Author: Khondkarian Raffi

JAVIER SOLANA CONGRATULATED THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE AND URGED ALL THE POLITICAL FORCES TO ACT "IN A RESPONSIBLE WAY"

Mediamax
February 21, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Secretary General of the European Union Council
Javier Solana congratulated the Armenian people "on holding orderly
and competitive presidential elections".

Mediamax reports that the statement of Javier Solana reads:

"I would like to congratulate the people of Armenia on the conduct
of a competitive presidential election on 19 February and the high
turn-out. I am also pleased at the preliminary findings and conclusions
of the International Election Observation Mission which has assessed
the elections to be mostly in line with Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Council of Europe commitments
and standards.

I expect all political forces continue to act in a responsible way
after the elections. Complaints should be thoroughly investigated and
all shortcomings as identified by International Election Observation
Mission should be addressed. Any differences should be resolved
through dialogue.

The EU remains committed to further strengthening cooperation with
Armenia on the basis of the European Neighborhood Policy. The election
of a new president in Armenia is also an opportunity to take steps to
improve Armenia’s relations with its neighbors. This includes renewed
efforts towards a solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The
European Union supports the efforts of the Minsk Group and stands
ready to give further support to this process".

QUICK CHESS INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD ON JUNE 12-15 IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
Feb 20, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN. A quick chess international
tournament under the title "Chess Giants" will be held on June 12-15
in Yerevan on the initiative of the Chess Federation of Armenia. The
event’s prize fund is 33 thousand dollars. The winner will receive
6000 dollars. Chess players who will take up to the 20th place will
also receive monetary prizes.

RA CEC: SERZH SARGSYAN LEADS WITH 812 492 VOTES

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.02.2008 07:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to the data provided by the RA CEC by 7
a.m., Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan claims victory in the presidential
election in Armenia. The votes divided the following way:

Artur Baghdassaryan – 256 686 votes

Artashes Geghamyan – 6999 votes

Tigran Karapetyan – 9065 votes

Aram Harutyunyan – 2911 votes

Vahan Hovhannisian – 94 896 votes

Vazgen Manukyan – 19 446 votes

Arman Melikyan – 4082 votes

Serzh Sargsyan – 812 492 votes

Levon Ter-Petrosyan – 382 371 votes.

Number of inaccuracies made 3622.

"ELECTIONS ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE DAY OF VOTING", HEAD OF OSCE LONG-TERM OBSERVATION MISSION IN ARMENIA STRESSED

Mediamax
February 20, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Head of OSCE/ODIHR long-term Observation Mission
Geert Ahrens stated that the preliminary report on the presidential
elections in Armenia, presented today, "is based on a thousand of
reports, received from our observers".

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today,
Geert Ahrens stressed that "the elections are not limited to the day
of voting". He stressed that the long-term observers from OSCE/ODIHR
will be attentively following the investigation of the criminal cases,
initiated in connection with the electoral violations, as well as the
consideration of complaints, presented by the presidential candidates
and their staffs.

Answering the question on whether the registered violations
may influence the results of presidential elections in Armenia,
Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly Ann-Marie Lizin stated:

"We never assess the results of the elections; we assess the process
and make conclusions, based on the reports of our observers".

The Head of PACE Observation Group, British MP John Prescott stated
that the observers may not base on the violation statements, which do
not have factual evidence and proofs. Geert Ahrens agreed: "we cannot
reproduce statements, evidence of which we do not have".

ARMENIAN COURTS SENTENCE 3,520 PEOPLE LAST YEAR

ARMENPRESS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS: Some 3,520 people were tried and
sentenced to different prison terms by Armenian courts last year.

David Aversion, chairman of the criminal cases chamber of the Court
of Cassation said Friday the numbers were 7.5 percent down from the
previous year of 2006.

Some 179 of the convicted people were juveniles.

The most frequent offense in Armenia is theft and 864 people were
sentenced for this crime, 267 were sentenced for hooliganism. David
Avetisian said the number of people sentenced for gross violation of
traffic rules decreased last year 31 percent to 181 people.

The number of people sentenced for robbery also decreased 30 percent,
he said. But the number of people sentenced for committing murders
grew by 2 to 71. Armenian courts acquitted last year a record high
ten people of charges, by 6 more than in 2006. The courts also dropped
285 cases.

Under a last year amendment to the Armenian Criminal Code a criminal
case can be instituted only if there is a written complaint from
plaintiff. The amendment also says the case is canceled if the parties
come to an amicable settlement.

According to David Avetisian, the fate of about 12 percent of all
offenses are handled by plaintiffs and respondents. As a result some
1000 people avoided prison last year.

Regnum News Agency, Russia
Feb 13 2008

Has the first Armenian president met with Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow?

The first president of Armenia, presidential contender Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, on February 11, while working trip to Moscow, met with
deputy prime minister of Russia, presidential contender Dmitry
Medvedev, ArmInfo reports with a reference to a `reliable source.’

According to the source, Ter-Petrosyan also gave an interview to a
Russian state TV-channel. The material is expecting to be broadcasted
within the next few days. According to REGNUM information, it was
Michael Leontyev from the First TV-channel, who interviewed
Ter-Petrosyan.

Interfax News Agency, Russia
Russia & CIS General Newswire
February 17, 2008 Sunday 1:54 PM MSK

Crew of Belarusian plane must not be blamed for crash in Yerevan –
Minsk

MINSK Feb 17

The crew of a Belavia plane which crash- landed at the Yerevan
airport last week, must not be blamed for the accident, the
Belarusian Transport Ministry said.

"The crew acted professionally in compliance with the flight
instruction intended specifically for this type of aircraft," head of
the ministry’s Aviation Department Vadim Melnik told Interfax on
Sunday.

"In that situation the Belarusian crew acted professionally," he
said.

Melnik arrived in Moscow to coordinate an inter-line group of experts
to investigate the crash.

"An updated report will be released in a couple of days," he said,
noting that special equipment required to read the plane’s black box
is in Moscow.

Earlier reports said that a CRJ-100LR (BOMBARDIER) plane of the
Belavia airline lurched leftward after take-off, turned upside down
and crashed on Thursday.

There were 18 passengers – citizens of Belarus, Armenia, Georgia,
Russia and Ukraine – and three crew aboard. No one as killed, but
seven people sustained injuries and were hospitalized in Yerevan.

A criminal investigation was launched on charges of violating flight
safety regulations and rules of operating a plane, according to the
Belarusian Transport Prosecutor’s Office.

ARTHUR ABRAHAM STARTED 2008 WITH AYALA

Panorama.am
20:34 16/02/2008

IBF mid weight category boxing champion Arthur Abraham will try to keep
the title of the champion for the 7th time at Koln town of Germany. His
competitor is 27 years old American boxer Elvin Ayala. Boxingscene.com
informs that Abraham has told an interview he has great projects for
the year 2008 and he will start with Aiala.

Arthur Abraham has staged 25 fights and has won 20 of them with
knock down.

In the past week the police have received 676 reports about electoral

2008-02-16 16:29:00

ArmInfo. In the past week the "hot line" service of the police of
Armenia has received 676 reports about electoral violations. The head
of the Visa and Passport Department of the Police Alvina Zakaryan says
that they have also received over 50 questions from political parties,
electoral offices, public organizations, individuals and observers and
have responded to all of them. "There are some questions we can’t
answer – even a fortune-teller would not be able to answer them. For
example, the head of the electoral office of presidential candidate
Artur Bagdassaryan Hegine Bisharyan asked how many people there would
be in Armenia on the day of election," says Zakaryan. She notes that
the electoral offices of Levon Ter-Petrossyan and Artur Bagdassaryan
are the most active and inquisitive.

Processing facilities will open in Hadrut

16-02-2008 17:08:37 – KarabakhOpen

Prime Minister Ara Harutiunyan took part in the meeting of the
community councils of the villages of Mets Tagher and Togh of the
region of Hadrut. The head of the community of Mets Tagher Vladik
Danielyan said once a big village (now the population of the village is
1500), Mets Tagher is now isolated, and the village needs the road
connecting the village with North-South to be repaired, as well as a
road connecting with Karmir Shuka directly.

People are leaving both Azokh and Mets Tagher. The reason is the
problem of housing of young families, and farming is not profitable.
The community of the village suggested setting up a processing facility
which would buy crops from local farmers.

The prime minister said in summer a milk processing facility and a
cannery will open in Stepanakert. Processing facilities will be set up
in different parts of the country to collect milk and wild greens. A
similar facility may be set up in Hadrut.

Ara Harutiunyan said water supply of the villages of Azokh, Drakhtik
and Mets Tagher will be restored by the end of the year. Gasification
of Mets Tagher will be completed this year, the department of
information and public relations of the NKR government reports.