establish a
sense of normality. The first round of the 2004 presidential election
offered voters a choice and a genuine contest. Yet disputes over the
result and Moscow’s intervention, including closing the border, led to
a power sharing arrangement between the two top contenders. The
entity’s population includes Abkhaz, Armenians, Russians and ethnic
Georgians. The latter, who live primarily in one district (Gali),
represent at least a quarter of today’s residents. But over 200,000
remain displaced in Georgia proper, unable to participate in life in
their homeland.

For Georgia the unresolved conflict is an affront to its state
building project, impeding the consolidation of national security,
democratic institutions, economic development and regional
integration. The many internally displaced persons (IDPs) impose heavy
political, economic and psychological burdens. For over a decade,
Tbilisi had no integration policy, relying instead on short-term,
emergency solutions. Although a national integration strategy for
IDPs is now being drafted, the displaced are the poorest section of
Georgian society. They are disappointed by the government’s failure to
keep its promises of returning them to their homes, or provide a
better life for them in Georgia, yet have little capacity to mobilise
politically.

This report looks at the causes of conflict, conditions in Abkhazia
and reforms affecting Georgian IDPs. A subsequent report will assess
the negotiation and peacekeeping mechanisms, with specific
recommendations on what should be done to facilitate resolution.

Tbilisi/Brussels, 15 September 2006

ISSA TOUMA VS. THE SYRIAN STATE
By Kaelen Wilson-Goldie

The Daily Star
Friday, September 15, 2006

Organizer of International Photography Gathering in Aleppo faces
last-minute closure … again

BEIRUT: If all goes as planned, the ninth edition of the International
Photography Gathering in Aleppo with open tonight. The gathering is
an annual exhibition that runs over the course of 10 days. This year,
it is set to highlight over 1,000 works of art – heavy on contemporary
fine art and documentary photography with a few pieces of video art
by a nascent generation of young Syrian talent thrown in for good
measure – by 50 artists from 30 different countries.

But in the world of Issa Touma, the festival’s founder and organizer,
rarely does all go as planned. For years now, Touma has been struggling
with the Syrian authorities, who seem to be more than just a little
reluctant to let him do his own thing. At press time, the venue for
the gathering had just changed again (a slew of postindustrial spaces
have fallen through in the last 10 days, with the owners or directors
reneging on their promises to host the festival).

Those working with Touma on the festival’s last-minute details say
he is currently in "hiding" from the Syrian security services (though
he still hopes to make it to the opening on time).

Reportedly, the Aleppo governor and the head of the security services
have also filed a lawsuit against Touma, allegedly for re-opening
his gallery after it was ordered to close a year ago.

Touma, a photographer in his own right, studied Armenian art in Aleppo
and decided to open a gallery there in 1992. Called Black and White,
the space stuttered and stalled and ultimately closed, at which point
Touma opened a second venue, a gallery called Le Pont.

He has also launched a number of arts initiatives in Syria, including
the International Photography Gathering and the Women’s Art Festival,
all of which focus on young and emerging talent, unknown in Syria
and abroad, at the expense of older, more established painters and
sculptors who are a part of the Syrian canon and anointed by the
Syrian state.

Last year, Le Pont was shuttered by the authorities three times in nine
months. The year before, Touma says the electricity was deliberately
cut during the opening of the eighth edition of the International
Photography Gathering, a problem "solved" by one of the participants
pulling his car around and using his headlights to illuminate the
works on view.

Touma is one of a number of high-profile dissidents, including novelist
Ammar Abdulhamid and filmmaker Omar Amiralay, whose troubles with
the state suggest that the arts, broadly speaking, pose a threat to
authoritarian rule. The freedom of the fabled art space is problematic
because it can’t, by definition, be co-opted.

For his part, Touma insists that he is in fact entirely apolitical. But
few could deny the contributions he has made to the development of
a credible and critical contemporary art scene in Syria.

"He has done a lot," says Beirut-based curator Christine Tohme,
director of Ashkal Alwan (the Lebanese Association for Plastic
Arts). "He’s done something big on the level of the Syrian scene."

Tohme attended the International Photography Gathering several years
ago, the same edition in which the Beirut-based Arab Image Foundation
participated. She says she finds the news of his troubles year after
year puzzling.

"It’s becoming like a game between him and them," she says. "Every year
we hear Issa Touma is having trouble with the Syrian authorities. It’s
becoming a pattern.

Why is this happening? This is why I ask: ‘How can you have galleries
and art spaces in a hegemony?’" It’s a question Tohme extends not
only to Syria but other autocratic countries in the Arab world.

Yet some artists and curators tend to believe Touma’s problems are
in some way self-perpetuating, and stem as much from disorganization
and a general reluctance to play well with others as they do from
political contention.

