THE SHAHUMYAN RESIDENTS WERE DISPLACED 15 YEARS AGO
A1+
[06:10 pm] 04 May, 2006
A large-scale military operation “Koltso” was implemented in April –
June, 1991, with the joint efforts of the USSR Interior Ministry and
special-purpose groups of the Azeri Interior Ministry in order to
evict Armenians from the Armenian villages Gatashen and Martunashen,
the region Shahumyan and Karabakh. At the same time, Armenia and
Nagorno – Karabakh appeared in economic blockade by Baku.
According to the NKR Foreign Ministry data, the increase of the
tension was determined by the above-mentioned “Koltso” operation as a
result of which the Karabakh conflict was taken to a new – military
level. According to the OSCE review, “the situation became more or
less tense from April to June, 1991, when the Soviet army displaced
Armenians from many rural areas of the region with the assistance of
the Azeri Interior Ministry. This act was realized very severely.”
“Unfortunately, neither the operative nor the military crimes carried
out within that period found their political and legal evaluation,
and this resulted in new vandalism from the Azeri side – ethnic
groups’ evictions.”
“The tragedy of Getashen, Martunashen and Shahumyan still continues
as the displaced Armenians haven’t got a right to return and they
haven’t been compensated.
These villages are left out in the reviews of international mediators
and in projects of the Karabakh conflict peaceful settlement,” this
is a quotation from the NKR Foreign Ministry statement.
By the way, there are many documents which testify to the fact that the
Azeri authorities find that the Karabakh conflict settlement is closely
connected with the residents’ displacement or their annihilation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TRAINING COURSES FOR ARMENIAN PROSECUTORS
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[06:19 pm] 04 May, 2006
YEREVAN, 4 May 2006 – Preventing and prosecuting sexual crimes was the
focus of a training course for Armenian prosecutors and investigators
that ended today in Yerevan.
The two-day event was organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan, the
Warsaw-based OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(ODIHR), and the Training Centre of the General Prosecutor’s Office.
ODIHR has been helping Armenian prosecutors since November 2004,
with funding from the United States.
“Emphasis should be placed on appropriate treatment of victims of
all types of crimes, including sexual violence,” said Cynthia Alkon,
Head of ODIHR’s Rule of Law programme.
Tatul Badasyan, Deputy Director of the Prosecutors’ Training Centre,
praised the close co-operation with the OSCE, adding that it was
important to share the best practices in the field, including
investigative techniques and prosecution of cases of sexual violence.
Around 25 participants and two experts from Austria and the United
States discussed various case studies, international legal provisions,
and the psychology of investigations , as well as issues connected
with domestic violence, child abuse and human trafficking.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE FLIGHT SCHEDULE HAS CHANGED
A1+
[08:50 pm] 04 May, 2006
The flight schedule of “Zvartnots” airport has changed which is
determined by the “A – 320” aircraft crash.
Today the flights Yerevan – Moscow and Yerevan – Amstedam were
cancelled. And the flights Yerevan – Minvod and Yerevan – Istanbul were
annulled. All these flights are realized by the air company “Armavia.”

IT IS NOT EASY “TO FIND COMPROMISE” ACCORDING TO AZERBAIJAN
A1+
[09:25 pm] 04 May, 2006
RA Forign Minister Vardan Oskanyan participated in a conference titled
“General review on general neigbourhood” which was held in Velnyus,
the capital of Lithuania. The Presidents of Armenia and Lithuania
made openig speeches at the conference.
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus expressed his condelence on the
Armenian airplane crash at the beginning of the conference.
Many high-rank officials and Foreign Ministers of Baltic and Eastern
European countries also participated at the conference.
RA Foreign Minister Oskanyan first of all thanked the participants
for their sympathy and then focused on political developments of
the post Soviet region. The Minister aslo referred to the Nagorno –
Karabakh conflict settlement.
“Democracy cannot be established within a night. We know and claim
that while we go ahead on the right way, the evolutional and upward
approach towards democracy will be more efficient and firmer,” noted
vardan Oskanyan.
While speaking of the NKR conflict peaceful settlement Minister
Oskanyan underlined that “with its great oil supply and the oil
current high prices Azerbaijan thinks or at least announces they have
the military way of the conflict settlement. We cannot find compromise
if they have such position. But the EU and the international community
must make them understand that the matter has no military solution. As
Armenia has already stated, compromise is required in order to settle
the conflict peacefully.”
Oskanyan held many bilateral meetings during the conference. He
diccussed the final phase of the Armenian – EU program within the
realms of the European neighbourhood policy with Javier Solana, the
highest representative of the EU joint Foreign and Security policy. The
two sides also referred to the negotitaions on the Karabakh conflict
settlement and their prospect.
Oskanyan also met with Romanian Foreign minister Razvan Ungureanu. The
Ministers focused on the issues of mutual coooperation and the upcoming
Black Sea conference “Dialogue and Partnership Forum” which will be
held in Bukharest.

ARMENIA TO PARTICIPATE IN BOOK-EXPO AMERICA
Armenpress
May 04 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS: Armenian book publishers will show their
products at a May 18-22 Book EXPO-America in Washington, USA.
Vahan Khachatrian, the chairman of the Armenian Association of
Publishers, said some 150 Armenian books-fiction, children books and
also books about the Armenian genocide and the Armenian alphabets
will be displayed. He said Armenian publishers are also expected to
have a series of meetings with local Armenian community. He said this
is going to be the first show of Armenian books in the USA.

OSCE HOLDS TRAINING COURSE ON COMBATING SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN ARMENIA
Armenpress
May 04 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS: The OSCE Yerevan Office held a two-day
training course for Armenian prosecutors and investigators which was
aimed at preventing and prosecuting sexual crimes in Armenia.
OSCE Yerevan Office’s press service informed Armenpress that the event
which ended today was organized by the Yerevan office, the Warsaw-based
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR),
and the Training Center of the General Prosecutor’s Office. ODIHR has
been helping Armenian prosecutors since November 2004, with funding
from the United States.
“Emphasis should be placed on appropriate treatment of victims of
all types of crimes, including sexual violence,” said Cynthia Alkon,
head of ODIHR’s Rule of Law program. Tatul Badasian, deputy director of
the Prosecutors’ Training Center, praised the close co-operation with
the OSCE, adding that it was important to share the best practices
in the field, including investigative techniques and prosecution of
cases of sexual violence.
Around 25 participants and two experts from Austria and the United
States discussed various case studies, international legal provisions,
and the psychology of investigations, as well as issues connected
with domestic violence, child abuse and human trafficking.

CONFUSION SURROUNDS INVESTIGATION OF ARMENIAN YOUTH’S MURDER IN MOSCOW
Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, DC
May 4 2006
The prime suspect in the murder of an Armenian youth in Moscow last
month has been released after signing a written pledge not to leave the
city until the investigation is completed, according to an April 28,
2006 report by the Newsru.com news web site. Prosecutors were not able
to muster enough evidence to charge 16 year old Denis Kulagin and had
to release him after 72 hours of detention. Mr. Kulagin originally
confessed to the murder of Vigen Abramyants, but later retracted
his confession.
Meanwhile, public mistrust of police-who are regularly accused of
torturing suspects into making false confessions and covering up
anti-minority violence-appears to be damaging the case. In an April
28, 2006 interview with the national daily Moskovsky Komsomolets,
the victim’s father claimed that 11 witnesses saw his son killed by
skinheads, a version of events that investigators have characterized
as a red herring designed to distract attention from Mr. Kulagin,
who they believed killed Mr. Abramyants after a quarrel over a girl.
Rafael Abramyants alleged that police pressured Mr. Kulagin into
confessing, telling him that as a youth, he would get a suspended
sentence. Another witness, identified only by her first name Elmira,
was quoted in the newspaper report saying that Vigen Abramyants was
killed by skinheads; his father then added that a metro security
camera was missing four hours of film which should have recorded the
murder. Police earlier refuted this charge, asserting that the camera
did record the murder, but that the victim was obscured from view by
a large group of passengers.

