PARLIAMENTARY HEARING OF PROBLEM OF TEACHING ARMENIAN STUDIES AT SCHOOLS TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 27 2006
Yerevan, March 27. /ARKA/. A parliamentary hearing of the problem
of teaching Armenian studies at Armenia’s schools is to be held
in Yerevan on April 4, 2006. The public relations department,
RA Parliament, reports that the hearing has been organized by the
standing parliamentary commission for science, education, culture
and youth affairs.
On March 21, 2006, the RA Parliament approved a package of bills on
Armenian studies in its first reading. One of the authors of the bills,
Head of the parliamentary faction Armenian Revolutionary Federation
“Dashnaktsutyun” Levon Mkrtichyan, said that under the bill the
Government is to approve programs of Armenian studies.
“We insist that two fundamental subjects, the Armenian language and
Armenia history, be taught at all the higher schools in Armenia for
at least two terms and end in tests or examinations,” Mkrtichyan
said.

CHAIRMAN OF ARMENIAN CC MEETS WITH SPECIAL REP OF CE SECRETARY GENERAL
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 27 2006
YEREVAN, March 27. /ARKA/. Chairman of the RA Court of Cassation
Hovhannes Manukyan and Special Representative of the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe Boyana Urumova discussed the directions of
cooperation in the judicial system.
The press service of the RA Court of Cassation reports that during the
meeting Manukyan pointed out the importance of the draft judicial code,
which is to serve as a basis for drafting procedural codes of Armenia.
The Chairman of the RA Court of Cassation addressed the application
of powers granted to the Court by the RA Constitution. The sides
also discussed the CE-Armenia cooperation program, which envisages
cooperation ion judicial reforms. “We are ready for cooperation
in the spheres that will be recognized as priorities by the CE,”
Manukyan said.
The sides pointed out the necessity of re-organizing the existing
institutes to form new structures, particularly local judicial
government bodies, Council of Judges, judicial department and judicial
services.
In her turn, Urumova reported that CE experts will examine the
draft and present their viewpoint. She pointed out the importance
of professional retraining and addressed the issue of translation of
precedent decisions of the European Court.

THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK MURDER
Ian Hepburn, Crime writer
The Sun (England)
March 27, 2006 Monday
How painstaking police work solved a baffling case.
AN off-duty fireman caught a whiff of burning flesh as he biked through
the countryside -and began one of Britain’s most baffling murder cases.
In the corner of a field the body of a stocky man had been doused in
petrol and set alight.
It was so badly burned the face had been destroyed and all that
remained of the hands was a tiny piece of thumb.
The man had been killed by being shot in the head and stabbed
repeatedly.
But finding out who he was and why he died took three years of
painstaking investigation.
The burning body was discovered beside the A47 near Peterborough,
Cambs, at around 10am on December 21, 2002.
Beside the corpse was a distinctive cigarette lighter, two pairs of
latex gloves and the glove packet.
There was also a bag of assorted rubbish including a torn-up and
charred medical memo which was to prove vital.
Visible on the scraps of paper was someone with the surname Armstrong
inviting another person called Talbot to attend a medical appointment
on Wednesday, December 18. It also bore tiny traces of airborne blood,
suggesting it was at the murder scene.
Police brought in a team of specialists who, after studying the shape
of the victim’s jaw and looking at its dental work, agreed he was
Eastern European.
A forensic artist used her skills and computer wizardry to rebuild
the man’s face.
The image was used in an appeal on TV’s Crimewatch UK. Yet no one
could put a name to the victim.
The cops consulted Dr Stuart Black, senior lecturer in Environmental
Radioactivity at Reading University. He asked for a tooth, skin and
bone sample and his analysis showed the victim had lived within the
fall-out area from Chernobyland, Ukraine.
Detectives then began the laborious task of writing to everyone with
the surnames Armstrong and Talbot in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire,
Norfolk and Suffolk in the hope of tracking down the people connected
with the medical memo.
More than 2,000 letters were posted and on September 5, 2003 -ten
months later – came a huge breakthrough.
Vanessa Armstrong, a human resources secretary at a bearings factory
in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, contacted the murder incident room and said
she had sent the memo to a machinist called Paul Talbot.
He had been invited to see a nurse in the firm’s medical room for
his routine six-monthly check up.
Detective Inspector Bert Deane set off to King’s Lynn to speak to
the factory manager. The machinist was quickly eliminated as a suspect.
Then came another breakthrough: The team searched the medical room
and found a latex glove packet. The serial number was from the same
batch as the packet found beside the body.
They also discovered paper towels of the same width and texture as
soiled paper beside the body. Three days later they returned with a
full forensic team.
Nothing incriminating was discovered until the officers moved
a cabinet. Behind it they found microscopic specs of the murder
victim’s blood.
Then they closely examined the medical couch and found more blood had
run down a crease in the material. On shelves there was evidence that
a gun had been fired.
The Forensic Science Service declared the medical room was the scene
of the murder.
Inquiries quickly revealed that on December 20, the day before the
body was found, the factory had closed for workers to head off for
their Christmas break.
An Armenian security guard, Nishan Bakunts, 28, worked the night shift
and had arrived with another man who he had often passed off as his
“brother”.
Det Insp Deane said: “We had no idea who the other man was. But it was
known that the guards would use the medical room couch for a sleep.”
When his shift ended Bakunts left the factory alone, never to return.
The security guard who relieved him asked: “Where is your mate and
where is his car?” Bakunts did not give him an answer.
But the shocking truth was he had been shot several times on the
medical couch.
When the bullets failed to kill him he was stabbed to death then
bundled into the boot of Bakunts’ car.
Bakunts then drove to a garage three minutes away, bought a petrol
can and put in a gallon of fuel.
Det Insp Deane said: “We believe he drove his black Rover with
an accomplice and with the body in the boot to the location near
Peterborough where the body was dumped and set on fire.
“We believe that after the murder they cleaned themselves up, scrubbed
the medical room and put everything in a bag.
“That was how the latex gloves got to the body site. We believe the
medical memo had been left in the room when Mr Talbot was seen by
the nurse and was stuffed in the bag with other items.”
Afraid
Bakunts was arrested at his home in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on
suspicion of murder. His partner Arpine Karapetian was arrested on
suspicion of helping him.
Then detectives discovered that, two days after the murder, Bakunts
had gone to stay with his father-in-law in Oldenzaa, a Dutch town on
the German border.
He returned two months later. Det Insp Deane said: “We knew a man
had been staying at the house in Great Yarmouth in September 2002.
Bakunts’ partner said she was afraid of him. She only knew him by
the name of Sako.”
Police circulated the name and Sako’s description to police throughout
Europe. The force in Belgium responded immediately. They suspected
the victim was Hovhannes Amirian, also known as Sako.
He was wanted for a murder in Ostend after a member of staff was shot
dead in a phone shop hold-up in October 2000.
Cambridgeshire detectives got authority to take a DNA sample from a
son Sako had with his estranged wife.
It produced a family match with Sako’s DNA. Then a partial thumbprint
from the ravaged body matched fingerprint files in Belgium.
Police took stills of Sako from his wedding video and showed them
to witnesses in Norfolk. Det Insp Deane said: “That put him in the
factory and in the flat in Great Yarmouth. We were able to positively
identify the victim for the first time.”
Police then connected DNA found on the striker of the body scene
cigarette lighter to Bakunts’ father-in-law, Misha Chatsjatrjan,
who was living in Holland.
Knife
They were able to show he came into the UK one day before the murder
and returned three days later.
In October last year Bakunts and Chatsjatrjan were convicted at
Norwich Crown Court. Bakunts was jailed for life for murder.
Chatsjatrjan was cleared of murder but jailed for three years for
assisting.
Det Insp Deane said: “Sako had gone to the factory in King’s Lynn.
“He was asleep on the medical couch when these two men went in armed
with a gun and a knife.
“The gun was designed to fire blanks but it had been converted.
“They put a number of shots into his head. But the gun was not powerful
enough to kill and he reared up and they knifed him to death.
“Sako was part of the Armenian mafia who were involved in people
smuggling, drugs and prostitution.
“He had a string of aliases and false passports. He knew the Belgian
police were after him and he tried to lie low.
“We think the motive for the murder was him trying to take over the
house in Great Yarmouth to commit crime.
“I’ve worked as a detective for most of my 31 years in the police
and this was one of the most demanding, but rewarding,cases I have
been involved in.”

REPRESENTATIVES OF RA ARMED FORCES TO TAKE PART IN “JOINT ARCH” AND “JOINT STRIVING” EXERCISES
Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The “Best Joint Effort” and “Joint
Partner” exercises held within the framework of the Partnership for
Peace NATO Program were unified in 2006 being named “Joint Arch”. The
preliminary (was held on January 16-20, 2006) and main (was held on
February 6-11, 2006) planning conferences of these exercises were held
in Moldova with participation of two headquarters officers of RA Armed
Forces. Representatives of RA Armed Forces will also take part in the
final planning conference to be held in May and the exercises’ working
meeting to be held in September. The place of their holding is not
clear yet. The exercises will be held on September 11-29 in Moldova.
According to Colonel Seyran Shahsuvarian, Spokesperson for RA Defence
Minister, 2 headquarters officers, 1 doctor, 1 signaller and a large
detachment consisting of 8 persons from the peace-keeping battalion
of RA Defence Ministry will take part in the exercises. As for the
“Joint Striving-06” interco mmunication exercises, they are organized
by the U.S. European Command. Their two conferences were held in 2005
in Albania and Macedonia and the main planning conference on January
22-28 this year, in Croatia. The intercommunication specialists of RA
Armed Forces took part in all of these conferences. The final planning
conference of the exercises was held on March 21-24 in Georgia.
Representatives of RA Armed Forces took part in it, too. The exercises
will be coordinated by means of an intercommunication hub located in
Germany, with which the participants should get in touch from their
countries. Representatives of RA Armed Forces will take part in the
above-mentioned exercises from the territory of Armenia, through
a satellite communication. The preliminary planning conference of
the “Joint Striving-07” exercises will be held on September 11-15
in Yerevan.

CRIMINAL CASE ON FACT OF ATTEMPTED MURDER OF RA MP SASUN MIKAELIAN INSTITUTED AT RA PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE
Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. A criminal case on the fact
of attempted murder of RA MP Sasun Mikaelian was instituted
at the Investigation Department of RA Prosecutor General’s
Office. According to the web site of RA Prosecutor General’s Office
(http://www. genproc.am), the materials on the attempted murder were
given to RA Prosecutor General’s Office by the National Security
Service attached to RA government on March 7 2006 and the same day the
Investigation Department of RA Prosecutor General’s Office instituted a
criminal case on the signs of the 1st part of Article 38-34-104 and 1st
part and Article 235, RA Criminal Code. The preliminary investigation
is going on. To recap, Sasun Mikaelian was elected as RA MP by the
majoritarian system and is not a member of any parliamentary faction
or group.

ARMENIAN PRISONER OF WAR REPATRIATED UNDER ICRC AUSPICES YEREVAN
Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006
MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. On 24 March an Armenian prisoner of war
detained in Azerbaijan was repatriated under the auspices of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). As Noyan Tapan was
informed by the ICRC, the operation took place on the road between the
Azerbaijani town of Gazakh and the Armenian town of Ijevan. The ICRC,
participating as a neutral intermediary and in accordance with its
mandate, facilitated the repatriation of the released prisoner at the
request of the Azerbaijani and the Armenian authorities. ICRC delegates
visited the prisoner of war before the operation to ensure he was
returning home of his own free will. Since the start of its activities
in connection with the Nagorny Karabakh conflict in 1992, the ICRC
has helped repatriate or transfer 656 people, and the organization
will support any similar operation in the future should the need arise.

ACCORDING TO ARTASHES GEGHAMIAN, OTHER PEOPLE AS WELL TO SUFFER FATE OF FORMER HEAD OF PRESIDENT’S STAFF
Noyan Tapan
March 27 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Artashes Toumanian, the former head
of the RA President’s staff who had stated about his intention to
create a party, probably changed his mind. Hrayr Karapetian, the
Secretary of the RA NA “ARF” faction interpreted Toumanian’s leaving
the political field in this way.
According to him, parties must be created on ideologies and
conceptions, and when those ones are absent, creation of parties
isn’t justified, irrespective of the fact who creates that party. “I
feel sorrow when a man who encoureged Kocharian on October 28, 1999,
at the time when everybody stepped back of him, who has in future
been his staff’s head for about 7 years, was both discharged his
post for incomprehensive reasons, and left the political field as
well,” Artashes Geghamian, the head of the “Azgayin Miabanutiun”
faction mentioned.
According to him, other people as well, who has acted like Artashes
Toumanian, will appear in the same situation in future. According to
Geghamian, if there are serious reasons for discharging Toumanian, they
didn’t naturally appear just now. According to him, the authorities
give opportunity and even they instigate this or that official to
carry out illegal actions, to blackmail them in future. He expressed
a hope that the given case in another.