"He’s a kind of one-man show," says Lebanese photographer Gilbert Hage,
who joined the International Photography Gathering the year it began
and participated in several of its early editions.

"The work he does is good, but we’d always find out where the festival
was happening two days before the opening and the way the works
were hung was bad, the way they were framed was bad, and the dust,
the humidity," all left a lot to be desired, he says.

"Can you imagine what it is like to look the artists in the eye
now?" asks Touma, on the line from Aleppo, explaining how he’s
been dealing with the last-minute complications. "I feel so sad and
embarrassed in front of the 32 artists who have come to Syria for
the festival. But they have offered such good support. The festival
is continuing because of the artists."

When asked why he has become such a thorn in the Syrian regime’s side,
Touma says: "Because I’m not kissing the shoes of the government. But
we don’t know why, really. Some people say it is because I welcome
foreigners to the gallery, or because I welcome diplomats. But I have
a gallery. It is open to the public. If anyone comes, I welcome them."

TRANSFERRING KARABAKH ISSUE TO UN UNACCEPTABLE TO ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.09.2006 15:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia accepts and respects the right of each
country to present a question or an agenda item at the UN, stated
acting Spokesperson for the Armenian MFA Vladimir Karapetyan, when
commenting on inclusion of the issue of protracted conflicts in GUAM
states in the UN GA session agenda. "Although this particular item
has reached the General Assembly Agenda according to UN procedures,
however the fact that the UN General Committee rejected this initiative
and that the item passed into the General Assembly with a mere 16 in
favor, 15 against, clearly indicates the mood of the international
community. The initiative has been presented by the GUAM, of which
Azerbaijan is a part. The fact that Azerbaijan has presented such
an initiative in such a forum is evidence again that Azerbaijan is
backing down from the right of self-determination identified in the
last version of the negotiating document that the co-chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group have put on the table, as well as from discussions
surrounding the right of Nagorno Karabakh to determine its status
through a referendum," Karapetyan noted. On the other hand, he
underscored that if Azerbaijan’s purpose is to delay and postpone the
settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict within the OSCE
framework with the intention of later transferring that process to
other forums, that is categorically unacceptable for Armenia. "In
that case, Azerbaijan must sit around the negotiating table with
Nagorno Karabakh," the Spokesperson said, reports the MFA Press Office.

SUSPECT IN RACIST KILLING SAID TO BE POLICE ACADEMY CADET – PART 2

The Moscow Times
Thursday, September 14, 2006. Issue 3497. Page 2.

The 18-year-old suspect in the racially motivated killing of an
Armenian teenager in the Moscow metro in April was a police academy
cadet, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Nikita Senyukov was arrested Tuesday in connection with the stabbing
death of Vigen Abramyants, 17, on the platform of Pushkinskaya metro
station on April 22.

"He was a fourth-year student of a police academy under the Moscow
police," said Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the office of the
chief Moscow prosecutor.

Petrenko said Senyukov had admitted to the crime but said he acted
in self-defense after Abramyants attacked him.

She said Senyukov would be charged with murder later this week. If
convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

The police academy’s head, Alexei Bezyazychny, told Ekho Moskvy
radio that Senyukov had dropped out of the academy shortly before his
arrest. He said that Senyukov’s father is a retired senior officer
from the Interior Ministry.

Kommersant and Moskovsky Komsomolets on Wednesday linked Senyukov to
a group of Moscow students accused of bombing the Cherkizovsky outdoor
market in August, killing 12 people and wounding more than 50 others.

Investigators believe the attack was motivated by hatred for natives
of the Caucasus and Asian countries who trade at the market.

Four men have been detained in connection with the attack.

Petrenko, however, denied any link between the market bombing and
the metro attack.

NEXT TO LAST TRAIN WITH RUSSIAN MATERIEL PREPARED TO LEAVE GEORGIA THIS YEAR

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
September 11, 2006 Monday 11:00 AM MSK

This year’s last but one train, carrying arms and materiel of the
Russian 62nd military base, deployed in Akhalkalaki, is ready to
leave for Russia.

"The train, expected to leave on Tuesday, will transport nine Taran
reconnaissance systems and 195 tons of munitions," a military base
official told Interfax-AVN on Monday.

According to him, this year’s last train will leave for Russia in
a week.

Deputy Commander of the Russian Task Force in Transcaucasia Colonel
Vladimir Kuparadze told Interfax-AVN earlier that this year a total
of six trains had transported 179 pieces of materiel and 217 tons of
various cargo from the Russian 12th military base in Batumi to the
Russian 102nd base in Gyumri, Armenia.

A total of 358 pieces of materiel and 1,671 tons of cargo will be
transproted from Akhalkalaki to Russia.

The withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia will be resumed
next year, with the deadline slated for 2008.