Author: Boshkezenian Garik

DEFENSE IN BABAJANIAN TRIAL ACCUSES PROSECUTORS OF “MAKING UP CLAIMANT”
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug. 31, 2006
The defense counsel for “Yerevan Zhamanak” newspaper editor Arman
Babajanian on trial for draft evasion and forgery on Thursday
challenged the integrity of the prosecution claiming that the case
against his client was started on the basis of a non-existing person’s
statement.
His remarks followed a statement by presiding judge Mnatsakan
Martirosian who read out a letter of whom investigators presented as
citizen A. Khachatrian, who had allegedly prompted the Prosecutor’s
Office that her neighbor, Arman Babajanian, was evading military
service.
Robert Grigorian, defending, said the letter did not bear a signature
and the prosecutors did not bother to verify its authenticity.
Zhanna Kotikian, prosecuting, objected to the defense’s claims,
saying that the letter had been properly signed, with the first
and last names of the person. “It is your fault that you did not
make sure that all measures were taken to identify the person and
establish where that person lived. The person may have changed the
place of residence by now,” she said.
Lawyer Grigorian later said to RFE/RL that he had checked with
Babajanian’s neighbors and established that the person the prosecutors
allude to in fact does not exist. “We checked that Babajanian didn’t
have a neighbor by this name. Investigators know well this requirement
of the law and they didn’t even try to look for this person. They
are breaking the law deliberately,” he said.
During the previous court sitting the editor of the “Yerevan Zhamanak”
newspaper pleaded guilty to the accusations of draft evasion.
Prosecutors say Babajanian stole and forged in 2002 legal documents
belonging to the family of a former friend living in the United States
to illegally avoid compulsory military service in Armenia.
According to their indictment read out in a Yerevan district court,
the documents included the marriage certificate of Vahe Abovian and his
wife Armine as well as the birth certificates of their two children.
Under Armenian law, young men under the age of 27 who have at least
two children are exempt from the two-year military duty. Babajanian,
30, studied at an Armenian religious seminary and had his service
deferred until 2001 before moving to California in 1998.
But while admitting to the forgery charge, Babajanian insisted that
he did not steal the documents from the Abovians. He claimed that
the latter willingly provided them to him.
On Thursday, Yerevan’s lower court heard the testimony of Armine
Arakelian.
She confirmed that Babajanian had forged the marriage certificate
and birth certificates for two children, but she denied having any
knowledge of how and for what purposes he did that. She confirmed
that she was never married to Babajanian and that her only husband
is Vahe Abovian. She also denied having a daughter named Anzhela
Arakelian as Babajanian’s documents present.
The court also read out witnesses’ testimony. In particular, Yerevan’s
Shengavit military enlistment office worker Tigran Harutiunian and
military commissioner Karen Khachatrian said they trusted Babajanian’s
mother who introduced herself as an employee of the presidential staff.
Khachatrian said in 2004 Babajanian’s mother produced a certificate
according to which her son studied in the United States, was married
to a women in the U.S. and had two children.
The court completed the examination of evidence and will proceed with
pleadings on September 4.

PRESIDENT IS AGAINST FOR TWO REASONS
Lragir.am
30 Aug 06
The rumors that Robert Kocharyan is for the 100 percent proportional
system of election are not true, said Victor Soghomonyan, the speaker
of president August 30. Victor Soghomonyan says Robert Kocharyan has
two reasons to be against it.
“I will give two reasons. First, the political forces forming
government today, which the news reporters call coalition after
certain changes, met and came to an arrangement on the present
correlation. I mean the 90/41 format. And the president is against
breaking arrangements,” says Victor Soghomonyan.
According to him, the president is also against 100 percent
proportional system of elections because the political sphere is
still imperfect. Victor Soghomonyan says the president thinks it
is wrong to rip off the member of parliament from the voter, which
can be sustained by the majority system of election with the current
imperfect political sphere. “And this figure enables having members of
parliament elected from constituencies who will have direct contact
with their voters,” says the speaker of the president of Armenia,
hinting at the provision on 41 members of parliament elected under
the majority system foreseen by the Electoral Code reform.

PROPERTY OF TOP OFFICIALS CHECKED
Panorama.am
16:33 29/08/06
Armenian Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan is on a trip to Paris to
participate in a conference. Most probably he will be back on August
31. Sources say that Hovsepyan had met with President Robert Kocharyan
prior to his departure to Paris, who assigned him to make an inventory
of property of some top officials in Armenia. Our sources say that
prosecutor’s office employees are engaged in such transactions at
the moment. Such information is interesting in the context of rumors
about resignation of Nature Protection Minister Vartan Aivazyan. Most
probably the authorities are checking the credits of people on the
same boat before the elections.

EastsideBoxing.com
Aug. 25, 2006
Arthur Abraham Interview: “I don’t wish Miranda’s childhood on
anybody!”
25.08.06 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: Last Saturday, I spoke with the
IBF Middleweight champion Armenian, Arthur Abraham, effectively a
week before what was to be the second defense of his title against
Colombian, Edison Miranda. As it turns out, this Saturday we will not
have the chance to see the bout due to the champion coming down with
the flu (Author’s note: the interview took place before the fight was
cancelled).
Leading up to the bout, which as of today is scheduled for September
23rd, there were many verbal jabs and hooks traded between both camps
in order to spice up the interest and the bout. However, after
speaking with Arthur this past week, I feel this is more a matter of
competitive hostility rather than all out animosity. Hopefully, the
fight will come off successfully and Arthur gets better fast.
ESB: Good Evening, Arthur! How is it going? What’s new in your life?
Arthur: Evening! Everything is ok. I just finished training for the
fight and I will rest a bit now.
ESB: How was the training?
Arthur: Everything was great. Good sparring partners, gave me a good
work out, I listened to my trainer a lot and now I am just ready to
fight and to win.
ESB: Who did you spar with and how many rounds did you go?
Arthur: With Ashira, with Stepjan Bozic, and a third guy, a Russian,
but I forgot his name. Bozic is Croatian and he is a good fighter,
too. I did about 6-8, depending on the day, something like that.
ESB: Often times, many fighters say it is harder to defend a title
than to win it. Do you think the fight with Jantuah was harder than
with Ikeke?
Arthur: Yeah, of course. Slavik, this is absolutely true, it is
extremely difficult. It is hard to win the title of course but to
hold it, is even harder. Jantuah was my toughest fight and he was
very uncomfortable as an opponent.
ESB: Some of our readers want to know, if when you were fighting
Jantuah, was it your plan to fight all 12 rounds or was it a matter
of what he was doing?
Arthur: I don’t have plans of this nature. You can’t determine what
the result of any given fight will be beforehand and say, ‘I want a
KO or a points win.’ Everybody wants a first round knockout but this
is quite rare. It all depends on your opponent and the tactics he
uses and you can only truly see that when you are in the ring with
him.
ESB: What are yours plans going be for the week before the fight?
Arthur: Oh, the usual: press conferences, light training, weigh-in
and that is it, the fight. The most important thing is the fight.
ESB: Regardless of the result, what plans do you have after the
fight? What will you do? Will you go home, maybe?
Arthur: I have no plans really, cause I am just too focused on the
fight. As far as going home, yeah, I will go for a few days, then my
dad will come here. My mom is already here.
ESB: Will Alex go, too?
Arthur: No, he will stay. I will go for only about a week.
ESB: How are negotiations going with Jermain Taylor and HBO? Any new
details?
Arthur: Sure, that is still happening, my promoter Wilfried Sauerland
is handling this, as usual. Of course, I can only think one step
ahead. I want to face them all but only one at a time. As we say,
‘The quieter the ride, the longer the distance.’ (Laughing)
ESB: (Laughing)
Arthur: Yeah, if everything will go ok, then next year, I will
probably be fighting in America. It’s possible that Jermain Taylor
will be the opponent, although that is what I know things can and do
change.
ESB: Did you watch Jermain Taylor vs. Winky Wright? Who did you think
won?
Arthur: Of course! And I think Wright won. I didn’t score it but I
thought he looked stronger.
ESB: Well, then, that begs the question, if you think he won, then
why not try to fight him or is it harder to agree to terms there?
Arthur: It’s very simple, actually, because whoever the champion is,
he’s the guy I want to fight. I want to become the “Super” champ, you
know?
