Author: Badalian Vardan

PRINCIPAL OF MONTE MELKONIAN SCHOOL SUES “7OR.AM” FOR SLANDER; DENIES DEMANDING $100 FROM TEACHERS
Tatevik Shaljyan

hetq
18:52, June 21, 2012

The Principal of Yerevan’s Public School 11 (named in honor of Monte
Melkonian) has sued the news outlet “7or.am” for slander after it
published an article alleging that she had demanded that teachers
pay her $100 each.

Principal Rouzanna Azizyan is also famous for being a classmate of
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

“7or” (7 days) published the article “Serzh Sargsyan’s classmate
demands $100 for teachers?” on April 16 of this year after receiving
tip-offs from parents.

On April 17, the news site received a letter from Azizyan’s attorney
that those who sent in the allegations weren’t irate parents but
rather some teachers who had been dismissed from the school and were
bent on discrediting the principal and the staff.

Attorney Tovmasyan also informed the site that Yerevan’s
Malatya-Sebastia Court had accepted the school’s slander suit against
these teachers and had found in favour of the plaintiff, obligating
the teachers to publish retractions in a number of new sites.

“7or” then published an abridged version of the attorney’s
clarifications under the title “Retraction”. The heading read – “Those
who telephoned weren’t irate parents but 2-2 dismissed teachers”.

This step did not appease Rouzanna Azizyan and she filed a slander suit
at the Shengavit Court against the news site, demanding a retraction
and apology.

“7or” Director Andranik Tevanyan told Hetq said they proceeded
according to the law and published the attorney’s clarifications.

Tevanyan said that the abridged version was also legal since the law
requires that any retraction must not be longer than the original
piece.

Arshak Tovmasyan, attorney for the school, told Hetq that, “We
told them to issue a retraction before we took them to court,
but they printed a chopped-up version of what we sent and called
it a retraction. I never sent them a retraction but a letter of
clarification.”

If the news site cannot prove that the information in their article
is true, then Principal Azizyan will demand an apology and 100,000
for incurred legal fees.

Tevanyan says “7or” received the letter from parents via email. It
wasn’t signed, he confesses, but notes that allegations of bribery
in schools usually turn out to be true.

Tevanyan also argued that the Minister of Education and Science has
even stated that he regards such publications as credible tip-offs
to bribery and that’s why “7or” went ahead and printed the allegations.

“We didn’t claim that the allegations were true, we just published
them,” says Tevanyan.

After the contentious article was published, parents of pupils at
the Monte Melkonian School visited the “7or” office to complain as
to why the news site ran such a piece.

Tevanyan suggested that the parents put their complaint in writing,
but the parents never did.

The court postponed the first trial session so that the sides could
sit down and reach a settlement. They failed to do so.

At the last trial session, attorney Arshak Tovmasyan told the court
that he would be presenting a new demand on behalf of his clients,
the school and its principal.

The session was postponed. “7or” has yet to receive any such new
demand in writing.

PERSON WHO DIED IN BLAST NEAR ARMENIAN RAILWAY STATION WAS COMPANY SECURITY GUARD

news.am
June 22, 2012 | 11:50

YEREVAN. – It was found out that Nerses Ghazaryan, who lost his life as
a result of a blast nearby Nairi Railway Station of Armenia’s Yeghvard
city, was a security guard at the Samvel Simonyan & Friends Company,
the Emergency Situations Ministry informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

As per the Ministry, a metal container had exploded, for yet unknown
reasons, while work was carried out at the Station’s industrial
facility.

To note, the Ministry had informed that it received a call, on Thursday
at 8:06pm, informing that a blast had occurred nearby the Nairi
Railway Station, and that there were injured and rescuers were needed.

A firefighting squad, and an operative team-together with
paramedics-were dispatched to the scene.

It was found out that an empty container had exploded while carrying
out welding near the railway station-in the area of an inactive oil
refinery plant.

