CASE OF THEFT OF ESPECIALLY LARGE SUM FROM ARDSHININVESTBANK MALATIA BRANCH DISCLOSED
YEREVAN, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The theft from Ardshininvestbank CJSC
Malatia branch was organized and committed by Arsen A.Hakobian,
Policeman of guard department attached to RA Police Malatia
branch, together with Artur R.Khanoyan, Artur R.Babayan and Suren
M.Hovhannisian having previous convictions. To recap, a sum in an
especially large amount (41 mln drams, 56 503 USD, 2 690 euros,
44.7 thousand RF roubles) and pawned jewels were stolen from the
Ardshininvestbank’s branch.
A.Hakobian and S.Hovhannisian were arrested on July 6, on the basis
of proofs received by the preliminary examination. A.Hakobian is
suspected of stealing sums in especially large amounts and jewels
and S.Hovhannisian of assisting him.
As Noyan Tapan was informed by Sona Truzian, Spokesperson for RA
Prosecutor General, A.Hakobian testified mentioning the place, land
plot in Narekatsi street, house 12, village of Malishka, Vayots Dzor,
from where the last part of the stolen sum, 6 690 USD, 10 431 500
drams, 50 pound sterlings and 14 thousand RF roubles, was confiscated.
The location of A.Babayan and A.Khanoyan has not been found out yet. On
July 6, decisions were made on the 1st clause of 3rd part of Article
177, RA Criminal Code, theft in especially large amounts, to involve
them as defendants, to apply arrest as preventive punishment to them
and to announce a search for them.
On July 6, A.Babayan who is being searched, passed part of gold wares,
over 16 kg, and 400 thousand drams, to the Police, through a taxi
driver. The sum and the jewels were confiscated.

CHESS ACADEMY OF ARMENIA ORGANIZED INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENTS IN JERMUK AND SEVAN
JERMUK, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The International Youth Tournament of
Chess ended in Jermuk on July 9, which was organized by the Chess
Academy of Armenia.
Zaven Adreasian, Hrant Melkumian and Avetik Grigorian gained 7 points
from the possible 9 ones in the men’s strained competition and shared
the 1-3 places. In the ladies’ competition, Armine Babayan took the
first place with 5.5 points.
On July 12, the “Kaputak Sevan” Traditional International Tournament
of the 9th category will start in Sevan on the initiative of the
Academy. This time chess players from the Russian Federation, Georgia
and Iran arrived in Sevan.

PROVIDING OF APARTMENT BUYING CERTIFICATES BY 2006 PROGRAM TO START FROM AUGUST 1
YEREVAN, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The process of providing certificates to
220 refugee families in Kotayk region and 250 families that suffered
from the earthquake in Gyumri will start from 2006 August 1 by the
Apartment Buying Certificates (ABC) 2006 program. NT was informed
about it from RA Urban Development Ministry’s Press Service. The state
budget will allocate 740 mln drams (about 4 mln 143 thousand USD)
for the program. 870 mln drams will be allocted for beneficiaries of
Gyumri and the same amount of Kotayk.
360 refugee families and 280 families that suffered from the earthquake
(220 of them in Gyumri) were provided with apartments within the
framework of ABC-2005 program. The program has been fulfilled by 65%.

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN HIGHLY ESTIMATES RESULTS OF WORK OF OSCE PA DELEGATION HEADED BY HIM
YEREVAN, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. As a result of the Armenian delegation’s
efficient work at the OSCE PA summer session convened on July 3-7
in Brussels, all its initiatives, as well as all proposals on draft
resolutions discussed were adopted. Vahan Hovhannisian, head of the
Armenian delegation, RA NA Vice-Speaker, ARFD Bureau member, informed
about it at the July 10 press conference expressing his satisfaction
in this connection.
According to Vahan Hovhannisian, thanks to the delegation’s efforts
it was managed to prevent adoption of resolutions and proposals
not favorable for Armenia presented by the delegations of the
three neighbors, Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan. As a result,
no country at the Assembly supported these initiatives, except
the above-mentioned three countries that distinguished themselves
with active cooperation. By the way, 56 countries are members of
the Assembly, including Montenegro that has joined the Assembly
lately. “The resolutions or amendments proposed by us always have many
supporters, at that, these are countries that cannot be suspected of
regional interest,” NA Vice-Speaker emphasized.
Hovhannisian mentioned that he and some delegation members, National
Unity faction head Artashes Geghamian and RPA faction member Samvel
Nikoyan, also took an active part in the work of the Assembly’s three
standing committees, where also “serious arguments took place.”
As an example of his statement Vahan Hovhannisian attached a special
importance to some discussions in the Committee on Political Issues,
as a result of which for the first time it was managed to stipulate the
issue of nations’ rights in the resolution documents adopted by OSCE,
taking the referendum of Montenegro as a basis. In this connection
they also greeted the approach of Serbia recognizing the democratic
values, which “did not respond to the referendum of Montenegro with
tanks, planes or with another force, but recognized its results.” “The
Assembly registered by voting that this is an excellent example for
finding a right balance between the immunity of borders and nations’
right of self-determination,” V.Hovhannisian said at the same time
emphasizing that the above mentioned formulation of the adopted
resolution was “violently resisited” by the Azerbaijani and Georgian
delegations but in vain.
According to him, the Armenian side also managed to fail “two very hard
resolutions” proposed by the above mentioned two delegations. One of
them, in particular, proposed stipulating that the unsolved conflicts
should be solved by returning the disputable areas to the country, to
which it belong, so, as Vahan Hovhannisian characterized, this is an
“obvious obscenity.” By the second draft the above mentioned two states
proposed registering that irrespective of the further status of Kosovo,
it cannot be a precedent for settlement of other similar conflicts.”
According to him, another initiative of the two neighboring states was
liquidated, which proposed stipulating in the form of a resolution
that the national monorities are obliged to protect the territorial
integrity of the given country.

LEVEL OF LAKE SEVAN WAS 1898,58 METERS IN THE BEGINNING OF JULY
GAVAR, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. As for July 15, the level of the lake
of Sevan was 1898,58 meters above the sea level. As the Noyan Tapan
correspondent was informed from the Gegharkunik regional department
of the Hayhydromet service, it is 28 centimeters above the same day
index of the previous year. Nearly 44 million cubic meter of water
had been run off the lake for the purpose of irrigation since the
beginning of the year.

GRAND MASTER KAREN ASRIAN TAKES PART IN INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT STARTED IN CHINA
TAIYUAN, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Karen Asrian from Yerevan is among
the participants of the international tournament which has started
on July 10 in the city of Taiyuan, China. 11 famous grand masters
from Cuba, China, Russian Federation and Georgia also take part in
the tournament. Each participant will play 11 games by the circular
contest rules.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN SENDS TELEGRAM OF CONDOLENCE TO VLADIMIR PUTIN IN
CONNECTION WITH PLANE ACCIDENT IN IRKUTSK
YEREVAN, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On July 10, RA
President Robert Kocharian sent a telegram of condolence to RF
President Vladimir Putin in connection with the plane accident in
Irkutsk. The telegram provided to Noyan Tapan from RA President’s
Press Office, read:
“Dear Vladimir Putin,
We deeply mourn with you and share the grief of loss in connection
with the plane accident, in which many people died.
Let me present sincere condolences to you, to the relatives of the
victims, as well as to wish quick recovery to those who suffered,
on behalf of the Armenian people and me personally.”

COMMISSION STUDYING CONSEQUENCES OF A-320 PLANE’S ACCIDENT RECEIVES
NEW IMPORTANT INFORMATION
YEREVAN, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. New important information was received
as a result of the modelling of A-320 plane flight in Tuluz. This
information will be compared with the data received earlier. As Noyan
Tapan correspondent was informed by Gayane Davtian, Spokeswoman of
the Civil Aviation Chief Department, only after it the International
Aviation Organization will present the final conclusion of the
commission studying the accident consequences.
G.Davtian also informed that the results of studying accident reasons
will be discussed on July 10 in Sochi at the International Aviation
Organization’s Sub-committee.
To recap, the plane flight modelling was done at the Airbus SAS company
with participation of Armenian and Russian aviation authorities,
specialists of the French Research and Analytical Bureau.

EXPORT AND IMPORT OF GOODS BY MOTOR-TRANSPORT FROM ARMENIA IN DIRECTION
OF RUSSIA STOPPED
YEREVAN, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Due to the closure of the Verin Lars
check-point on the border of Georgia and Russia, export and import
of goods by motor-transport from Armenia in this direction has
stopped. As RA Prime Minister declared in Batumi, the check-point
has been closed for already the third day and in all probability,
will open no sooner than in a month. Noyan Tapan correspondent was
informed from RA Transport and Communication Ministry’s Press Service
that in response to the question of the Armenian side the Russian
side informed that the check-point was closed due to implementation
of reconstruction there.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER ARREST OF
ZHAMANAK YEREVAN DAILY’S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
NEW YORK, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The Committee to Protect Journalists
dislocated in New York informs about the arrest of editor-in-chief of
the Zhamanak Yerevan daily Arman Babadzhanian in its July 7 report. He
faces up to five years in prison for allegedly forging documents to
avoid military service, but the Committee to Protect Journalists and
others are concerned that the charge was prompted by his newspaper’s
critical reporting on government conduct.
Babadzhanian was arrested June 26, just days after the
Armenian-language newspaper published an article questioning
the independence of the prosecutor general’s office, said Seda
Muradian of the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting
(IWPR), which has followed the case closely. Authorities allege that
forgeries occurred in 2002, but they did not explain the delay in
pressing charges.
Press reports said the prosecutor general summoned Babadzhanian for
questioning as a witness in a criminal case but jailed him instead
on the forgery charge. News reports said that the editor allegedly
confessed to forging documents to avoid the draft, but press freedom
and human rights groups are questioning the prosecutors’ motives.
Muradian, Armenia country director for IWPR, said the prosecutor’s
refusal to grant Babadzhanian preliminary release on bail is very
unusual in this type of case. “Authorities are treating Babadzhanian
as a dangerous criminal,” Muradian told CPJ.
On Wednesday, the Yerevan Press Club, Internews Armenia, the Committee
to Protect Freedom of Expression, the Helsinki Committee of Armenia,
and other local press freedom groups sent a letter to the prosecutor
general’s office seeking Babadzhanian’s release on bail. The
groups also challenged the validity of Babadzhanian’s purported
confession. Also on Wednesday, editors of seven Armenian independent
and opposition newspapers issued a statement saying Babadzhanian’s
arrest was intended to intimidate the press.
“We are very concerned that the criminal case against Arman
Babadzhanian may be related to his journalism,” CPJ Executive Director
Joel Simon said today.
“We call on Armenian authorities to release him pending trial and
make their evidence against him public.”