Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Tufts E-News
February 14, 2005

TOP STORY:
Bridging A Divide In Europe

A Fletcher School graduate student says that tensions between Turkey and
Armenia won’t subside as long as the border between the countries remains
sealed.

Medford/Somerville, Mass. Centuries-old tensions between Armenia and Turkey
continue to percolate, thanks in large part to the sealed border that divides
the two countries. The counterproductive closed-border policy, says a Fletcher
School student, has impoverished many people in the two nations while blocking
any chance of working toward a resolution.

“The current policies in the region applied by both countries are indisputably
a failure. It is time to open a fresh process of dialogue and reconciliation by
opening the Turkish-Armenian border,” Harout Semerdjian, a graduate student in
international relations, wrote in the English-language publication Moscow Times.

When Armenia achieved independence in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet
Union, it faced many problems.

“For the large and influential Armenian diaspora worldwide, the most important
issue remained recognition of the events of 1915 as genocide,” Semerdjian
wrote. “However, for the majority of Armenians living in Armenia, the most
significant issue became survival in a period of economic hardship and social
turmoil.”

Turkey, he added, also faces setbacks: “In recent years, farmers have put
entire villages in the Sivas region of the country up for sale. Isolated
eastern provinces such as Erzerum, Kars and Igdir near the Armenian border are
anxious to boost their economy in order to improve their low standards of
living.”

Enforcing a sealed border, Semerdjian contended, only exacerbates the problem.

“It only maintains the poverty in the border regions, which would otherwise
benefit from cross-border economic activity.”

The tension stems from long-standing conflicts, such as the slaying of over a
million Armenians at the hands of Turkish soldiers in 1915 (whether or not it
was genocide is a hotly debated subject) and the recent dispute over the
Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, which is heavily populated by
Armenians.

These tensions, Semerdjian asserted, are hurting both nations.

“While authorities in Turkey may feel they are punishing Armenia in support of
Azerbaijan, both countries are in fact merely punishing their own people by
maintaining closed borders.”

But a foundation of understanding cannot be established without communication,
Semerdjian wrote.

“How can Turkey expect the Armenian diaspora to behave in a positive,
conciliatory manner when it is unwilling to establish basic communication links
between the two countries? How can Armenia expect Turkey to understand its
needs and historical issues when Mount Ararat currently acts as an Iron Curtain
rather than a mountain of peace?”

Semerdjian, a member of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council,
wrote that unsealing the border would be mutually beneficial.

“Open borders would encourage contact, trade, business opportunities and
tourism between the population of both countries — which would in turn create
a sense of confidence and greater understanding between the two peoples.”

He added that opening the border would be a strong, independent step for both
nations.

“It would demonstrate to the international community the strong will and
determination of both countries to solve their differences themselves, not in
the corridors of the French senate or the U.S. Congress,” he wrote.

Semerdjian urged top Armenian and Turkish officials to reconsider their reasons
for keeping the border sealed.

“Leaders of both countries should be encouraged to think in global and
realistic terms and start taking alternate steps toward peace, if they are
serious about bringing harmony and eventual prosperity to the region.”
From: Baghdasarian

SCAD POLITICAL AND TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES TO HOLD MEETING
[February 09, 2005, 21:27:14]

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
Feb 10 2005

Political and technical committees of the “South Caucasus Anti-Drag”
(SCAD) Program financed by the European Union is going to hold a
meeting with participation of the state and governmental officials of
the three Caucasus courtiers, the EU Assistance Commission leadership
and the UNDP representatives for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in
Tbilisi, on February 1-12.

Deputy interior minister of Azerbaijan Zahid Dunyamaliyev, deputy
chairman of the state customs committee Rafail Mirzayev and national
coordinator of SCAD Program Mazahir Efendiyev and other officials
will represent Azerbaijan.

The goal of meeting is to analyze the works done within the program
in 2004 and discuss plan of activity related to combat against illegal
circulation of narcotics.
From: Baghdasarian

Armenian foreign minister meets OSCE Karabakh mediators

Arminfo
8 Feb 05

Yerevan, 8 February: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, the Russian
co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuriy Merzlyakov, the French co-chairman,
Bernard Fassier, as well as (?Elizabeth Rudy), the assistant of US Co-Chairman
Steven Mann, discussed a number of organizational issues today.

The co-chairmen, who accompanied the OSCE factfinding mission in Nagornyy
Karabakh, arrived in Yerevan from Stepanakert [Xankandi] yesterday, the public
relations department of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Arminfo news agency.
The meeting, in particular, discussed prospects for the holding of a meeting
between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Prague format.