As a result, Yeghvard resident Nerses Ghazaryan, 55, had lost his life.

EITHER AFRAID OF OLIGARCH OR…
Siranuysh Papyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:56:02 – 22/06/2012

Arthur Sakunts, the head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor
office, commented on the crime committed in Harsnakar

Chief of Police Vladimir Gasparyan told in regard to revelation of
the crime committed in Harsnakar that everything will be done to
punish those guilty. Everyone condemns the incident. Will it enable
a fair investigation?

The incident particularly attracted attention not because of the
status of the sufferers but because of the cause, and I expected the
law-enforcement bodies to be more rigid, fast and transparent.

Unfortunately, the police made a statement only in the result of
discussion on Facebook. Moreover, Ruben Hairapetyan spoke about the
incident only two days ago, and he was surprisingly silent till then.

I can’t understand Ruben Hairapetyan’s words that he will punish
everyone. How will he punish? Does he continue the same behavior or
can he perform a punitive function regarding the security staff of
his family business, as he says? The Police statement notes that
everyone is equal before law. Isn’t two or three days a long time
for the police to realize that the principle of equality before law
should be dominant? It means the delay was needed to understand how
they should behave because the statements of the police and Ruben
Hairapetyan occurred at the same time, which is evidence that not the
legal evaluation of the issue is analyzed but the approach based on
political expediency. In other words, people met and discussed and
seeing the public reaction to what has happened they concluded that
they had better make a statement.

Some people recalled the incident that happened to an innocent person
involving the bodyguards of Levon Sargsyan. Is this the result of
impunity?

Bodyguards of oligarchs perform punitive, assaulting, not security
functions, and it does not matter whose bodyguards they are, Samvel
Alexanyan’s, Ruben Hairapetyan’s or Gagik Tsarukyan’s. This behavior
of theirs is clear impunity, their masters are unpunished, beyond the
law, so they think they are like their masters, unpunished. There
have been a number of cases of impunity, and now Ruben Hairapetyan
announced that he did not give them orders, he has nothing to do with
it, they had been instructed to act so in the beginning.

Interestingly, Ruben Hairapetyan states had they know it was a major
of the Ministry of Defense, they would not have done it. So, if there
were other citizens, they could. Are they being selective…? From
this point of view, I do not trust the statement of the police that
they will do everything they can, the principle of equality will be
observed, because the police announced before the elections that a
headquarters is established which will combat crime but we witnessed
mass reports of vote buying, and the headquarters did not report any
preventive action. In other words, there was total inaction, and they
reacted to reports only a few days after the elections, their first
response to our report was on May 11. Besides, one of the sufferers
says the assaulters were 15, whereas 7 have been arrested, where
are the other 9? In order to account to the society they temporarily
sacrifice these people, and I have no hope that all those responsible
will be prosecuted. In other words, again deals and arrangements work,
not the legal mechanisms.

In your opinion, why none of the parties, even the opposition parties
made statements?

This is evidence that a wider scope is involved in these games, and
both the opposition and the government have been mutated. Had this
thing happened a year ago, condemnation would come, the absence of
such a statement is the result of cohesion of these forces with the
oligarchy. One cannot make other suggestions because if you remember
Levon Zurabyan said show us a fact that the PA offered electoral
bribes? This is a typical police statement, this is something like
whitewashing, and either everyone is afraid of Ruben Hairapetyan or
they cooperate with him. First of all, not separate representatives
but the RPA must express their stance. The representatives of ARF
who paid the bail to release those who organized the blast in the
DIY club gave their political support to the culture of violence,
and now resisting the culture of violence appears to be a surprise
to them because the logic “he’s son of a bitch but our son of a
bitch” does not allow an adequate assessment. I repeat this is a
crime committed by the security guards of a member of parliament,
a family business, as he say, and in a normal country he would have
resigned, and the political party would have tried to keep him in a
distance but now the persons who had been instructed to act will be
scapegoats. The doctor’s life is endangered, and refraining from a
political evaluation they are engaged in sophistry.

Meanwhile, the political opposition does not evaluate this incident
because either it is afraid of Ruben Hairapetyan or they are good
friends and don’t want to spoil their relations.

Violence defies limits, and this is the result of many years of
impunity. However, public protest is univocal and condemning and will
not fade away.

Ruben Hairapetyan did not apologize for the behavior of his employees
or is he responsible for profit only…?

HARVESTING AND ELECTIONS

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Department
20.06.2012

Harvesting is still in process in the republic, to date 10% of the
fields is raped. Harvest is already ripen in foothills, which gave
rise organizational questions to those responsible for the harvesting.

Consultation invited at the Prime Minister’s office on June 19 was
devoted to those questions. Minister of agriculture A.Khachatryan,
minister, chief of the NKR government staff A.Avagyan, director of
rescue service A.Haroutunyan were present at the consultation.

6300 hectares territory is already reaped. Major part of the reaped
territory is barley fields-4860 hectares; this year barley harvesting
is lower than grain harvesting.

There is a need of individual work with combiners on-site. The
government has made an offer of supporting the individuals in buying
spares, nevertheless scheduled purchases are not realized in good
time. Prime Minister Ara Haroutunyan is dissatisfied.

Heads of regional administrations assured that the raised problems
are solved on-site, although there is a need of technical equipments
everywhere. 80 combines from the RA work in Artsakh, 70 of which
work in Qashatagh region. About 20 combines will come to help farmers
within the next few days.

First barley will be gathered then grain in order not to lose the
harvest. Barley’s price is already fixed 115 AMD per kilogram;
the price of grain is still in the negotiation process. Other
organizational issues have been discussed during the conference.

Henceforth all the issues regarding the harvest will be regulated
by the Minister of Agriculture. Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan will
lead the pre-election headquarters of the president’s candidate Bako
Sahakyan. During the conference Prime Minister instructed the heads
of regional administrations to follow the law during the election
campaign provide equal conditions for all candidates and control the
situation for organizing elections up to the mark.

Eurovision 2012 Winner Concerned about Photo-Journalist Mehman
Huseynov’s Fate

BAKU. June 17, 2012. The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012
held in Baku this may, Swedish singer Loreen, has expressed concern
about the fate of photojournalist Mehman Huseynov, against whom the
Azerbaijani authorities brought charges of disorderly conduct against
the police.

On her Facebook page, she wrote: “After our meetings with Azeri human
rights defenders in Baku we hoped that the situation for them would
improve. But now we see the opposite. One of the brave human rights
defenders that we met, Mehman Huseynov, is accused of hooliganism and
risks five years in jail! Mehman is a young photojournalist and he was
just doing this job covering a demonstration for freedom during the
Eurovision week in Baku.”

Loreen was one of the few celebrities who supported the campaign “Sing
in the name of democracy,” which was organized by the Azerbaijani
champions of free speech and human rights during the contest. She was
the only performer to have visited the Institute for Reporters’
Freedom and Safety in Baku, where she gave a press conference on the
themes raised by the campaign of “Sing in the name of democracy.”

In an interview with Dagens Nyheter, she said that she could not turn
a blind eye to human rights violations. Loreen’s meetings with human
rights defenders caused serious irritation in the upper echelons of
power in Baku. On the day of the semi-finals the representative of the
President of Azerbaijan demanded that the contest organizer, European
Broadcasting Union should stop some artists from “politicizing” the
show. The matter was so notorious that the Swedish Ambassador was
forced to visit the Foreign Ministry to discuss the situation.

At the press conference of the finalists the singer made it clear that
she separates her private life, in which she has the right to show a
civic position, and her work, including the competition in Baku.

Loreen posted on Facebook links to the statements of international
human rights organizations about Mehman Huseynov, thereby inviting her
fans to pay attention to the fate of the photojournalist:

(Turan)

Armenian opposition bloc condemns Harsnakar restaurant brutal incident

news.am
June 23, 2012 | 19:20

YEREVAN. – Opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) believes that
the Harsnakar restaurant incident, which brought forth heavy
consequences and even may claim human life as estimated by doctors, is
not the only case, the ANC statement reads.

`As a result of brutal beating in the Harsnakar restaurant-complex,
which belongs to Armenian oligarch-MP Ruben Hayrapetyan, two army
doctors Vahe Avetyan and Artak Bayadyan were beaten almost to death.
Police had to arrest several suspects only under the influence of
media outlets and hot public discussions.

According to outlets, the victims were beaten by Hayrapetyan’s
security service and restaurant employees under the MP’s awareness or
order. Unfair or incomplete investigation of the case or improper
punishment of the guilty may influence the army’s moral-psychological
state and fighting ability. The ANC will not tolerate such actions
humiliating people and destructing bases of the state. It declares
that will follow further process of the case consistently.’

Grigol Vashadze: New Armenian-Azerbaijani war will bury the
sovereignty of all three South Caucasian states

armradio.am
23.06.2012 17:08

A new Armenian-Azerbaijani war will bury the sovereignty and
independence of all three South Caucasian states, Georgian Foreign
Minister Grigol Vashadze told Ukrainian Zerkalo Nedeli weekly.

`I sincerely hope that the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group will lead
to a speedy solution. However, a third party works actively so that
the Minsk Group achieves no results and tension at the line of contact
continues as long as possible,’ Vashadze siad.

He also spoke about trilateral Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey Trabzon declaration.

`We jointly participate in large infrastructure projects and would
like to expand cooperation to other fields. Besides, the region
faceschallenges, all the three states – Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey
– are often obliged to respond. I would like to stress that this
format is not targeted against any other state or a group of states,’
he said.

Paper says Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan already in Facebook

June 23, 2012 – 17:16 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – According to Chorrord Ishkhanutyun paper, Artsakh
President Bako Sahakyan has registered in Facebook social network.

Another presidential candidate, Nagorno Karabakh National Assembly
member Vitali Balasanyan has also joined the network.

President Sahakyan’s post on his Facebook page implies that the user
launched election campaign from the same villages as five years ago.

However, it is noteworthy that unlike Mr. Balasanyan, who makes notes
in first person, Sahakyan’s posts are in third person, which implies
that the president’s page is run by another person.

Haykakan Zhamanak: Prices for building materials go up

tert.am
10:29 – 23.06.12

The prices for most of the building materials in Armenia have
increased during the past month.

In many shops the prices have gone up and in some an attempt is being
made to maintain the existing one, though as the representatives of
these shops say it is being done on the account of their income.

Speaking to the paper’s correspondent, they said they will not be able
to restrain the inflation for a long time. The paper says during the
mentioned period the prices for building materials have gone up by
8-15%.

Authorities of Armenia must help Syrian-Armenians – expert

news.am
June 23, 2012 | 03:08

YEREVAN. – Authorities of Armenia should establish a special
structure, which will elaborate a program for re-populating
representatives of the Armenian community in Syria, expert of the Arab
studies Armen Petrosyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

`Situation in Syria is very tense, Armenians living in the state have
appeared in a difficult situation. They took no one’s side during the
developed local conflict. Despite they traditionally supported the
authorities, but in reality they were politically neutral. Currently
civil war is unleashed in the country and their physical existence is
at risk,’ the expert said adding the program will assist the Armenians
to come out of the problem to some extent.

Besides, representatives of the community should be involved in the
program, as well as contacts should be established with the
opposition.

As for information spread by outlets that over 4,500 Syrian-Armenians
have turned to the Armenian authorities for acquiring the citizenship,
the expert said that they will need the citizenship for going to the
United States, Australia or Canada, as well as United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait. Petrosyan once again stated that Armenian authorities should
make all possible efforts to preserve the community as it is a part of
national and cultural wealth of the Armenian people.