ESB: I understand. Well, why do you think Felix Sturm lost to
Castillejo? Are there any negotiations with Castilejo?
Arthur: Felix lost because he chose the wrong tactic. He wanted to
brawl with him but he is not a brawler; rather, he’s a technical
boxer and so he lost.
ESB: Are you acquainted with Felix Sturm?
Arthur: Of course, we speak often. Maybe we aren’t friends, so to
say, but we are well acquainted.
ESB: Did he say something in regards to his loss?
Arthur: No, and really a week after the fight, his mother died, so he
is in mourning now and he is not talking much. It’s hard to talk
about that, you know?
ESB: I understand. Would you want to fight Castillejo?
Arthur: For me, it’s not that interesting and Jermain Taylor is the
better fight. Although he (Castillejo) is the champion now, so it is
possible. However, he has a rematch clause with Sturm in his
contract, so it would be difficult to set up in the near future.
ESB: Why do you think Miranda is trying to insult you so much?
Arthur: Really? well, what did he say this time?
ESB: Oh, you know, the usual, ‘I will knock him out,’ and so forth.
Arthur: How many times has one guy said, “I will knock him out and
then ended up being knocked out themselves?” I am not that kind of
person; If I say something, then I will do it. If not, then after I
do it, I will talk. I try not to throw words out into thin air. Let
him talk cause when he will feel one of my punches, then everything
else becomes irrelevant and he is thinking about something else.
ESB: Do you think it is a psychological ploy?
Arthur: Nah, he is not that big to do that. Nobody has ever done it
to me, anyway (laughing).
ESB: Maybe it’s a way to market the fight to the public and to
entertain them?
Arthur: Well, if he is the kind of guy who likes to entertain the
public with his mouth, then it will be interesting. I would rather
try to entertain the public with my skill in the ring.
ESB: They say Miranda had a difficult childhood. How does your own
stack up?
Arthur: Everybody has their own difficulties and problems in life.
Mine was not as difficult as his and I don’t wish Miranda’s childhood
on anybody. I had my share of problems but I don’t want to talk about
them now. Thank God everything is ok now, and we are living well, and
we have everything we need.
My childhood was normal. Good family, hard working parents, and so
on. We studied sports from an early age, about 7, Karate then before
that Gymnastics. We never had issues with our parents and we still
live with them together in the same house.
ESB: Yeah, relative to say, Roy Jones Jr. or Floyd Mayweather Jr.,
this seems rare.
Arthur: Yeah, we love them very much, and my brother and I said, they
shall not work anymore and we will do everything we can so they live
well. We bought them cars, a house and everything else they may need.
ESB: What kind of cars?
Arthur: Mercedes
ESB: Weren’t they going to move to Germany?
Arthur: Yeah, well, mom is here now and dad will come soon on
September 11th, cause mom’s birthday is coming up. I wanted them to
come after the fight because they don’t like to watch my bouts.
ESB: Wish her well from us. Recently in another interview, you said
Miranda has no real strengths as a fighter. However, against Eastman,
he won via knockout and you by points. Do you think he is a stronger
puncher than you?
Arthur: Probably, he is a stronger puncher, but a tractor is also
stronger than a BMW, but who is better on the road?
ESB: (laughing) Nicely put.
Arthur: Exactly, because in the ring, the winner will be the guy
whose head works better, not who can swing the hardest. The smarter
guy will win.
ESB: Yeah, sort of like that big, fat, white guy, Butterbean. Have
you seen him?
Arthur: Of course, if you don’t let him hit you, he doesn’t know how
to win.
ESB: How are things with your brother? Anything new about his next
fight?
Arthur: Yeah, he will fight on the 23rd of September here in Germany
and is training now to be in good form. Nothing is known about his
next fight but it will be somebody good we hope.
ESB: He will be at the fight right? Will he be in your corner?
Arthur: Of course, I can’t fight without him. It is very important
for him to be there because he often notices little details about the
opponent. He won’t be in the corner though as that is the trainer’s
job, but when I am on the stool, I can only hear his voice or the
voice of my trainer.
ESB: Which boxers do you communicate with most often in your free
time?
Arthur: Mostly with our guys, Markus Beyer, Marco Huk, Pablo
Hernandez. That is our group and we are like friends. We celebrate
almost all our events together.
ESB: How about Artur Grigorian? He is a trainer now I think.
Arthur: Yeah, we meet up a few times a year and keep in touch.
ESB: How about the Armenian, Vahtang “Vic” Darchinyan?
Arthur: Of course, and he is a great guy. We competed together for
the Armenian national team in Erevan and played cards often
(laughing). He is a great boxer and a great person.
ESB: Did you watch the Rahman vs. Maskaev fight? Do those sorts of
bouts motivate you to fight harder sometimes?
Arthur: I didn’t watch it but heard that Maskaev won by KO. I usually
watch other fighters, like Barrera and Morales, and each one has
their own style. For instance, I could never fight like Roy Jones
Jr., or Mike Tyson, but I can take little things from any good
fighter.
As far as seeing them being real men and showing their character in
hard situations, yeah, this is a good stimulator for me.
ESB: Any predictions for the fight with Miranda?
Arthur: Predictions? Well, my prediction is I will win but by points
or KO, that I don’t know (laughing).
ESB: What do you want to say in closing to your fans and viewers?
Arthur: I want to tell the viewers that they will hear a lot more
about me and will see many more great things as well. I don’t box for
myself I box for my fans and supporters.
ESB: Arthur, thanks for your time. I wish you all the best and that
you will be able to come out victorious.
Arthur: Thanks! Until next time.
ESB: Sure and hopefully I can offer up my congrats by then. Good Bye.
I want to thank Heiko Mallwitz for setting up the interview and once
again I hope Arthur will get better soon and this fight will be
rescheduled sometime in the near future.

Panorama.am
14:33 25/08/06
5000 AZERI SOLDIERS STARVED TO DEATH: INDEPENDENT POLITICAL SCIENTIST
“The allocations made to the Azerbaijani army are aimed to close
the eyes of the public,” Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan, an independent
political scientist, told a press conference today. He referred to a
Bulgarian member of parliament who has reportedly said at the European
Parliament that more than 5000 soldiers have died at the Azerbaijani
army since 1994 from starvation and diseases.
In the words of Melik-Shahnazaryan, the allocated funds stay at
the army for one month and after that return to the pocket of the
person who has made them. The political scientist says that the Azeri
leadership is composed of tats. He also says the financial leadership
is made up of kurds and the defense minister is lezgi by nationality.
The political scientist assured that Azerbaijan made a purchase
of weapons costing $900 million from Ukraine and Belarus, which,
he says, is a metal scrap. Melik-Shahnazaryan said the purchased
weapons belonged to Russia and the latter sold to third countries
because they were useless. The dream of Azerbaijan to become a strong
state does not come to reality even at the expense of oil dollars,
Melik-Shahnazaryan said. /Panorama.am/

CMD HEAD IS READY TO ANNOUNCE JIHAD FOR RELEASING AZERBAIJAN’S OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Author: S.Agayeva
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
“I am ready to announce jihad for the release of Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories,” the chairman of the Caucasian Moslem Department (CMD)
Sheykhiruslam Haji Allahshukur Pashazade told on August 23 at the
pres-conference in Baku, Trend reports.
“I think that the time will show it, but the potential of peaceful
talks haven’t used fully used yet,” Sheykhiruslam told. According to
him, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict takes a key place during his meetings
with high-ranked officials of many countries. Most of them fully
support our position and express their readiness to assist Azerbaijan
in settling Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Sheykhiruslam underlined.

WARM GOODBYES RENDERED TO AMBASSADOR EVANS
Panorama.am
15:07 22/08/06
John Evans, U.S. ambassador to Armenia, is going to leave the country
in the first half of September, the ambassador told reporters today
at the Guard Troops Training Center.
The ambassador refrained from commenting on the recent decision of the
Senate. The Armenian nation will remember ambassador Evans as a brave
personality who had the civil courage to tell the truth by calling
the anti-Armenian atrocities of 1915 as Genocide. The ambassador
took this step despite of the fact that President George W. Bush and
U.S. Department of State, in the face of Condoleezza Rice, continue
the double-nature attitude by using words like “tragic incidents,”
“massacres” in their April 24 addresses.
It is clear that John Evans’s mission ends in Armenia exactly
because of the abovementioned statement, which was not forgiven by
the official Washington. On the other hand, it is difficult to say
if Armenia will say “welcome” to Hoagland, who is nominated as the
next U.S. ambassador, especially if we consider talks that he is
bisexual.

137 737 PEOPLE RESIDE IN NAGORNO KARABAKH
ArmRadio.am
22.08.2006 15:05
The number of the permanent population in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
totals 137 737 people, MEDIAMAX Agency informs.
NKR National Statistical Service informs that these are the final
results of the census carried out in October 2005.
48.3 % percent of the NKR population are men, 51.7 % are women. The
number of urban and rural population is 47% and 53% respectively. 49
986 people reside in capital Stepanakert.

A UNIVERSITY TALE PERFORMED BY ELITE STUDENTS
Aram Zakaryan
Lragir.am
21 Aug 06
Article 27 of the reformed constitution of Armenia providing for
the right to receive and get information concerns even journalists
and even on holidays. This is the reason why on the next day of
the international day of the youth I appeared in the summer camp
of Dilijan of Yerevan State University with the group headed by the
permanent coordinator of the UN in Armenia Consuelo Vidal. The deputy
rector of YSU Aram Simonyan and the deputy minister of culture Arthur
Poghosyan were supposed to come but only Arsen Karamyan was showed
up, who is the deputy of the rector of YSU generally and a student
in distant learning particularly.
The UN representatives were likely to speak about how to battle poverty
together. And they did. They repeated for a number of times that
in settling the problems of the youth the voice of young people and
therefore their involvement is especially important. They said young
people in Armenia have a considerable potential, which is not used,
however, because there is no involvement. They said it is wrong to
think that poverty existed and will exist forever. In the diplomatic
language this means that today’s oligarchs are not forever and will not
rob till the end of time. They said they are ready to help the Armenian
youth to become established if they know what they expect from the UN.
And the expectations of young people – questions – were addressed
to Arsen Karamyan. It means that the new leadership of YSU does not
spoil students with frequent appearances. And Arsen Karamyan like the
UN representatives called for activity. He agreed with the students
that there are inappropriate phenomena in YSU but he preferred
milder words. For instance, in answer to one of the students that
“all the places of the master’s course were sold” Arsen Karamyan said,
“those who do not deserve are admitted to the master’s course”.
If Serge Sargsyan, the chair of the Council of the Republican Party,
promised visible changes in 3 or 4 months, Arsen Karamyan, a member
of the managing board of YSU led by Serge Sargsyan promises visible
changes in three years only. One of the changes that Arsen Karamyan
endorses is reduction of the number of students. Since everything
in Armenia is elite, building materials, buildings, mineral water,
taxis, except quality life and mentality, in case Arsen Karamyan’s
dream comes true, “we will have 8 000 elite students instead of 13
thousand students”. “We’re fed up with this word elite,” whispered
a student. And Arsen Karamyan assures that his wish to reduce the
number of students does not have anything to do with the reality that
the defense minister is the head of the managing board of YSU.
During the meeting in Dilijan it became known that the permanent
coordinator of the UN Consuelo Vidal knows us very well. In Peru,
which is 40 times larger than Armenia and the population is 6-7 times
more than that of Armenia, a university diploma is a special status.
“The Armenians are university addicts,” I recalled this remark of my
colleague when Consuelo Vidal from Peru remembered the traditions and
mentality of her country. And Arsen Karamyan continued presenting a
beautiful future, bad specialists will not be admitted, universities
training bad specialists will be removed, the reduction of the number
of students will lead to reduction of the number of university
teachers, but the sad experience of lay-offs in schools will not
repeat, job announcements will be placed on the Web site of YSU for
students. “Job announcements are false,” announced a student who has
a job. Nobody rejected. The UN is ready to make investments in the
basic institutions of education and health and also explain to our
university addicts that a person might as well be happy without a
university education.
Unfortunately, our students were not active and became active along
with the sunrise. When the sun was high in the sky, the time for the
meeting was over. I returned to Yerevan leaving behind students who
were not encouraged by this meeting, the meeting that was over and
a university tale starting anew.

Radio Polonia, Poland
Aug. 18, 2006
A turn for the worse
German-Polish relations turn sourer still; Ukrainians working without
a permit in Poland; and illegal betting on the internet are just some
of the stories in the Polish current affairs magazines.
Reviewed by Krysia Kolsowska
18.08.06
“A turn for the worse”, writes Solidarnosc, a weekly of the
Solidarity trade union, commenting on the current state of
Polish-German relations. They took another plunge recently over an
exhibition mounted in Berlin about expulsions in the 20th century.
Poland argues that the exhibition puts an equality mark between the
suffering of Armenians or ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and
post-war deportations of Germans from Eastern Europe under the
decisions of the allied powers.
This is an offense to Poles, victims of the war started by Germany.
If such false analogies gain an official status, then the Germans
themselves will not be able to understand the horror of the last war,
says Solidarnosc. Erica Steinbach, president of the German expellees
union, is entering the center of German politics. The exhibition
sponsored by her organization was mounted in a prestigious place and
its opening was graced by many leading German personalities. This is
why Poles are alarmed. A spirit of historical manipulation has been
revived, something which should worry German people most. That was
Solidarnosc.
The weekly Polityka writes that a day after Erica Steinbach opened
the exhibition about expulsions, renowned German writer and Nobel
literary prize winner Guenter Grass revealed that he had served in
notorious Waffen SS units towards the end of the war. The weekly
recalls that five years ago, Grass published a novel on how the
Soviets sunk a ship evacuating Germans trapped by the Red Army in
East Prussia, killing over 9 thousand of its passengers, more than a
half of them children. By doing this he drew attention to the tragedy
of German refugees.
Now he is giving a clear signal to the Germans that they should stop
pretending: don’t cheat ourselves now that we are old, because at a
young age the majority of us believed in Nazism and had some share in
it. But the weekly writes also that without Polish-German dialogue
our mutual neighbourhood is threatened by provincial egocentrism and
the loss of empathy with neighbouring nations.
Newsweek reports that as many as 100,000 people from non-EU Ukraine
may be working in Poland without a permit. Only about 3 thousand are
employed legally. This will soon change, Poland’s labor ministry
plans to issue a regulation in the autumn enabling citizens of
neighbouring countries to work legally in this country. Today
Ukrainians who come to Poland find employment as manual workers.
Women, who may be teachers, nurses or accountants back home, work as
cleaners, child minders and cooks. Men usually work at construction
sites.
Their earnings are poor and cases of cheating by employers are not
that rare. Analysts sound an alarm that the Polish economy badly
needs immigrant labor today. Cheap workers from the East will fill a
gap on the market and contribute taxes to state coffers. Perhaps the
best example for Poland should be the economic boom experienced by
Ireland in the past decade also thanks to immigrant workers, Newsweek
points out.
Wprost publishes the list of Poland’s fifty richest politicians,
which is opened by 42 year old Janusz Palikot, a deputy of the
opposition liberal Civic Platform who declared to be worth 330
million zlotys. Palikot became involved in politics already as a very
wealthy man.
He became millionaire in the 90s, starting with production of wooden
cases for transporting alcohol and then moving on to alcohol
production. A completely different approach is represented by his
party colleague and now deputy to the European Parliament, Pawel
Piskorski. He was elected MP at the age of 23, even before graduating
from university. He made 1.7 million zlotys during his political
career, drawing many a suspicious look even from his party
colleagues.
Polish politicians, writes Wprost, tend to regard income statements
as a necessary evil, whereas revealing assets could be beneficial for
their political careers. People would perhaps be more willing to vote
for politicians who can prove what the sources of their income are,
than those who talk all the time about how little they own, says
Wprost.
Though it is illegal in Poland, around 200,000 Poles visit bookmakers
on the web, writes the weekly Przekroj reporting on studies conducted
by the Inter-active Market Research Institute. During the world
soccer championships, the number of Poles making bets through the net
rose more than 120 percent. Bookmakers admit unofficially that their
profits in Poland are smaller than in other countries because Poles
tend to win more often than representatives of other nations.