Author: Mamian George

Ottawa Citizen, Canada
Aug 12 2007

Limit war criminals appeals, experts say

Marianne White, CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, August 12, 2007

QUEBEC – More than two years after the Supreme Court of Canada deemed
Leon Mugesera a war criminal and ordered him out of the country, the
exiled ethnic Hutu hardliner is still living in Quebec. And his case
is not unique. Many war criminals have managed to stay in Canada for
years despite Ottawa’s ongoing efforts to expel them.

"It’s one of the tragedies of Canada," says Sergio Karas, a
Toronto-based immigration lawyer and co-chair of the International
Bar Association.

In the 1990s the federal government decided to strip suspected war
criminals of their citizenship and deport them, on the grounds they
had lied about their past when they entered the country, making their
status illegitimate.

"There is a systemic problem with the refugee process in Canada.
Foreigners who have committed heinous crimes can keep on fighting for
years on end, constantly escaping prosecution and deportation," Karas
says. "What kind of message does it send to the rest of the world?"
he added.

Earlier this year, representatives of the Armenian National Committee
of Canada, the Darfur Association of Canada, PAGE-Rwanda and the Roma
Community Centre joined Jewish groups in demanding that Immigration
Minister Diane Finley deport six men accused of aiding the Nazis in
the Holocaust (Helmut Oberlander, Vladimir Katriuk, Wasyl Odynsky,
Jacob Fast, Jura Skomatczuk, and Josef Furman).

In 2006, Canada deported 41 immigrants found involved in war crimes
or crimes against humanity, according to a federal report. But it
also mentioned that 59 removal orders could not be carried out
because of impediments such as a lack of travel documents, while
another 39 were awaiting a pre-removal risk assessment.

The report only names cases that have been the subject of public
attention.

"Anyone that’s subject to removal from Canada can request a
pre-removal risk assessment and that is to determine whether there is
a risk of persecution, torture or threat to life if they’re
deported," said a spokeswoman from Citizenship and Immigration
Canada. "If they are subject to those conditions, they are not
removed. Then they would have a stay of removal until such time as
those conditions change," said Karen Shadd-Evelyn.

The Mugesera case has received a lot of attention since he started
fighting his deportation in 1995. His expulsion has been put on hold
while the federal government determined whether his life could be in
danger in Rwanda. The risk-assessment process has been going on since
June 2005.

Shadd-Evelyn couldn’t comment on Mugesera’s case and couldn’t say
what was taking so long.

"There is no doubt about the determination of the Canadian
authorities to get him out, but he (Mugesera) has various layers of
appeal and he is slowly using them all up. So, the time will run out,
but it does seem frustratingly long for people," says William
Schabas, Canada’s foremost expert on international criminal law.

Recently, Mugesera called on Justice Minister Robert Nicholson to try
him under Canada’s war crimes legislation. But Schabas says Mugesera
is not entitled to a trial in Canada since the highest court ruled
unanimously in 2005 that he was "inadmissible" to remain in the
country under immigration law.

"Mugesera has no right to be tried in Canada. He can ask for it, but
he has no legal remedy. This is just a political statement by him.
And unless it resonates with the (Justice) minister, it doesn’t mean
anything," says Schabas, who is director of the Irish Centre for
Human Rights at the University of Ireland, in Galway.

"It’s always better to have people stand trial where the crime was
committed because there you have judges who understand the context
and witnesses who are there," argued Schabas.

He went to Rwanda recently to assess the judiciary system and the new
prisons and he believes Mugesera could stand a fair trial in Rwanda.
But Amnesty International still expresses serious concern of the
Rwandan government’s ability to guarantee genocide suspects a fair
trial.

A former university lecturer, Mugesera is accused of giving a speech
in 1992 in which he called Rwandan Tutsis "cockroaches" and
encouraged his fellow Hutus to kill them.

The Supreme Court said the speech planted the seeds of Rwanda’s
bloody ethnic massacre. Between 500,000 and 800,000 members of the
Tutsi minority and moderate members of the Hutu majority were
slaughtered, most hacked to death with machetes.

Schabas recalls his trip to Rwanda shortly after Mugesera gave his
speech.

"I’ve always said I don’t know what he said in the speech because I
don’t understand the language, but I know how people reacted to it,
and there was not doubt about the meaning."

Karas, the immigration lawyer, pointed out that many other
undesirable criminals have eluded deportation for much longer than
Mugesera. He cited the case of Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, a
convicted terrorist who hijacked a plane, who has been thwarting his
expulsion since 1988.

"We need to impose limits to the number of appeals for those who have
committed crimes and who want to stall forever," said Karas. "We have
to do it especially for the victims, in the Rwandan community for
instance, who must be angry to see those criminals walking down the
streets."

Armenian musicians to participate in the festival "Rock For Peace" in
Istanbul on August 23

arminfo
2007-08-10 18:29:00

The festival "BARISAROCK" (Rock for peace) will take place in Istanbul
on August 23 2007 in Istanbul, in which "YashAr" group is going to
participate.

The group, which was founded by well-known Armenian musician Arto
Tuncboyaciyan and Turkish composer Yasar Kurt, will take part in the
festival with a project dedicated to the memory of the chief editor of
the "Akos" Turkish-Armenian newspaper Hrant Dink. About 62 music groups
and approximately 100 000 participants and guests are expected on the
festival from different countries all over the world.

New California Media, CA
Aug 11 2007

The Dangers of Reporting on Your Hometown

New America Media, Q&A, , Sandip Roy, Posted: Aug 11, 2007

The death of Chauncey Bailey highlights how deadly the news business
can be. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) monitors the
killings of journalists all over the world. Since they began tracking
these deaths in 1992, CPJ found that on average more than three
journalists are killed every month in the line of duty. Seven out of
10 of the murdered journalists were killed in direct retaliation to
the stories they have done. Abi Wright is the communications director
for the Committee to Protect Journalists. She spoke to Sandip Roy on
the New America Media radio show UpFront.

Does Chauncey Bailey’s death show that though reporting in a war zone
like Iraq is dangerous, doing investigative reporting that takes on
your own community’s icons is just as dangerous?

Our research certainly shows that journalists in their own hometowns
who take on a tough topic such as corruption or crime are much more
at risk of physical reprisal than even a journalist covering a
conflict far away from their country.

Could you tell us some stories of some of the other journalists
killed while reporting on stories in their hometowns?

Iraq, of course, comes to mind, where over 112 journalists have been
killed since the beginning of the war there, since March 2003. Of
those 112 journalists, the vast majority have been local Iraqi
journalists covering the conflict in their own home country. One
journalist from the northern city of Mosul was gunned down on her way
to the market in June of this year. She had been covering local
militia groups.

There’s the Turkish-Armenian reporter, Hrant Dink, who was targeted
and assassinated in Istanbul in January of this year after he was
questioning various issues with the Armenian minority in Turkey.
There was also investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya of Russia
who was assassinated in Moscow last year on her way home while
carrying the groceries.

All of these cases show another parallel to the Chauncey Bailey case
— a chilling one — which is that the killers tend to stalk their
victims. I was reading a news report that the suspect arrested in
that case said that he tried two other times to kill Bailey and had
been following him for a while. This kind of chilling pre-meditation
in these killings is a familiar trait that we have seen in other
countries around the world.

Does the fact that [Bailey] was killed on his way to work fit into
that profile? The assumption many have is that it could happen in
Russia, Colombia or Iraq, but it doesn’t happen in America.

I think it’s important to underscore that while this murder has so
shocked the journalism community in the U.S., it is a chilling crime
without question. It is very rare.

The last assassination of a journalist that we have documented here
at CPJ was in 1993. Thank goodness it is a rare occurrence. Although
whenever it happens it is shocking and justice must be served in this
and every case.

What happened in 1993?

In 1993 it was actually a Haitian immigrant journalist in Miami who
was targeted. Our information shows that the majority of the
journalists killed in the United States are usually journalists in
immigrant communities such as Haitian, Latino and Vietnamese. It is
in these more isolated immigrant communities that journalists
covering them have been the most at risk traditionally. But again the
last time a journalist was targeted and assassinated in the United
States was 1993.

How many of these cases ended up with their killers being found or
facing justice?

Well that’s another very important difference. Happily, justice has
been very swift thus far in the Chauncey Bailey case. The fact that a
suspect was apprehended so quickly is welcome news and is very
different from these other cases that we have documented inside the
United States. Granted it has been many years since these crimes took
place, but we have not documented a successful prosecution in any of
the dozen cases of journalists killed for their work over the last 30
years in the United States. But that is in fact the case with the
majority of murders of journalists in the world today. According to
our information, in more than 85 percent of the cases when
journalists are killed no one is ever successfully prosecuted.
Focusing on impunity is going to be a big focus of ours in the coming
year.

