OMBUDSMAN SUPPORTS RESIDENTS OF BUZAND STREET
A1+
| 21:03:49 | 13-10-2005 | Politics |
The National Citizens’ Initiative (NCI) today continued its series of
public hearings with a town-hall meeting on “Violations in Property
Alienation.” By means of the event, NCI brought a new stimulus to the
civic movement against the human rights infringements taking place
during implementation of the new construction plan for Yerevan. On
August 24, at the time of the first hearings devoted to this issue,
NCI had underscored the need to prepare a special report.
Illegalities and arbitrariness are still so widespread in Armenia that
this autumn the country’s ombudswoman Larisa Alaverdian had come up
with a special report in this regard. “The human rights defender had
been criticized for her 2004 annual report, where the facts pertaining
to the sad state of human rights were either under-expressed or
entirely missing. That gap has been filled by the special report,”
Alaverdian said. She also expressed a conviction that even after the
revelation of relevant evidences, unlawful acts continue unabated.
Despite the invitations that were sent to a range of state bodies,
there were very few government officials who took part in the
session. Chairman Karen Davtian of the Bureau for the Implementation
of Yerevan’s Construction Investment Plans attempted to substantiate
the legitimacy of property alienation. According to him, the number
of disgruntled citizens is small because approximately 1200 residents
of that area already have signed pertinent contracts and received
compensations. In the words of Davtian, the complaints by many are
baseless since those people do not possess any documents that confirm
their right to proprietorship.
However, the scores of citizens who participated in the public
roundtable with their private testimonies maintained the contrary
and presented their own counter evidence as victims of the state’s
“eminently false domain and needs.” Sedrak Barseghian in particular,
pointed out that the company, which received the permission to carry
out construction in that zone has an enormous debt to the state. The
Biuzand Street residents Vachagan Hakobian, Levon Ghasabian, Gohar
Gharibian, and Iskuhi Bilian on the other hand, testified that the
state authorities were evicting the inhabitants from their homes
without recompensing them.
Chairman of Helsinki Committee Avetik Ishkhanyan called to appeal to
the European Court of Human Rights, since the report of the Ombudsman
has big advantage.

U.S. ALLOCATED FUNDS TO RA PARLIAMENT
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| 21:01:29 | 13-10-2005 | Politics |
The U.S. allocated $2 million to the RA national Assembly. The
memorandum was signed today by Chairman Artur Baghdassaryan and
representative of the U.S. Agency for International Development
Robin Phillips.
In the course of the event Artur Baghdassaryan stated, “The world
belongs to optimists, pessimists are playing the role of observers. The
optimism of the Speaker lies in his confidence that after the
referendum on November 27 the Constitution will strengthen the role
of the parliament. And the parliament should be ready for it. $2
million will be spent on these preparations. NA specialists training,
technical re-equipment and international exchanged will take place.
Artur Baghdassaryan said he hopes that the nation-parliament ties
will also activate.
The NA-USAID cooperation is planned till 2007.

ELECTION KIDNAPPING IN ECHMIADZIN
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| 22:54:47 | 13-10-2005 | Politics |
Today several hours before the meeting with candidate for Mayor of
Echmiadzin Yervand Aghvanyan 5 his supporters disappeared. Then an
anonymous person informed that if the meeting with Aghvanyan does
not take place, they won’t see the kidnapped any more.
The indignant residents of Echmiadzin tried to meet with President
Kocharian or his representative. However the meeting did not take
place.

THE SINGLE UNSOLVED QUESTION
Panorama
19:28 13/10/05
“You know, that enterprises have been given to us instead of
debts. Russia had to activate the production system there. I think
that Russia haven’t done this. Till now we really do not know what
to produce in the firms, I mean military or civil products. So in
the previous meeting we had an agreement to create a working group
to deal with these problems. The working group had the first meeting
yesterday. They have already decided what to do.
I think that at the beginning of the next year the group members
will report in detail what they are exactly going to produce “, said
the Minister of Transportation, and co-chairmen of Armenian-Russian
intergovernmental committee Igor Levitan. /Panorama.am/
From: Baghdasarian

MILITARY ATTACK AT NALCHIK FORCE STRUCTURES
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| 22:44:10 | 13-10-2005 | Politics |
October 13 the capital city of Kabardino-Balkaria was attacked. Armed
forces attempted to capture the force structures of Nalchik. Several
hundreds of military rushed into the city.
According to the latest data, 50 hirelings were eliminated, 12
civilians were killed and 88 taken to hospital.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN DISCUSSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
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| 22:14:20 | 13-10-2005 | Official |
Today Robert Kocharian held a working meeting with members of the
council of political coalition to discuss matters referring to
constitutional amendments.
As result it was decided to from a council for coordination the
preparatory works on the constitutional referendum. The council
will consist of representatives of political coalition and political
forces speaking out for the amendments. The work of the council will
be coordinated by chairman of the NA commission on defense, national
security and home affairs Mher Shahgeldyan.
The first sitting of the coordinating council will be held on October
18 at 5 p.m.

WILL JUSTICE TRIUMPH?
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| 22:06:34 | 13-10-2005 | Politics |
Executive Director of Right juridical center Vahe Grigoryan was accused
of fraud and detained on October 8, 2005. During the preliminary
investigation (2 months) he will be kept in a cell.
The court session lasted 9 hours and 10 lawyers defended the
accused. To remind, Vahe Grigoryan is the defender of some families,
residents of Buzand street. He sent two cases to the European Court
of Human Rights and was going to send a third.
Vahe Grigoryan’s lawyer Tigran Atanesyan says that the officers of
the national security serving have been threatening his defendant
for already a year.
The lawyers assure that they will bring the case to all the instances
and justice will triumph.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RA PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARIAN TO VISIT BRUSSELS ON OCTOBER 19-22
AZG Armenian Daily #185
14/10/2005
RA President Robert Kocharian received the ambassadors of EU member
countries to Armenia and the delegation of European Commission. The
press office of RA President informed that the visit of Kocharian to
Brussels and European structures is slated for the next week. Robert
Kocharian will discuss prospects for cooperation, particularly,
issues of elaborating individual program within the framework of
European neighborhood policy.
Kocharian stated that the policy of European neighborhood will bring
Armenia-EU relations to the new qualitative level.

SYNOPSIS BUYS SHARES OF HPL COMPANY
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily #185
14/10/2005
Synopsis, which functions in Armenia since last year, has recently
declared that it is going to buy the shares of HPL company paying $
13 million for them. 350 engineers and 150 students work at “Synopsis
Armenia.” HPL company was founded in 1995, in Armenia and was the first
branch among the foreign companies working in Armenia. Richard Goldman,
head of “Synopsis Armenia,” said that they created a very comfortable
atmosphere for the companies dealing with informational technologies.
Hovik Musaelian, executive head of “Synopsis Armenia,” said that it’s
quite a normal phenomenon when a leading company merges with another
one in the market of competition. He emphasized the importance of
this case for Armenia from the aspect of the regional developments.
Synopsis works out technologies that would avert drawbacks in
producing.
Today, the production period lasts 18-20 months. The new approaches
and the experience elaborated and accumulated by HPL will allow
shorten this period.
Rich Goldman hopes that this deal will make the work of “Synopsis”
more effective, as they will use the unique technologies of HPL and
the talented team of specialists. Brain Golden, deputy head of HPL,
expressed hope that Synopsis will become very competitive in the
world and create new jobs in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GEORGIAN SECTION OF BAKU-CEYHAN OIL PIPELINE OPENS
AZG Armenian Daily #185
14/10/2005
On October 12, the leaders of Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan
witnessed the opening of the Georgian section of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline.
According to Novosti agency, President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia
emphasized that the pipeline is firstly of political importance. “The
importance of Georgia grows on the world map. Next year, we’ll have
a gas pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum) that will also contribute to
Georgia’s economic and energetic independence,” Saakashvili said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress