Author: Nargizian David

FORMER MEMBER OF RUSSIAN UPPER HOUSE GETS LENGTHY PRISON SENTENCE FOR FRAUD

Interfax News Agency
July 17 2008
Russia

Moscow, 17 July: Moscow city court has sentenced a former member
of the Federation Council [upper house of the Russian parliament]
for Kalmykia, Levon Chakhmakhchyan, to nine years imprisonment.

An Interfax correspondent reports that two other defendants, Armen
Oganesyan and Igor Arushanov, were sentenced to eight and seven years
imprisonment respectively.

The court found all three guilty of fraud (under Article 159 of the
Russian Federation Criminal Code) and decided that they would serve
their sentences in a general regime colony.

Passing sentence, the court did not fine them and said that their
prison terms would be counted from the time they were detained.

Before the sentence was announced, Chakhmakhchyan said: "We have
been tried not as Russian Federation citizens, but as outright
terrorists". He believes that all the evidence against him was
forged. "This is a travesty of a trial against persons of Armenian
nationality. All the materials of the criminal case were forged,"
he said. [Passage omitted]

Earlier, the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office said that former
senator Chakhmakhchyan, Russian Audit Chamber inspector Oganesyan
(Chakhmakhchyan’s in-law), and the chief accountant of the public group
Association for Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation (whose chairman
was Chakhmakhchyan), Arushanov, were accused of misappropriating
through fraud – acting as part of an organized group – 1.5m dollars
belonging to a major airline.

AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA TRADE ACCUSATIONS ON BREACH OF CFE TREATY

Turan news agency
July 17 2008

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed as "totally groundless"
Armenian accusations that Baku has breached the Treaty on Conventional
Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), Turan news agency has reported.

The ministry spokesman, Xazar Ibrahim, was quoted as saying that
Yerevan itself has violated the treaty by deploying military hardware
in Azerbaijani territories seized by Armenian forces in the 1990s.

"The accusation… is totally groundless," Ibrahim told Turan. "On
the contrary, Armenia itself is violating the CFE. This country has
deployed over 300 tanks and armoured vehicles in Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories, whereas, under the CFE quota, it can have no more than
220 tanks and armoured vehicles in its possession."

Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan had earlier accused
Azerbaijan of "publicly" violating the agreement. At a meeting in the
US Congress, Nalbandyan complained that the international community
was not paying due attention to the alleged breach of the CFE by
Azerbaijan, Arminfo news agency reported on 16 July.

PROCREDIT INTERNATIONAL BANK’S NEW BRANCH OPENS IN YEREVAN

NOYAN TAPAN

JU LY 16

ProCredit Bank, which opened a branch in the town of Vanadzor, Lori
region, the day before, opened one more branch on July 16 in Yerevan,
in Mashtots, 16. As it was mentioned at the opening ceremony of
Yerevan branch, ProCredit Bank is the first among international banks
functioning in Armenia, which has also opened a branch in a region.

Andrea Wiktorin, the Ambassador of Germany to Armenia, took part in
the opening ceremony. According to her, this German bank has completely
implemented its programs in Armenia.

According to Ashot Abrahamian, bank’s Deputy Executive Director, the
bank provides various and affordable banking services to organizations,
enterprises, house farms, and physical persons. It was mentioned
that the bank attaches importance to responsible banking activity by
developing culture of economy and establishing long-term cooperation
with its customers.

One of the main directions of ProCredit Bank is small and medium-sized
business crediting, as small and medium-sized enterprises provide new
jobs and have a positive impact on the development of the respective
spheres.

"That is why the bank leadership attaches importace to opening of
branches in the regions. With the network of regional branches we have
a goal to ensure confidence and to contribute to development of small
and medium-sized business," A. Abrahamian said. It was mentioned that
the process of branches’ opening will be permanent.

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN MET WITH COE COMMISSIONER THOMAS HAMMARBERG

armradio.am
16.07.2008 11:11

President Serzh Sargsyan received the Commissioner for Human Rights
of the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, President’s Press Office
reported.

The President of Armenia said that the authorities have scrupulously
studied Resolutions 1609 and 1620 and are determined to implement
them. He welcomed the efforts exerted by the Commissioner for Human
Rights towards the resolution of the problems encountered by Armenia.

Assessing both Resolutions as an important starting point, Thomas
Hammarberg spoke about the evaluation report presented by him on
September 11 at the meeting of the Monitoring Commission, and stressed
three important issues.

The first issue raised by Mr. Hammarberg concerned the meetings,
rallies, and demonstrations. In this regard the Commissioner for Human
Rights praised cooperation with the Venice Commission, introduced
legislative amendments and highlighted the importance of the proper
implementation of the law.

The second issues is related to the investigation of the March
1 events, which, according to the Commissioner for Human Rights,
should be independent, transparent, and truthful. He offered to
make a distinct separation between the fact-finding process and the
assessment of the facts.

Underlining the resoluteness of the Armenian authorities to conduct
the investigation of the March 1 events objectively, comprehensively
and impartially, President Sargsyan agreed with the importance of
separating the process of fact finding and the assessment of the
facts and as an essential condition for conducting a thorough job
mentioned the necessity of involving international experts.

The third issue raised by the Commissioner for Human Rights concerned
the currently detained persons. With this regard the President
of Armenia reiterated that in his opinion the charges by the law
enforcements bodies should be pressed only against those individuals
who took part in the acts of violence.

COE COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: LEVON TER-PETROSYAN’S STATEMENTS THAT ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES CLOSED A DEAL WITH EUROPEAN OFFICIALS ARE IMPROBABLE

ArmInfo
2008-07-15 22:43:00

Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s statements that the Armenian authorities closed a
deal with European officials on adoption of a profitable for Armenia
resolution in PACE have no real grounds, Council of Europe Commissioner
for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg said at a briefing in Yerevan. There
is no such a deal, he said.

ARMENIA, HOLLAND INTERESTED IN DEEPENING COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF PEACEKEEPING

armradio.am
15.07.2008 17:26

On July 15 RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan received the Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands to Armenia
Onno Elderenbosh.

At the beginning of the meeting the Minister noted that the absence
of problems between the two countries, the reciprocal sympathy and
friendship between the Armenian and Dutch peoples have created
firm bases for developing effective cooperation in a number of
spheres and that these relations are promoted by the position of
the government of the Netherlands on the Armenian Genocide. Seyran
Ohanyan stated also that Armenia has entered a qualitatively new phase
of relations with Europe and takes serious steps in the direction of
raising the cooperation with European countries in the military and
military-political fields to a proper level.

During the meeting Seyran Ohanyan noted that Armenia expresses
willingness to develop cooperation especially in the field of
peacekeeping, contributing to the operations in Afghanistan, where
the Netherlands has located a contingent of about 1 800.

At the end of the meeting the parties expressed hope that the
Armenian-Dutch relations and friendly ties will further reinforce,
embracing new spheres of cooperation.

ANDRZEJ KASPRZYK DECIDES NOT TO CONDUCT MONITORING BECAUSE OF SECURITY

Azeri Press Agency
July 15 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova -APA. "We couldn’t conduct monitoring in the
contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops because
there was no perfect preparations for this work", Andrzej Kasprzyk,
Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office told APA. The
diplomat didn’t announce which part tackled monitoring, but said he
decided not to conduct it because of security.

The monitoring in the contact line between the troops in direction of
Agdam and Alibeyli villages of Azerbaijan’s Tovuz Region was postponed.

U.S., GEORGIA START JOINT DRILLS NEAR TBILISI

RIA Novosti
July 15 2008
Russia

A joint Georgian-U.S. military exercise, Immediate Response 2008, has
started near Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, and will continue throughout
July, the Georgian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

A total of 1,650 personnel, including troops from Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Ukraine, are taking part in the $8 million exercise, planned by
the U.S. Armed Forces European Command and financed by the U.S. Defense
Department.

U.S. and Georgian forces started force protection training in
preparation for the exercise last Monday.

Soldiers from U.S. Army Europe’s 18th Military Police Brigade and 21st
Theater Sustainment Command and Georgian soldiers from the 4th Infantry
Brigade continued to develop working relationships as they learned
to conduct personnel and vehicle searches at an entrance control point.

"We are responsible for force protection," said Army Capt. David
Morishuili, a Georgian security officer. "We needed to learn how the
U.S. Army conducts force protection operations so we can better work
together in Iraq."

The Georgian military currently has units conducting operations in
Iraq along with U.S. and other coalition forces. The Georgian 4th
Brigade is scheduled to deploy to Iraq in the near future.

PRESS: ARMENIA TO ANNOUNCE TENDER FOR THIRD GSM LICENSE WED

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
July 15, 2008 Tuesday 12:15 PM EET

Armenia’s telecommunications regulator is expected to announce
Wednesday a tender for a third GSM license, Mariam Stepanyan, a
spokeswoman for the regulator said, Vedomosti newspaper reported
Tuesday.

The starting price is 10 million euros, Stepanyan said. Bidders are
required to have experience in the wireless sector and invest at
least 200 million euros in their mobile network in the country over
two years.

MegaFon, Russia’s third biggest mobile operator, is expected to bid,
sources in Armenia’s government and a local wireless carrier told
Vedomosti.

But MegaFon’s First Deputy Chief Executive Alexei Nechiporenko told
the daily the company is not interested.

Armenia’s two GSM operators, ArmenTel and K-Telecom, are subsidiaries
of Russia’s VimpelCom and MTS, respectively.

Mobile services penetration in Armenia was 62.5% as of May 31,
according to AC&M Consulting. K-Telecom had 1.4 million customers
and ArmenTel had 600,000.

TER-PETROSIAN COMPLAINS TO HAMMARBERG

AZG Armenian Daily
15/07/2008

After-Election Events

First president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian had a meeting with CE
Comissioner on Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg. Ter-Petrosian’s office
informs that the Commissioner represented to Ter-Petrosian the two main
goals of his visit to Armenia, which are monitoring the independence
and impartiality of the Temporary Investigation Committee on March
1 Events and studying the issue of political arrests succeeding the
march 1 events.

The First President of Armenia stated during the meeting that the
violent oppressions of the opposition in the recent months were caused
by the illegal order of A. Mirzoyan, head of the Special Investigation
Service. According to Ter-Petrosian, Mirzoyan unleashed terror, arrests
and other illeagal measures against the opposition with his orders.