"OPEN-DOORS DAY" TO BE HELD IN CENTER OF OPHTHALMOLOGY NAMED AFTER MALAYAN IN YEREVAN ON AUGUST 15

Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. An "Open-Doors Day" will be held in
the Center of Ophthalmology named after S. Malayan in Yerevan on August
15 during which the leading specialists of this medical institute will
provide visitors with free consultations. According to the information
provided to a Noyan Tapan correspondent by Alexandre Malayan, the
Head of the Center, this action is dedicated to the 80th anniversary
of Svyatoslav Fyodorov, a famous Russian oculist, who will become 80
years old in September. According to him, academician S. Fyodorov,
who has made a considerable investment in modern ophthalmology,
has provided the Armenian people with a great assistance, especially
during the earthquake of 1988.

A. Malayan also declared that there has been an increase in eye
deseases in Armenia for the recent years. According to him, eye
deseases, such as glaucoma, cataract, myopia, and presbyopia, in
particular, are spread. The above-mentioned deseases mainly appear
among the elderly, therefore, in the opinion of the Head of the Center,
it would be better if those, who are over 40, went to see an oculist
at least once a year.

FAIG AGAYEV: TURKEY’S GIVING 12 POINTS TO ARMENIA IN EUROVISION DISAPPOINTED ME

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 9 2007

Honored artist Faig Agayev’s interview to APA

Our show-business resembles forest. It is a forest which has no rules,
no ethic norms. We have not yet been formed, Azerbaijani honored
artist, singer Faig Agayev told in an interview to APA.

Agayev said that he never caused a scandal.

"You cannot expect a teenager training in an ordinary sport club
to hit at World Championship. He should reach to the level of World
Championship at least. You can and can not admire Faig Agayev, but
he can not be denied," he said.

Agayev called the reports that he entered into a marriage on an
agreement in order to mislead the society a lie.

"All these are lie. Who thinks bad about me, I wish him to live that
malice. Family has no slope and ascent. Have you ever seen a family
which has no row in?" he said.

The popular singer stressed that he does not imitate Turkish mega-star
Tarkan.

"I never imitated Tarkan. If I can do everything that Tarkan has done
for Turkish show-business, I would be glad for that. We do not resemble
at all. His eyes are green, mines are black, when he had long hair,
I had short and vice-versa. Turks living in Azerbaijan say that Faig
Agayev is Tarkan of Azerbaijan. And I always reply to them that Tarkan
is Faig Agayev of Turks," he said.

The singer also commented on Eurovision contest.

"The position of the country is necessary for attending this contest.

Turkey’s evaluating Armenia with 12 points made me furious. I regard
normally Russia, Greece’s supporting Armenia. But I do not know why
60-million Turkish nation demonstrated deceitful nobility, mildness.

Enemy does not understand favor, enemy accepts favor as weakness,"
he said.

FOOTBALL FEDERATION OF ARMENIA DOES ITS BEST TO BOOST FOOTBALL IN ARMENIA: RUBEN HAYRAPETYAN

arminfo
2007-08-07 18:34:00

New football pitch "Mika" is currently built in Yerevan, President
of Football Federation of Armenia Ruben Hayrapetyan said at a press
conference, Tuesday.

He said youth teams are formed in many regions in Armenia as good
football-players are revealed at the age of 18-20. R. Hayrapetyan said
football development programmes are implemented also in regions. FFA
president promised to provide media with transportation means in order
they are able to get first hand view of the implementation process.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 6 2007

Bush bows to pressure on Armenia envoy

After a year-long confrontation, the White House bowed to pressure
from the Armenian lobby, withdrawing its nomination of a career
diplomat as ambassador in Yerevan, a development cheered by Armenian
groups in the United States.

The White House’s nomination of Richard Hoagland was blocked in the
last Congress and the Bush administration resubmitted his name in
January when the new Congress convened. But a Democrat senator,
Robert Menendez, placed a hold on the nomination for the second time
in January because of Hoagland’s refusal to call the World War I-era
killings of Armenians "genocide." A hold is a parliamentary privilege
accorded to senators that prevents a nomination from going forward to
a confirmation hearing. Hoagland’s predecessor, John Evans, had his
tour of duty in Armenia cut short because, in a social setting, he
referred to the killings as genocide.
Turkey categorically rejects "genocide" charges and says Turks and
Armenians were killed in internal strife when Armenians revolted
against the Ottoman rule in eastern Anatolia in hope of carving out
an independent state in collaboration with the invading Russian army.
Ankara has warned the US that their ties would receive a serious blow
if the two resolutions pending at Senate and the House of
Representatives are passed.

A California congressman, Republican Adam Schiff, supported the Bush
administration’s decision to withdraw Hoagland’s name. "During his
confirmation hearings, Mr. Hoagland continued to deny that the
massacre of a million-and-a-half Armenians between 1915 and 1923 was
a genocide, thereby compounding the injury done to Armenian people
and, especially, the few remaining survivors of the first genocide of
the 20th Century" said Schiff. "I hope the president will soon
nominate a new ambassador who will be more forthcoming in discussing
the Armenian genocide."

In urging the administration to submit another candidate, Menendez
said that "the State Department and the Bush administration are just
flat-out wrong in their refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide.
It is well past time to drop the euphemisms, the wink-wink, nod-nod
brand of diplomacy that overlooks heinous atrocities around the
world."

He said Friday the Bush administration did a disservice to the
Armenian people and Armenian-Americans when it removed Evans "simply
because he recognized the Armenian genocide." He added: "I hope that
our next nominee will bring a different understanding to this issue."

Armenian groups in the US welcomed the withdrawal of Hoagland’s
nomination. The Armenian National Committee of America’s (ANCA)
Executive Director Aram Hamparian said: "We are gratified to see that
the administration has finally come to recognize what the ANCA and
the Armenian American community have understood for more than a year
— that Dick Hoagland — through his own words and actions —
disqualified himself as an effective representative of either
American values or US interests as US ambassador to Armenia."

06.08.2007

Today’s Zaman with AP Ýstanbul

Five Armenians killed in truce violations in June-July – Azeri army
spokesman

Azerbaijani news agency APA, Baku
4 Aug 07

4 August: Azerbaijani soldiers killed five servicemen of the Armenian
armed forces by retaliatory fire as they violated the cease-fire regime
on the front line in June and July, the chief of the Defence Ministry’s
press service, Lt-Col Eldar Safarov [Sabiroglu], has told APA.

Safarov said that a great number of Armenian servicemen were wounded:
"The military-political leadership of Armenia is doing its best to
conceal these casualties from the public. It is undeniable that
Armenian citizens hate their leadership. The Armenian leadership
understands very well that the disclosure of these casualties would
irritate the country’s population and create a social explosion in the
country, the economy of which is in decline and which a great number of
people have left."

According to Safarov, the Armenian armed forces sustain casualties
every time they violate the cease-fire both in Karabakh and in other
directions of the front line: "There are no grounds to worry. We
respond to any provocative action of the opposite side."

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Aug 4 2007

White House bows to Senate pressure on naming envoy to Armenia

The White House gave in to Democratic objections and on Friday
withdrew the nomination of a career diplomat to be ambassador to
Armenia.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Robert Menendez placed a hold on the nomination of
Richard Hoagland for the second time in January because of Hoagland’s
refusal to call the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.

A hold is a parliamentary privilege accorded to senators that
prevents a nomination from going forward to a confirmation hearing.

Hoagland’s confirmation was blocked by Senate Democrats in the last
Congress and the Bush administration resubmitted his name in January
when the new Congress convened.

Hoagland’s predecessor, John Evans, reportedly had his tour of duty
in Armenia cut short because, in a social setting, he referred to the
killings as genocide.

SERZH SARGSYAN: ARMENIA READY TO HAVE TALKS WITH NEW TURKISH GOVERNMENT

Regnum
Aug 3 2007
Russia

1 August 2007 – Armenia ready to have talks with the new Turkish
government after more than 90-year breach in relations, Armenian
Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan told in an interview to Al Jazeera TV.

"We can’t stay in a situation without having communication and talks
with our neighbor because the easiest way of resolving this issue
is dialogue and negotiations," Sargsyan said. "We didn’t choose
the location of where we live and whatever happens we will have to
be neighbours for a very long time. I think it would be better if
Armenians and Turks come to an understanding," the prime minister
noted.

Al Jazeera reminds that the row over the mass killings of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks during First World War is at the heart of the issue.

"Turkey says they were casualties of war, but the people of Armenia
want what happened to be recognized as genocide. The continuing closure
of the border has isolated Armenia, which is a landlocked country,
hitting the economy hard. … It has stopped the economy from moving
forward hundreds of millions of dollars of trade are lost every
year. It is no surprise that Sargsyan wants change," says the channel.