TWO BLACK BOXES OF CRASHED ARMENIAN JET DETECTED
Xinhua, China
2006-05-05 05:57:10
May 4 2006
MOSCOW, May 4 (Xinhua) — Two black boxes of Armenia’s Airbus A-320
which crashed off the Russian Black Sea coast on Wednesday morning have
been spotted by French experts, an official from Russia’s Emergency
Situations Ministry said on Thursday.
“French experts finished their work by finding black boxes. They
claim to have spotted two black boxes at a depth of 680 meters not
far away from each other,” Lieut. Gen. Sergei Kudinov, chief of the
Emergency Situations Ministry’s southern branch, was quoted by the
Interfax news agency as saying.
The Airbus A-320 of the Armenian airline belonging to the air company
Armavia crashed into the Black Sea near the southern Russian resort
town of Sochi on Tuesday, killing all 113 people onboard, including
six children and eight crew.
“As of today 28 bodies out of 48 withdrawn from water have been
identified,” Kudinov said. But no body was found on Thursday.
At the same time, rescuers have gathered three trucks of recovered
items and pieces of the aircraft on the surface.
“It is remarkable that among all the seat parts there were no safety
belts,” Kudinov said.
“As far as black boxes are concerned, taking into consideration world
experience, no one has ever raised them from such a depth.
Moreover, the harsh environment, hydrogen sulfide, should be taken
into consideration as well,” the official said.
In addition, there is nothing in the search zone at a depth from 60 to
200 meters, while sound locator is detecting “certain metal elements,
probably, of the airliner’s fuselage at a depth of 600 meters,”
Kudinov said.
Furthermore, an oil spot in the crash zone has split into several
parts, that are moving away from each other, he said, adding that
a vessel carrying sound locators will continue to work through the
night.

AIRBUS SPECIALISTS DETECT RADIO SIGNAL FROM CRASHED PLANE
Armenpress
May 04 2006
SOCHI, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS: Airbus specialists working at the site of
the crashed Armenian airliner on the Black Sea said Thursday they
had detected a radio signal, possibly from the plane’s black boxes.
“The signal was found almost immediately after the search started,
but is very weak,” RIA news agency said quoting a Russian emergencies
ministry official as saying. The experts from the French aircraft
company are using special equipment while searching for flight data
recorders from the A-320 that crashed in the sea 6 kilometers off the
Russian coast early Wednesday, killing all the 113 people onboard. They
have been working since Thursday morning.
The official said it was still unclear whether the signal came from the
recorders, and added that the Airbus team was continuing the search
and trying to locate the signal more accurately. Two emergencies
ministry teams are also working at the site, using radars to try to
pick up signals.
Two search efforts are currently under way to recover plane fragments
on the surface and those deep under water. The two search areas are
several kilometers away from each other.

ARMENIA, RUSSIA AND GEORGIA JOIN EFFORTS TO FIND OUT THE CAUSE OF ARMENIAN JET CRASH
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily
05/05/2006
The investigation into the cause of the crash of A-320 Armenian
plane on May 3 is under way, Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia
says. Another investigation was launched in Russia. According to Ria
Novosti, prosecutor of Sochi, Aleksei Perfilev, stated that “a great
number of all kinds of examinations need to be carried out.” In his
words, the main task for now is retrieving the bodies authentication by
the relatives. He assured that they have enough means for a full-scale
investigation. Mr. Perfilev also informed that currently they examine
technical papers at the flight control point.
The Chief prosecutor’s Office says that Armenian specialists on
their part will check whether the plane took off from Yerevan after
a careful servicing or not.
In the evening of May 3 Armenia’s chief prosecutor, Aghvan Hovsepian,
and his Georgian counterpart agreed on handing over the onboard
records 90 percent of which has the Georgian Navigation. The chief
prosecutor of Georgia expressed readiness to help in the process of
investigation, and our investigators are already working in Tbilisi.
The prosecutor’s Office continues active cooperation with the Russian
side, too. The investigation is expected to extend.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress