Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Twenty-five years after the devastating earthquake in Spitak

11:35 07.12.2013

December 7 marks the 25th anniversary of the destructive earthquake in
Spitak. The earthquake hit 40 % of the territory of Armenia, densely
populated region with 1 million people. The cities of Spitak,
Leninakan, Kirovakan and Stepanavan, as well as hundreds of villages
were totally or partially destroyed. Twenty-five thousand people were
killed, 500 thousand were left without shelter. 17% of the buildings
were destroyed, the work of 170 industrial companies was halted.

Immediately after the earthquake Armenians all over the world united
and offered comprehensive support to the Motherland. `SOS Armenie,’
`Aznavour for Armenia’ and tens of other organizations were created.
Many Diaspora Armenians rushed to Armenia, bringing food, clothes and
medicine.

Many of them – doctors, psychologists, constructors, architects –
stayed in Armenia and personally participated in the rescue works.

A number of countries of the world continued to support Armenia years
after the earthquake. Italians built a whole dwelling district in
Spitak, Norwegians built a hospital, which was named after great
humanist F. Nansen.

A school built by an Englishmen was opened in Gyumri. Prime Minister
of Great Britain Margaret Thatcher participated in the opening
ceremony.

Serzh Sargsyan awards Order of Honor to TV journalist Vladimir Solovyev

13:43 07/12/2013 » SOCIETY

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met prominent Russian TV journalist,
publicist and public figure Vladimir Solovyev on Friday.

Highly valuing great personal contribution of Vladimir Solovyev to the
development and strengthening of Armenian-Russian friendship, the
President awarded him the Order of Honor.

Vladimir Solovyev accepted the high state award with gratitude and
noted that he was very proud for being distinguished in such way.

The parties also spoke about the dynamically developing strategic
partnership between Armenia and Russia, steps aimed at further
strengthening the relations, including the Interregional Forum, which
took place recently as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
state visit to Armenia, which, according to the interlocutors, opens
new prospects for furthering relations between the two friendly
peoples, for the deepening and expansion of cooperation between
Armenia and Russia, the presidential press service reported.

Source: Panorama.am

REDUCING THE RISK OF 1988

Friday, December 6th, 2013

by Serouj Aprahamian

A coalition of organizations have come together under the auspices
of Oxfam in Armenia to overcome the potential risks posed by such
natural disasters as earthquakes.

BY SEROUJ APRAHAMIAN

Twenty five years ago, on December 7, 1988, a catastrophic earthquake
ripped through Armenia, decimating the town of Spitak and surrounding
areas. The quake left more than 25,000 people dead, 15,000 injured,
517,000 homeless, and $14.2 billion in economic damage.

But the horror of that day was just as much a result of human
negligence as it was natural causes. International experts concluded
that poor building construction, a lack of emergency planning, and
inadequate medical care were the main factors behind the earthquake’s
devastation.

This year, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the earthquake, a
coalition of organizations came together under the auspices of Oxfam
in Armenia to remember the victims of that tragedy and overcome the
potential risks posed by such natural disasters.

“I was only 13 years old and going to school in Gyumri when the
devastating earthquake took place,” says Zaruhi Tonoyan, Disaster Risk
Reduction (DRR) Program Officer for Oxfam. “I lost my sister that day.

We walked to school together but, unfortunately, never met again.”

Mrs. Tonoyan explains that many people, whether administrators or
students, simply did not know what to do back then. “By raising
awareness on disaster risk reduction, you automatically protect
yourself,” she stresses, “and I am thankful that, today, I can
contribute to making our communities less vulnerable to natural
disasters.”

On December 6, the Support to Communities NGO teamed up with Oxfam
to commemorate the earthquake anniversary with an emergency drill in
the Vayots Dzor community of Arpi. Working in conjunction with the
regional rescue department and volunteer community emergency groups,
the exercise involved the entire community in a mock earthquake
scenario. Residents directly played out how they would act during such
an emergency, carrying out evacuation plans, implementing first aid,
assisting trapped victims, and putting out fires.

They also worked with Oxfam on a local level, especially with women
and youth, to spread awareness and prepare communities to withstand
natural disasters. They have organized safety seminars in schools,
disseminated information, formed voluntary rescue groups, conducted
simulations and worked with local governments on risk assessments
and disaster management.