Vardan Oskanyan said he was ready to take the first opportunity available to
meet again his Azerbaijani counterpart, the report said.
From: Baghdasarian

OSCE experts complete mission in breakaway Karabakh – Azeri official

Turan news agency
8 Feb 05

Baku, 8 February: The OSCE mission looking into facts of Armenia’s
settling the occupied Azerbaijani territories has completed the first
part of its work, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov
has told journalists while commenting on the mission’s journey to
the occupied territories.

On the next stage the mission is expected to analyse the collected
material and prepare a report. “We expect this to be done in the near
future, and the prepared report will then be submitted to a meeting
of the OSCE Minsk Group and then to the OSCE Permanent Council,”
Azimov said.

He expressed his confidence that the facts provided to the mission
by the Azerbaijani side had been confirmed. Namely, the mission
received material from open and other sources about Armenia’s settling
20,000-23,000 people in the occupied territories. But even if the
mission discovers half or a third of this figure, this will confirm
the fact of illegal settlement anyway, Azimov said.

He went on to say that under the 1949 Geneva Convention the occupier
has no right to settle and change the demographic situation in the
captured territories. He also described as illegitimate Armenia’s
argument that the areas are being settled by the Armenians who were
deported from Baku, Ganca and Sumqayit. He stressed that international
humanitarian law unequivocally bans settlement of anyone who did not
live in the occupied territories before, regardless of their origin.

[Passage omitted: minor details]
From: Baghdasarian

Interests and aspirations clash in region of frozen conflicts
By Simon Tisdall

The Guardian
Feb 8 2005

The ancient Greeks called it Pontus Axeinus – the inhospitable sea.
Jason and the Argonauts sailed its turbid waters, seeking the Golden
Fleece in the land of Colchis, present-day Georgia. Turks who feared
its lowering storms called it Kara Dengiz, hence its English name.
Now the Black Sea, contested through history by Roman emperors,
Russian tsars, Nazi and Soviet totalitarians and, inevitably, by
British imperialists in the Crimea in the 1850s, is once again emerging
as a strategic amphitheatre of clashing interests and aspirations.

When Romania and Bulgaria join the EU in 2007, modern Europe’s new
frontier will come hard up against the rumbling underbelly of Russia’s
collapsed empire.

Arrayed around this new Black Sea bullring, an encircling host of
failed, floundering or would-be states must soon decide whether their
future lies within the Euro-Atlantic community.

It is here that defining 21st-century battles over identity, security,
democratic values, oil, and migration will be waged. And it is here
that an ever-enlarging Europe’s limitations, political as well as
geographical, may finally be painfully exposed.

Romania’s reformist leader, Traian Basescu, who watches over a
lengthy tract of western Black Sea coast, is keenly attuned to this
challenge. He won the presidency last December in Romania’s quieter
version of neighbouring Ukraine’s “orange revolution”.

Mr Basescu’s visit to London last week amounted to an early warning.
In his view Romania is becoming a frontline state in what governments
now call the Greater Black Sea region.

“The common security threats that we face are many. The Black Sea
region has become an area for trafficking in people, in drugs and
weapons,” Mr Basescu said.

“It is an area of frozen conflicts. These are threats for all Nato and
EU members. In this region we are in a democratic transition period, a
period of emerging democracies – and that presents an element of risk.”

Romania has been offered additional British help in fighting corruption
and organised crime, curbing illegal immigration and preparing for
EU membership, diplomats said.

Both Romania and Bulgaria are already Nato members. And the Bucharest
government, which has offered military base facilities to the US at
Constanta, has purchased two ex-Royal Navy frigates.

Yet while Romania, Bulgaria, and more precariously, Ukraine, have
made their pro-western choice, the fate of many regional states and
peoples hangs in the balance.

Moldova, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, is one of the most
dangerous of the “frozen conflicts” of which Mr Basescu warned.
Located in an area once known as Bessarabia, Moldova is the poorest
country in Europe, divided since independence in 1991 by a secessionist
movement in eastern Transdniestria.

Now Moldova’s communist leaders, facing elections next month, have
broken with their traditional ally, Russia, and are pursuing EU
integration. President Vladimir Voronin appealed last week for western
assistance, saying separatist “armed units” were bent on provoking a
crisis. Moldova has also asked in vain that Russia withdraw its troops.

Almost unnoticed, the EU published an “action plan” in December,
inviting Moldova “to enter into intensified political, security and
economic relations” and describing a Transdniestria solution as a
“key objective”. In short, Moldova is a looming European problem.

Similar disputes requiring international attention ring the Black
Sea. In former Soviet Georgia, scene of the 2003 “rose revolution”,
the pro-western government of President Mikhail Saakashvili is
still struggling with Moscow-backed separatists in South Ossetia
and Abkhazia.

Linked to Georgia’s future is the future of independence-minded
Chechnya, where low-level conflict with Russian forces still smoulders,
and the wider Caucasus region.

In Armenia an authoritarian government is locked in a cold
war with Turkey and Azerbaijan, principally over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, where tens of thousands died in the early 1990s. To
end its isolation Armenia is increasingly looking to Brussels.

While insisting on political and economic reforms, the EU recently
included Armenia in its European “neighbourhood policy”. Self-interest
plays a part. Armenia’s woes have produced an exodus of economic
migrants; most head westwards.

Underlying all this is the Black Sea’s growing strategic importance
as an outlet for Russian and Caspian oil – another potential source
of conflict as well as wealth.

A sort of “best pipeline” contest is now under way. Russia is exploring
a new oil route with Bulgaria and Greece that would bypass pro-western
Turkey. From Athens, at least, this looks like a terrific idea.

Another pipeline will run from Azerbaijan via Georgia to Turkey’s
Mediterranean coast, deviously circumventing poor, ostracised
Armenia. Yet another could link Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast with
Macedonia, Albania and the Adriatic – with intriguing implications
for the Balkans.

While the EU gazes east and wonders just how far it can go, especially
regarding Russia, the US feels fewer constraints. It is determined
to secure its Caspian oil supplies. And its new military toeholds
on the western shore could in time be used to project US influence
across the entire Black Sea region.

Europe’s policy may be drifting. Russia may fret and storm. But
Washington reckons it knows which way the wind is blowing. Like the
ancient Greeks, it aims to turn the Black Sea into the Pontus Euxinus –
the friendly sea.
From: Baghdasarian

Buffalo News (New York)
February 1, 2005 Tuesday
FINAL EDITION

LANGUAGE OF PATRIOTISM COMES FROM THE HEART

By BEDROS PETE ODIAN

In the early 1940s, I was contributing my modest bit as a weatherman
in the Army Air Corps to the defeat of Adolf Hitler and Emperor
Hirohito. Midway through the war, the Army issued a call for officer
candidate school for personnel who knew foreign languages.

This was in anticipation of military government during occupation
when the war ended. Displaced people would be interrogated to assist
them in getting settled. Enemy personnel would be questioned during
investigations of war crimes.

Although I enjoyed meteorology immensely, I felt I could contribute
to postwar occupation activities.

I gained fluency in Armenian through my immigrant parents. Like many
immigrants, they spoke their native tongue at home. They never
attended school. Yet, they valued education. In the afternoons, after
attending public elementary school, I attended Armenian class at the
Armenian church. The priest was usually the teacher. Other times, a
lay person conducted the class.

I appeared before the officer candidate board, made up of a colonel
and other officers. The interview included questions about the
structure of the Army and current events.

Well into the interview, the colonel noted in my application that I
spoke, read and wrote Armenian. He asked me where I learned the
language. I explained that I learned it as a child, speaking with my
parents and attending Armenian classes. The colonel asked, “Your
parents speak Armenian at home? Don’t they know this is America?”

The question shocked me. I was not sure whether it was to test my
threshold of anger or to observe how I enunciated my answer. It was
an improper question.

I weighed my options. Should I give a “politically correct” answer to
gain favor, or give a truthful answer that would surely doom my
chances? I chose the latter.

I explained that my parents knew better than any of us in the room
that this is America. They fled from persecution and came to America
to seek a better life. My father, who by then was a widower, was
operating a one-man grocery store, coping with wartime shortages and
price-control regulations.

He had two sons, me and my brother, who was in the airborne infantry
in Europe. Yes, sir, I said, my late mother and my father knew this
is America. They were always thankful for their freedom.

A memo arrived a week later saying that I was not considered officer
material. But I do not regret my response. I sought to convey the
very essence of America and everything I learned about our country,
the land of liberty and opportunity, since my birth in the United
States in 1921.

Years later, the School of General Studies of Columbia University
added several language credits to my transcript for Armenian.
University officials didn’t seem to care how I learned to speak
Armenian. To be charitable, perhaps the colonel lost sight of the
objective of the language program.

Two of my friends growing up in the ’30s, Miltie Shapiro and Jimmy
Pappas, also were from immigrant families. Miltie attended Hebrew
school at the local synagogue. Jimmy attended Greek school at the
local Greek church.

I can see the colonel now: Don’t they know this is America?

BEDROS PETE ODIAN lives in Amherst
From: Baghdasarian

Le Figaro, France
04 février 2005

Dialogue sans concessions entre Debré et Erdogan;
TURQUIE Le président de l’Assemblée a rencontré le premier ministre
turc à Ankara

Sophie HUET

« Soyons comme deux amis, des gens qui se disent la vérité. » Cette
phrase de Jean-Louis Debré résume le climat sans concession, ni du
côté français, ni du côté turc, qui a régné tout au long de la
première journée de rencontres à huis clos de la délégation conduite
par le président de l’Assemblée nationale à Ankara. Accompagné par
les quatre présidents de groupes de l’Assemblée nationale, Bernard
Accoyer (UMP), Hervé Morin (UDF), Jean-Marc Ayrault (PS) et Alain
Bocquet (PCF), Jean-Louis Debré a rencontré à sa descente d’avion le
premier ministre turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, puis le président de
l’Assemblée nationale de Turquie, Bulent Aric. Avec les deux hommes,
Jean-Louis Debré a d’emblée abordé les questions les plus sensibles :
Chypre, la reconnaissance du génocide arménien, les réformes
législatives à effectuer en Turquie (concernant le code pénal, le
code de procédure pénale, les droits de l’homme…) tout au long du
processus d’adhésion, qui aboutira, ou non, à l’entrée de ce pays
dans l’Union européenne. Au premier ministre, Jean-Louis Debré a
expliqué que l’attitude de la Turquie à l’égard du génocide arménien
« était un vrai problème en France ». Ce à quoi Erdogan a répondu
très directement : « Je suis déçu de la France… Je ne savais pas
que 400 000 Arméniens pourraient faire échouer le référendum » sur la
Turquie, prévu dans dix à quinze ans.

Lors d’une conférence de presse commune, les présidents des deux
Assemblées nationales n’ont quasiment pas échangé un regard. Bulent
Aric a déclaré qu’il ne demandait « aucun traitement spécial » pour
son pays, qu’il jugeait « tout à fait normal » que des opinions
contre l’entrée de la Turquie s’expriment en France. Mais il a
aussitôt adressé un « message au peuple français » pour lui dire que
« la Turquie de l’opinion publique française est très différente de
la Turquie réelle », déplorant « les malentendus, les images et les
symboles qui ne sont absolument pas représentatifs de la véritable
Turquie ». Les affiches de Philippe de Villiers prônant le non à la
Turquie ont d’ailleurs été publiées, avec des commentaires acides,
dans les journaux du pays.

Bulent Aric n’a pas non plus caché que « nos relations avec l’Union
européenne ne sont pas sentimentales ». Et il a ajouté : « Nous ne
sommes pas deux jeunes qui se sont rencontrés à la discothèque et se
sont aimés. Nous nous basons sur un accord de plus de quarante ans. »
Allusion à la célèbre formule du général de Gaulle, en 1963 : « La
Turquie a vocation à être européenne. »

Devant un parterre fourni de journalistes turcs et de caméras,
Jean-Louis Debré n’a pas trop usé de la langue de bois diplomatique.
« Nous avons à vous écouter et vous avez à nous entendre. (…)
Est-ce que la société turque est capable, dans un laps de temps
précis, d’accepter des réformes qui vont la changer ? », s’est
interrogé le président de l’Assemblée. Lequel a expliqué à ses hôtes
qu’ils avaient « une référence idéologique commune, la révolution
française, qui a aussi influencé l’oeuvre de Kemal Atatürk ». C’est
donc avec « un esprit critique » mais « sans préjugé ni opposition de
principe » que Jean-Louis Debré, visiblement sur le qui-vive, aborde
ce voyage.

Mais les questions des journalistes turcs ont révélé un vrai fossé
entre les deux pays. Ceux-ci ne comprennent pas qu’un référendum soit
nécessaire pour l’entrée de la Turquie dans l’UE, mais pas pour la
Roumanie, la Croatie ou la Bulgarie. « Comme pour l’adhésion de la
Grande-Bretagne, il est légitime que le peuple de France se prononce
» a répondu Debré. Un confrère d’Ankara a jugé « très blessante pour
les Turcs » la reconnaissance du génocide arménien par la France. «
C’est une loi (du 18 janvier 2000) je l’applique », a rétorqué le
député de l’Eure.

La délégation française a été un peu surprise par ces rencontres «
sans sujet tabou », selon Alain Bocquet (PC). « Les Turcs sont
demandeurs de l’adhésion à l’Europe, c’est très clair », commentait
Jean-Marc Ayrault (PS). « Leur désir d’Europe est très fort. C’est un
consensus politique dans le pays », ajoutait Bernard Accoyer. « Ils
veulent l’adhésion pure et simple, et considèrent qu’ils ont déjà un
partenariat privilégié avec l’Europe », a aussi affirmé Hervé Morin
(UDF), pour lequel « il y a vraiment un besoin de dialogue, car ils
nous parlent sans cesse de nos préjugés, de nos arrière-pensées ».
From: Baghdasarian

Texas Court Denies Preliminary Injunction but Accelerates Jury Selection
Date in Patent Infringement Suit Against Seven Networks

Jury Selection Set for June 29, 2005 in Marshall, Texas

PRNewswire
Tuesday February 1, 2005

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ — Visto Corporation, the
leading global provider of secure push email, whose platform for mobile
operators supports the broadest set of mobile devices, today announced
that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas,
has denied its motion for a preliminary injunction in Visto’s patent
infringement suit against Seven Networks but has accelerated the date of
jury selection for the trial of this matter. Visto is seeking both
damages and a permanent injunction prohibiting Seven from making, using
or selling its infringing products in the United States. Visto had filed
requests for preliminary and permanent injunctions on September 23, 2003
and on April 28, 2004, claiming that Seven had misappropriated Visto’s
intellectual property. Although Judge John Ward denied Visto’s request
for a preliminary injunction today, on his own motion at the January 25,
2005 hearing, he moved the jury selection date from July 5, 2005 to June
29, 2005.

“The Texas Court’s decision to accelerate the trial date underscores the
fact that there will be a resolution very soon. The arguments made in
court were reinforcing, and by July we will have closure. The noose
around Seven’s neck just got tighter,” said Brian Bogosian, chairman,
president and CEO of Visto Corporation. “With over 21 patents worldwide,
Visto is setting the industry standard with secure synchronization
technologies that deliver performance, reliability and security. By
protecting our intellectual property against unauthorized use by
companies like Seven, with no patents of its own, we hope to foster a
creative environment where true innovation is rewarded.”

Visto asserts that Seven Networks, Inc. is infringing on six of its
patents. These six patents included in the legal action are: US patent
nos. 6,085,192 and 6,023,708, which describe systems and methods for
securely synchronizing multiple copies of a workspace element in a
network, and the use of a global translator to synchronize workspace
elements across a network. U.S. Patent No. 6,131,116, entitled “System
and Method for Globally Accessing Computer Services,” U.S. Patent No.
5,961,590, entitled “System and Method for Synchronizing Electronic Mail
Between a Client Site and a Central Site,” U.S. Patent No. 5,968,131,
entitled “System and Method for Securely Synchronizing Multiple Copies
of a Workspace Element in a Network,” and U.S. Patent No. 6,708,221,
entitled “System and Method for Globally and Securely Accessing Unified
Information in a Computer Network.”

About Visto

Visto is the leading global platform for mobile operators to provide
wireless push email to the broadest set of mobile devices. Visto’s open
solution enables email for the mass market, targeting large enterprises,
small businesses, mobile professionals and consumers. The company’s
Visto Mobile(TM) platform with patented ConstantSync(TM) technology
works in real time with POP3, IMAP, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino
email solutions for personal to enterprise use, providing maximum
control and flexibility for the operator and choice for the customer.
Visto’s customized, brandable solutions are available through mobile
operators worldwide including AT&T Wireless, Bell Mobility, KPN,
Manitoba Telecom Services, Nextel Communications, Inc., Rogers Wireless,
SaskTel Mobility, SmarTone and TELUS Mobility.

Established in 1996 and headquartered in Redwood Shores, California,
with offices in Seattle, London, Rome, Tokyo, Beijing and Tianjin,
China, Visto is backed by Oak Investment Partners, Draper Fisher
Jurvetson, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Meritech Capital Partners,
Rustic Canyon Ventures, Allegis Capital and Blueprint Ventures. For more
information, visit or email [email protected].

NOTE: Visto, the Visto logo, Visto Mobile, ConstantSync, WirelessInbox,
MessageXpress and Transcend Mail are either trademarks or registered
trademarks of Visto Corporation. All third-party trademarks, trade
names, or service marks are the property of their respective owners and
are used only to refer to the goods or services identified by those
third-party marks. Visto’s technology is protected by U.S. Patents
6,085,192; 5,968,131; 6,023,708; 5,961,590; 6,131,116; 6,151,606;
6,233,341; 6,131,096, 6,708,221 and 6,766,454. Other patents pending.

Source: Visto Corporation

From: Baghdasarian

LENT STARTS ON FEBRUARY 7 IN CONFORMITY WITH CALENDAR OF ARMENIAN
APOSTOLIC CHURCH

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4. ARMINFO. In conformity with the calendar of the
Armenian Apostolic Church, Lent starts on February 7. It will continue
to the Easter, which is fixed for March 27 this year, AAC Ararat
Diocese reports to ARMINFO.

Forty days of Lent symbolize the 40 days Jesus Christ spent in the
desert praying. On March 2, in the middle of Lent, traditional “gata”
(“cake”) is baked and coins are put in it. According to beliefs, who
finds the coin in “gata” he will be successful. Wedding and offering
ceremonies are banned in the period of Lent. However, Catholicos of
All Armenian Vazgen I allowed wedding at Armenian churches on
Saturdays and Sunday during Lent, excepting the days of Holy Week
(March 20-27).
From: Baghdasarian

The Messenger, Georgia
Feb 4 2005

Doctors call for release of former minister

Mirtskhulava’s condition requires medical attention impossible to
administer in prison hospital, they argue

By Mary Makharashvili

Doctors of Davit Mirtskhulava have said that the former chair of the
Energy Regulatory Commission needs permanent treatment that is
practically impossible to administer in the prison hospital.

The doctors gave evidence on behalf of Mirtskhulava at
Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi Regional Court on January 31, saying that his
current condition is very serious, and that he needs to be released
from prison so that he can receive the appropriate treatment. Doctor
Irakli Seria also declared that he would assist Mirtskhulava in
proving his innocence.

Despite his poor health, the former chair of the Energy Regulatory
Commission attended the court proceedings in the caged defendant’s
booth. Walking into the court room, he showed a serious limp, thought
to be a result of his ill health and a heart attack earlier this
year.

There he heard his lawyer Otar Gamkrelidze state that Mirtskhulava is
being detained illegally. “I think that he is an illegal prisoner as
the charge that Prosecutor’s Office has raised against him is not
proved based on the law and that is why there are so many violations
in this case,” said Gamkrelidze.

Another lawyer Eka Beselia commented on her colleague’s vast
experience, saying, “Gamkrelidze has directly said that he has never
heard of this kind of a thing during his years of legal practice,”
she said, adding that she has every confidence of proving her
client’s innocence.

However, while Prosecutor Kakha Machavariani said Mirtskhulava’s
lawyers were entitled to express their opinions, he also repeated the
charges facing Mirtskhulava: abuse of power and hiding secret
materials.

“He is accused of abuse of power while Georgian Minister of Fuel and
Energy, which the Prosecutor’s Office states seriously damaged the
country economically,” Eka Beselia explained to The Messenger.

In particular, the General Prosecutor’s Office named a contract
agreed with Armenergo during the period when Mirtskhulava was
minister, which the investigation claims is one-sided and
artificially increased Georgian Railway’s debt to Armenergo from USD
4 million to USD 6 million.

The investigation says that Mirtskhulava agreed to this in return for
certain benefits – namely, helping mediator company
Energomanqkorporatsia to embezzle 90 percent of the USD 6 million
transmitted from Georgian Railway. Georgia still had to pay the debt
as a result of the one-sided contract Mirtskhulava had signed.

As for the second charge against Mirtskhulava – that he took secret
materials relating to Georgia-Armenia criminal relationships from the
Energy Ministry and hid them in the office of the National Regulation
Commission – Beselia said that according to the legal documents could
only be considered as hidden if Mirtskhulava had kept them at his
private home or some other place besides the state structures.

Mirtskhulava is the first high ranking official from the Shevardnadze
administration whose case has come to court, as most others who have
been charged by the General Prosecutor’s Office have preferred to pay
money for their freedom.

The total sum that the Prosecutor’s Office requests Mirtskhulava pay
is over USD 2 million plus fines, but the former minister protests
his innocence, adding that he does not have enough money to buy his
way out of jail.

If the court finds Mirtskhulava guilty he faces twelve years
imprisonment, but as Beselia told The Messenger, they will not give
up and will fight to the end to prove the truth, even if the case
goes up to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg.
From: Baghdasarian