CONFERENCES ON DEMOCRACY DEVELOPMENT ISSUES TO BE ORGANIZED IN YEREVAN AND HAGUE
Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues of development of the
Armenian-Nethelandian interparliamentary cooperation were discussed
at the March 24 meeting of RA National Assembly Speaker Artur
Baghdasarian with Eimert van Middelkoop, Senator of the Upper House of
the Parliament of Netherlands. An agreement was reached on organizing
conferences on issues of development of democracy in Yerevan and
Hague joint with the Parliament of Netherlands within the framework
of the “New Democracy” program. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the
NA Public Relations Department, Artur Baghdasarian asked to pass his
congratulation to the Parliament of Netherlands for recognition of the
Armenian Genocide what will prevent any repetition of similar crimes.

ACCORDING TO AGHASI ARSHAKIAN, WEST USES DOUBLE STANDARDS
Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Double standards are used by western
media and politicians in the issue of the elections held in Armenia
and Belarus.
Aghasi Arshakian, a member of the “Azgayin Miabanutiun” (National
Unity) faction stated about this at the March 24 parliamentary
briefing. Participating in the presidential elections of Belarus as an
observer, Arshakian congratulated citizens of Belarus in the interview
given to media of that country on the occasion of holding free and
just elections. The Deputy mentioned that when the authorities used
violence against the participants of the rally of many thousands
in Yerevan, nobody protested against it. But when in Minsk where
“no blood came from anybody’s nose and just 20-30 people were taken
their arms and taken away, it raised world yell.” According to Aghasi
Arshakian, “such total fillings as there were in Armenia, weren’t
in Belarus.” The deputy who visited more than 15 polling stations,
according to himself, saw no violation. Just the opposite, unlike the
Armenian elections, the voters stand in a queue and congratulate each
other on the occasion of the President’s being elected.

AZERI LEADER RENEWS KARABAKH WAR THREATS
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech rep.
March 27 2006
Azerbaijan issued on Monday a fresh threat to win back Nagorno-Karabakh
by force, with President Ilham Aliev warning that he may unleash an
all-out war against Armenia “at any moment.”
Addressing officers of the National Security Ministry, the Azerbaijani
successor to the Soviet KGB, Aliev said there is still a chance of
a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict, but did not specify
whether he thinks it can be achieved this year. He instead urged his
countrymen to be prepared for renewed fighting.
“I think that the peace potential has not yet been exhausted.
Therefore, we will of course remain faithful to the peace process,”
Aliev said in remarks broadcast by the Azerbaijani TV station ANS.
“But at the same time, we must be ready for any eventuality and
that is why Azerbaijan has stepped up its army building efforts in
recent years.
“Our military spending has increased over the past years, and it will
increase further. This is our sovereign right, this is our job. Our
country is in a state of war.”
“The opposite side must know that Azerbaijan is capable of securing
its territorial integrity through war at any moment,” he added.
The comments came against the background of fading hopes for
an imminent Karabakh settlement that stemmed from major progress
registered in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks in the course of last
year. Aliev and his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian were widely
expected to hammer out a framework peace agreement when they met
in France last month. However, the two-day summit mediated by U.S.,
Russian and French diplomats ended in failure.
Shortly afterwards Aliev reverted to his regular public threats,
always shrugged off by Armenian leaders, to resolve the conflict by
military means. Kocharian responded by warning that Baku’s refusal
to make major concessions to the Armenians could lead Yerevan to
formally recognize Karabakh’s independence.
The Azerbaijani leader’s bellicose rhetoric was indirectly criticized
on Friday by the European Union’s new special representative to
the South Caucasus. “An attempt on the Azeri side to resolve the
conflict by military means will have very serious consequences,”
Peter Semneby told RFE/RL. “It may not be successful in the first
place, and it will also seriously damage Azerbaijan in terms of its
investment climate and reliability as a partner.”
Aliev’s chief foreign policy aide, Novruz Mamedov, was quick to
dismiss the warning. “If Azerbaijan can indeed discredit itself as
a partner if it starts war to liberate its own lands, how come that
Armenia occupied Azerbaijani territories in a war and has kept them
under occupation for 15 years, but this has not discredited Armenia
anyhow?” Mamedov told the Azerbaijani ATV channel.
Meanwhile, the international mediators insist that the peace process
may still be salvaged but seem undecided about their next steps.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said last week that they will
either visit the conflict zone or arrange another round of
Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations soon.