Other organizations such as the Armenian Young Women Association
(AYWA) and Foundation Against the Violation of Law (FAVL) have also
established green laboratories (houses) in ten communities throughout
Vayots Dzor province: Areni, Agarakadzor, Artabuynk, Arpi, Chiva,
Horbategh, Martiros, Getap, Yelpin, and Khatchik. These green labs
provide a source of non-traditional, resilient crops for local
communities to grow and withstand hazardous climatic conditions. A
culminating event will be held on December 12 to present their crop
yields and overview their activities throughout 2013.

Such climate adaptation measures are particularly important given
the scale of changes to the earth’s atmosphere. As a new report by
the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates, human
activity is leading to higher temperatures, rising sea levels, and a
greater frequency of meteorological hazards. For Armenia-a country
whose agricultural sector has been ravaged by hailstorms, floods,
and mudslides-such changing conditions pose dangerous risks.

Furthermore, experience has shown that inequality greatly exacerbates
the damage of disaster. The affluent tend to be protected from risks
while the less fortunate often bear the brunt of natural catastrophes.

It is for this reason that Oxfam and its partner organizations have
worked to address the needs of the most vulnerable populations,
including rural farmers, women, young people, and the elderly.

In any given year, Armenia faces a 20% chance of a major disaster.

This is due not only to its location on a major seismic belt but also
to its mountainous terrain. Taking preventive steps to make communities
resistant against such risks is both the morally and economically
right thing to do. Investing right now in proper infrastructure and
risk consciousness will pay off down the line when communities are
in less need of rebuilding and international disaster relief.

The 25th anniversary of the Spitak Earthquake should remind us all of
the importance of being resilient and prepared in the face of natural
catastrophe. If we truly want to commemorate that horrible tragedy,
we should not repeat the mistakes of 1988. We should support the
grassroots work being done to strengthen the capacity of communities
to deal with disaster risk in Armenia while advocating on the national
level to review policies and mainstream DRR procedures accordingly.

UN DEMANDS FROM AZERBAIJAN TO FULLY REALIZE HUMAN RIGHTS OF DISPLACED PERSONS IN SPITE OF THEIR “RIGHT TO RETURN”

Azerbaijan Business Center
Dec 6 2013

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Rashida Manjoo, UN Special Rapporteur on
violence against women, delivered the statement at the end of her
10-day mission to Azerbaijan.

She pointed out in her statement that during her mission she had the
opportunity to visit IDP settlements in Sumgayit and Qaradaq.

“The conflict in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region in 1992-1993,
which resulted in the occupation of 20% of Azerbaijani territory,
has had enormous consequences for the displaced communities. It is
estimated that approximately one million refugees and internally
displaced persons (IDPs) – Azerbaijanis from Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh – were forced to flee their homelands. Over half
were women and children. I share the concerns of the CEDAW Committee
(Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women) as regards the vulnerable and marginalized situation of
internally displaced communities, especially women and girls, and
the challenges of their current living conditions”, – Manjoo said.

She noted that the Government of Azerbaijan had made efforts to
address access to education, employment, health care, psychological
support and housing.

“Despite such efforts, I witnessed and heard distressing accounts
of hardships and the challenges of living in camps, dormitories and
‘hotel’ accommodation. I also heard about the distress of women from
“martyr families” who are still waiting for the return of their missing
family members. The political sensitivities in respect of the issue of
the “right to return” of Azerbaijani IDPs, to their regions of origin
which are now under occupation, or any other considerations, should not
deter the Government from further ensuring that these citizens enjoy
the promotion and protection of the full range of human rights, while
they wait for the resolution of the peace process”, – Manjoo said.

Her report will be presented to the United Nations Human Rights
Council in 2014.

RUSSIA IS ARMENIA’S LARGEST TRADING PARTNER

The Voice of Russia
Dec 6 2013

The key point in the Russia-Armenia trade story now is the upcoming
accession of Armenia to the Customs Union and the Common Economic
Space. The move was agreed on in early September when presidents of
the two states made a joint statement, which has been making headlines
ever since.

This week Russian President Vladimir Putin has paid an official visit
to Armenia to discuss further steps in this direction.

Russia is the biggest foreign investor in Armenia and its largest
trading partner. In 2012, bilateral trade grew 22% to reach $1.2
billion. Most trade has been imports to Armenia. In the first half
of this year, trade turnover between the two states grew over 11%
year-on-year to around $600 million.

The three-member Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus
was founded in 2010. The plan is to expand it into a so-called
“Eurasian Union”, uniting post-Soviet states like Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. It has been also suggested that
the body could include some other countries, historically or culturally
close, such as Finland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Vietnam,
Mongolia, Cuba and Venezuela.

Yerevan had great expectations of the country’s participation in
Eurasian integration.

“Armenia is linked with the Customs Union countries by thousands of
threads, one-third of our exports go to Russia,” Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan said at a meeting on the parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in October this year.

Russia’s accumulated investments in Armenia have already exceeded $3
billion, or nearly half of Armenia’s foreign investment. Some 1,300
Russian companies operate in the country. Officials say several big
players are expected to enter the Armenian market soon, bringing here
a great amount of investments. By 2020, the trade turnover between
Russia and Armenia is expected to grow up to 15% annually.

Read more:

ARMENIAN CUISINE IN RICHMOND HEIGHTS

WKSU Public Radio / Kent State University
Dec 6 2013

Shish kabob, stuffed grape leaves, pomegranate wine and more to
celebrate a rich cultural heritage by WKSU’s VIVIAN GOODMAN

In The Region:

As many as 1.5 million people perished in the World War I atrocity
known as the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

Today the Armenian diaspora extends as far as Argentina and Australia,
but the largest populations are in Russia and the United States.

Ohio’s first Armenian Church was established in Richmond Heights in
1962, and it’s the site every fall of a delicious celebration.

That’s where we’re headed for today’s Quick Bite.

SPITAK EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS STILL WAITING FOR HELP 25 YEARS ON

Deutsche Welle, Germany
Dec 6 2013

December 7 marks the 25th anniversary of the Spitak earthquake in
Armenia where some 24,000 people died. A quarter of a century later,
some 4,500 families are still living in makeshift shelters, waiting
for help.

It all happened on a Wednesday. At 11:41 on the morning of December 7,
1988, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the northern part of the then
Soviet Republic of Armenia. The effects were devastating.

“It was the most horrible thing I have ever seen in my life,” says
eyewitness Mania Grigoryan, who still lives in the area today. “There
was a river of blood in the street. I remember how they put the bodies
of the children in the streets. I cried so much. It’s been 25 years
but I remember it like it was yesterday.”

Grigoryan is used to hardship. At 93 she’s survived World War Two,
conflict against Azerbaijan in the 1990s and several earthquakes. Ever
since the 1988 Spitak quake she’s been forced to live in a tin
container that barely resembles a house.

“My life is hard,” she says. “You can’t really call it life. There
is no shower here, the toilet is out of order, there is no heat. How
is it possible to live here?”

Tough winters

The city of Gyumri still has infrastructure problems today, as a
result of the earthquake in 1988

Grigoryan says the winters are the worst. That’s when the average
temperature is at minus 10 degrees Celsius and she only has a small
gas portable stove to warm herself up. All the warmth in the house
comes from its small, blue flame.

Grigoryan’s tin house stands in one of the many shanty districts
scattered across the Armenian city of Gyumri, one of the cities
worst affected by the earthquake back in 1988. The muddy streets
are filled with rubbish. During the Soviet Union, the city was an
important industrial town, especially for textile production. Now it
is capital of the poorest region in Armenia.

Gayane Yenogian lives at the other end of the city. She was 22 years
old when the quake struck and was working in a local factory that day.

The building collapsed and she was lucky to get out in time, she says.

Yenogian also lives in a container, sometimes called a domik. In her
house, the windows are made of cheap plastic rather than glass.

“In the morning it’s freezing,” she says. “This is the main reason
for my health problems. My clothes are dirty because I need to carry
water to wash them and I don’t have money to buy detergent.”

Mountains of coffins: the death toll from the Spitak earthquake
was 24,000

Yenogian’s mother died in 2001. She believes that it was partly because
of the poor living conditions in the domik that she passed away.

Depleted public money

Yenogian and Gregoryan are just two of many residents in Gyumri who
are still waiting for a public apartment, promised to them after
they lost their houses in the quake. The Soviet Union built 4000
apartments before its collapse in 1991, and 20,000 more have been
built over the last 22 years. But it’s still not enough.

“The main infrastructure like electricity, water, schools and roads
were destroyed,” says Albert Margaryan, the regional head of Urban
Development in the Shirak province, of which Gyumri is the capital.

“We just did not have the financial conditions to go faster,” he says.

According to Margaryan, 3500 of those families still living in
temporary accommodation are not eligible to get an apartment, either
because they came from the villages to look for a job in the city,
or because they already had an apartment and sold it.

The latter applies to Sveta Gabryelian. The mother of two sold her
apartment because she needed the money to pay for eye surgery.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a memorial for victims of
the Spitak earthquake

Regional official Albert Margaryan says that some apartments will
still be built and given to people at lower prices and in accordance
with special conditions. But, until that happens there will still be
people dying in Armenia’s sub-zero winters, say local residents.

“When it’s very cold some people just go to sleep,” Sveta Gabryelian
explains. “In the morning, they are found frozen to death.”

DW.DE

AZERBAIJAN CONSULATE RAILS HIGHLAND OVER SUPPORT FOR NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC

Redlands Daily Facts, CA
Dec 6 2013

By Joe Nelson, San Bernardino Sun

HIGHLAND >> The Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles
is asking the city of Highland to rescind its recent proclamation
granting sister city status to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the
former Soviet Union.

In a letter dated Nov. 26, the Mayor of Berdzor City, in the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic also known as Artsakh, asked the city to
establish a “relationship of friendship and spiritual connection”
with the city and to “cooperate in the areas of culture, sport, and
education for the purpose of the preservation and exchange of mutual
Christian values.”

Highland Mayor Larry McCallon presented the request to the City
Council the same day, and the Council approved the request on a 4-0
vote. Councilwoman Penny Lilburn was absent from the meeting.

The following day, on Nov. 27, the Consulate General of Azerbaijan
in Los Angeles sent a letter to each City Council member, asking they
rescind the decision.

McCallom said Thursday he has no intention of doing so, and didn’t
have anything further to say on the matter.

The war-torn region of Berdzor City was rehabilitated by Armenian
Christian secessionists amid the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict. The
vegetation-lush region is the only non-recognized state that receives
humanitarian aid from the U.S., said Tereza Yerimyan, government
affairs director of the Armenian National Committee’s Western Region
office in Glendale.

The city of Los Angeles is also a sister city with the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic, and Fresno County and the states of California,
Maine, Massachussetts and Rhode Island have all adopted resolutions
recognizing the region as an independent state.

Yerimyan said the Christian Armenians have been violently oppressed by
the mostly Muslim Armenians of the Azerbaijan Republic, a conflict that
dates back to the Nagorno-Karabakh War in the early 1990s following
the dissolving of the Soviet Union. Berdzor City’s push to attain
sister city relationships with municipalities across the U.S.

is an attempt at building bridges, Yerimyan said.

“It’s a way of uniting and potentially encouraging trade, and a
way of also recognizing the fact that Artsakh is also independent,”
Yerimyan said Thursday. “It does not in any way, shape or form have
any Soviet remnants left in it. It’s truly a partner for the U.S.”

The Consulate General of Azerbaijan, however, maintains that
the Armenian lobby has been preying on the ignorance of local
municipalities, getting them to ratify sister city agreements with
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in order to establish credibility as an
independent nation. But the region is internationally recognized as
part of the Azerbaijan Republic, and the U.S. doesn’t even recognize
the area as an independent state.

“This is part of the strategy pursued by the Armenian lobby to get
credibility for the illegal regime that was established by Armenia
following its invasion of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized
territory,” said Rafig Rustamov, vice consul for the for the Consulate
General’s office in Los Angeles, on Thursday.

And though Yerimyan says the warring Azerbaijanis have been oppressive
and violent, Rustamov said the seceding Armenians have invaded 20
percent of Azerbaijan’s territory and expelled 800,000 Azerbaijans
from their homes and land.

“The U.N. Security Council harshly condemned this invasion with four
resolutions,” Rustamov said.

Highland Councilwoman Jody Scott was surprised when she heard the news
Thursday. She said she never recieved the letter from the Azerbaijan
Consulate, but planned to look into the matter and request that the
it be brought back before the City Council for further discussion.

“If that’s the case I’m a little bit ticked off because I went down
to City Hall Tuesday morning and cleaned out my mailbox, and there
was no letter from this Consulate,” Scott said.

Scott said she e-mailed City Manager Joe Hughes on Thursday and asked
about the letter from the Consulate. He said it was in her mailbox
at city Hall, Scott said. She said she plans to address the matter
at Tuesday’s Council meeting.

“I’m going to question the action that was taken and why it was made,”
Scott said.

When she approved the item on Nov. 26, she said she only asked whether
there would be any financial impact to the city (there isn’t), but
nothing else.

“I didn’t question anything else, and I should have,” Scott said.

“What do we know about this Republic? That’s the question I am going
to ask.”

Rustamov said the Consulate letter was sent on Nov. 27 to each
Councilmember via regular mail, e-mail and fax.

While not officially recognized, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic serves
as an excellent example of successful Democracy, which makes the
Azerbaijani response all the more upsetting, Yerimyan said.

“It’s such a dirty trick to attack something like this,” said
Yerimyan. “These people have fought for their freedom, just like how
(Americans) fought for their freedom in the U.S. They (Azerbaijanis)
need to move on.”

IRAN CLAIMS TO THWART AZERBAIJANI CULTURAL IMPERIALISM AT UNESCO

States News Service
December 5, 2013 Thursday

PRAGUE, Czech Republic

Host Azerbaijan walks away a winner from this week’s UNESCO conference
on “intangible cultural heritage,” successfully enlisting “urgent”
help to preserve an archaic form of polo played on short-legged
Karabakh horses.

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization committee’s
listing of “chovqan” recognizes that the sport’s continuity is
“at risk” from a dwindling number of practitioners, precious little
interest among young people, and urbanization.

It also recognizes the Azerbaijani state’s role in safeguarding
chovqan.

As it turns out, that doesn’t sit so well with neighboring Iran,
which claims the game — rendered “chogan” — as Persian.

Here’s a video report on Iranian efforts to “revive an ancient Persian
sport…that dates back to thousands of years ago:”

It’s not the money that’s at issue here, since there’s no direct
funding attached to the “List of Intangible Cultural Heritage In Need
Of Urgent Safeguarding.”

It’s the principle.

So, as Baku was winning the battle for headlines, Tehran’s envoys
were busy wringing backroom concessions out of Azerbaijan and
the committee on behalf of Iran’s Western Azerbaijan and Eastern
Azerbaijan provinces, as well as a silent coterie of purported chogan
practitioners in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

While the UNESCO press release on December 3 referred only to “a
traditional horse-riding game in the Republic of Azerbaijan,” the
“Tehran Times” the next day quoted an Iranian official as claiming
victory.

“The efforts made by the Iranian delegation at the meeting convinced
Azerbaijan to officially acknowledge verbally and in writing the fact
that chogan is not an Azeri game,” the director of the Department
for Registration of Natural, Historical, and Intangible Heritage at
Iran’s Culture Ministry, Farhad Nazari, said.

He added that the two heavily ethnic Azeri provinces in northwestern
Iran — West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan — had been described by
Baku as “south Azerbaijan.”

“It is through a trick that they presented South Azerbaijan as part
of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s territory and they even presented
some historical evidence to this effect,” Iran’s semiofficial Fars
News Agency reported.

On the eve of the UN vote, Fars had come right out and accused Baku of
having tried “various means of international deception to register
the Iranian game ‘chogan’ with UNESCO as Azerbaijani heritage,”
concluding that “Their methods demonstrate the greed of that country.”

Fars went on:

Their action is against the UN fundamental principles of territorial
integrity. It is not the first time that Iran’s neighbouring countries
claimed the possession of Iran’s cultural heritage; for example their
claims for Molana [Jalal-e-Din Mohammad Molavi Rumi, 13th-century
poet] and Nezami [Ganjavi (Azeri: Nizami Gancavi), 12th-century poet]
and now their claim over the Persian game of Chogan. They even use
our territories as their evidence.

But cooler heads appear to have prevailed at the UNESCO meeting,
and documents were amended after Iranian protests, Nazari said.

A further compromise was reportedly reached.

Iran “can also apply for registration of Iranian chogan on the list,”
Nazari said. “In addition, UNESCO experts in the meeting agreed
that chogan would be registered as a multinational element on the
UNESCO list.”

Still, for now, it’s “chovqan” that gets the UN’s urgent assistance.

The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible
Cultural Heritage meets annually to examine requests for inclusion on
the UNESCO lists and steer efforts to protect such cultural activities.

ARMENIE
La stabilité mentale de Shant Harutyunyan remise en question

Le chef d’un parti politique nationaliste obscur, qui il y a quelques
semaines avait lancé un sit-in dans le centre de Erevan et avait
ensuite tenu une marche de protestation avec ses partisans sera envoyé
vers un institut psychiatrique au motif qu’il est mentalement
instable. Des militants des droits de l’homme affirment qu’il n’y a
aucune raison pour une telle décision de justice et affirment que les
autorités ont recours à des tactiques de l’époque soviétique pour
faire taire un critique.

La juridiction de droit commun des régions administratives de Kentron
et Nork Marash, lors d’une l’audience à huis clos mardi a satisfait la
requête de l’organisme d’enquête de faire un examen médico-légal de la
santé mentale à Shant Harutyunyan chef du parti Tseghakron et a décidé
de le muter au centre mental de Noubarachen pendant deux mois pour
cette fin.

Shant Harutyunyan, 48 ans, ancien accusé dans « l’affaire des sept »,
a poursuivi un sit-in palce de la liberté pendant plusieurs jours et a
rejoint la marche « Million Mask March » qui comprenait des gens
portant des masques de thétre Guy Fawkes Day à Erevan. Ce qui était
initialement annoncé comme une marche pacifique pour demander la paix,
la justice, la démocratie, la transparence et la liberté a tourné à la
violence alors que les manifestants utilisaient des explosifs et des
btons fabriqués à la main pour affronter les forces de sécurité.
Harutyunyan avait déclaré avant la marche que son objectif était la
résidence présidentielle. Environ 200 manifestants ont été accueillis
par la police anti-émeute et plus de trois douzaines ont été arrêtés à
la suite de la bagarre ; 20 détenus,dont Harutyunyan parmi eux, ont
plus tard été mis en état d’arrestation.

Artur Sakunts membre du bureau de Vanadzor de l’Assemblée des citoyens
d’Helsinki a dit ArmeniaNow que le tribunal a utilisé comme motif pour
interner Harutyunyan le fait qu’après le 1er Mars 2008, il a été
détenu dans une plainte pénale avait été déposée contre lui et
l’examen de sa santé mentale demandée.

« Je ne vois pas pourquoi l’enquêteur a pris la précédente examen de
santé mentale d’Harutyunyan dans les motifs de sa motion. Harutyunyan
a dit clairement tous ses plans, bien réalisé ce qu’il faisait, il
était également bien conscients de toutes les conséquences possibles,
à partir de cette perspective, cela s’inscrit dans la logique d’une
persécution politique » a-t-il dit ajoutant qu’il n’a pas encore été
prouvé que Shant Harutyunyan a en effet utilisé la violence contre un
agent de police.

Selon Sakunts, l’avocat de Harutyunyan devrait protester contre la
décision du tribunal, cependant, il a dit que Shant Harutyunyan n’est
pas disposé à faire des recours dans le domaine judiciaire, parce que
le côté juridique n’est pas pertinent pour lui, car c’est un guerrier
de l’idéologie.

Le défenseur des droits de l’homme a dit que de cette façon un
individu est privé de son droit à la liberté d’expression, a été
présenté au public comme ayant une déficience intellectuelle, ce qui
est très typique de la façon dont les questions ont été traitées
durant la période soviétique.

« L’un des scénarios possibles est de déclarer Harutyunyan comme
quelqu’un ayant un trouble mental, donc mentalement incompétent ; la
poursuite pénale sera suspendue, mais ils pourraient lui attribuer un
traitement médical obligatoire. En conséquence Harutyunyan se verrait
refuser toute présence devant une cour et n’aurait pas la chance de
présenter ses positions, ce qui est la pire chose qui puisse se
produire pour une personnalité politique » a-t-il dit.

Par Gohar Abrahamian

ArmeniaNow

samedi 7 décembre 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com