ARKA News Agency
June 23 2004
RA Government considers corruption as system evil – Robert Kocharian
RA President Robert Kocharian meets with CE administration in
Strasbourg
International forum on information technologies to take place in
Yerevan on June 28-30
Criminal case brought against two Armenian citizens for illegal
import of 3.3 kilograms of gold
Events devoted to 10th anniversary of founding Vazgen Sargsian
Military Institute of RA Defense Ministry to be held in Yerevan on
June 27
*********************************************************************
RA GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS CORRUPTION AS SYSTEM EVIL – ROBERT KOCHARIAN
YEREVAN, June 23. /ARKA/. RA Government considers corruption as
system evil, RA President Robert Kocharian stated at PACE session in
Strasbourg. He said that Armenia is concentrated on system changes
that eliminate the motives of corruption. `That is why we entered
GRECO group, where we can study the experience of other countries in
this sphere. By means of wide discussion with participation of OSCE,
WB and IMF, we development National anticorruption strategy and
several weeks ago, in accordance with my decree, we created Council
on coordination of fight against corruption’, Kocharian said. Among
number-one measures directed on elimination of corruption in Armenia
the President mentioned necessity of deepening of reform of legal
system, improvement of administration in tax and custom bodies,
creation of effective state service system. For decrease of
corruption risks Kocharian noted the importance of approval of
competitive sphere, predictability of Government activities, easing
of procedure, their transparency and public control.
`These are our priorities today and their goal is to provide
irreversibility of economic reforms and democratization of Armenia’,
Kocharian said.
According to research of international agency Transparency
International, in 2003 Armenia placed 78th place among 133 states on
the level of corruption. In this list Armenia is between Turkey (77th
place) and Iran (79th place). L.D. –0–
*********************************************************************
RA PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARIAN MEETS WITH CE ADMINISTRATION IN
STRASBOURG
YEREVAN, June 23. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian met with CE
administration in Strasbourg, RA President’s press office told ARKA.
The President met with the Chairman of PACE Peter Schider, CE
Secretary General Walter Schwimmer, European Court on Human Rights
Luzius Wildhaber and Norway’s PM Kjell Magne Bondevik. RA President
attended the ceremony devoted to opening of the exhibition in
European Parliament devoted to Fritjof Nansen.
Note Robert Kcharian is paying official visit in Strasbourg since
June 22. RA Today the President will hold a speech on PACE
Parliamentary Session then he will answer the question asked by PACE
MPs. L.D. -0–
*********************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES TO TAKE PLACE IN
YEREVAN ON JUNE 28-30
YEREVAN, June 23. /ARKA/. International forum on information
technologies will take place in Yerevan on June 28-30. The organizers
of the forum told ARKA that the forum will include to large
activities: Open Source and investment conference. According to the
statement, the participants of the seminar will be the heads of
public organizations, local and foreign companies and high officials
of Armenian Government.
The press release also notes that investment conference held in the
frames of the forum is a final stage of grant contest on stimulation
of business, initiated by Enterprises Incubator Fund. The conference
is to coordinate specialists and entrepreneurs of IT sphere,
stimulate realization of new ideas and initiatives and involvement of
foreign financing in Armenian IT sector. L.D. –0–
*********************************************************************
CRIMINAL CASE BROUGHT AGAINST TWO ARMENIAN CITIZENS FOR ILLEGAL
IMPORT OF 3.3 KILOGRAMS OF GOLD
YEREVAN, June 23. /ARKA/. Criminal case was brought against two
Armenian citizens – Anna Kamalian and Vardan Khazmalian – for illegal
import of 3.3 kilograms of gold and more than $30 thousand from
Turkey, RA National Security Service told ARKA. It was discovered
that they hid the gold in delivery blower for production of gold
products, which they received from representative of Spartak Muradian
Ltd, the company dealing with cargo transportations.
Kamalian and Khazmalian stated that they have chosen such type of
import, being confident that cargo transportations do not go through
detail inspection at custom bodies. L.D. –0–
*********************************************************************
EVENTS DEVOTED TO 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF FOUNDING VAZGEN SARGSIAN
MILITARY INSTITUTE OF RA DEFENSE MINISTRY TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN ON
JUNE 27
YEREVAN, June 23. /ARKA/. On June 27, Yerevan will hold celebrate the
10th anniversary of founding the RA Defense Ministry Vazgen Sargsian
Military Institute by organizing an event on the Republic Square. As
it is mentioned in the statement, placed on the RA Defense Ministry
website, in the course of the celebration, the graduates of the 2004
academic year of the Institute will be awarded initial military ranks
and diplomas. T.M. -0–

ARKA News Agency
June 24 2004
Today Armenian officers to leave Baku for Tbilisi
Italian edition of Charles Aznavour’s memoirs presented in Milano
Theater Dal Verme
*********************************************************************
TODAY ARMENIAN OFFICERS TO LEAVE BAKU FOR TBILISI
YEREVAN, June 24. /ARKA/. The Armenian officers participating in
conference on planning of filed exercises of NATO Cooperative Best
Efforts – 2004 to leave today Baku for Tbilisi, as stated by RA
defense Minister Arthur Aghabekyan. Touching upon the incident
related to staying of the Armenian officers in Azerbaijani capital,
Aghabekyan stated that the Azerbaijani authorities underestimated the
`opposition movement in Baku’. At the same time, in his opinion, the
incident was not directly organized by Azerbaijani authorities. At
the same time, he said that on the first day of the conference the RA
Defense Ministry demanded that the US Embassy in Baku was in charge
of security of the Armenian officers, however after insisting request
of the Azerbaijani side, the RA Defense Ministry agreed that this was
done by the Azerbaijani side. He also added that two days of the
conference went calmly and the Armenian side was given a number of
positions on exercises. `We, as minimum have five various positions
for officers on subdivision and on headquarter level, Aghabekyan said
adding that possibly an Armenian journalist would participate in the
exercises. He also said that to all probabilities 5-7 Armenian
officers to participate in Baku exercises.
On evening, June 21 Armenian officers – Colonel Murad Isakhanyan and
Senior Lieutenant Aram Hovhannisyan representing the Armenian
delegation arrived in Baku for participation in the conference.
To remind that on the eve of the conference, the activists of
Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) made an attempt to hamper a
three -day final conference in Baku devoted to planning of field
exercises Cooperative Best Efforts -04. KLO protesting against the
arrival of the Armenian delegation in Baku, KLO organized a picket in
front of Hotel Europe where the conference is going on. On June 22
around 100 picketers continued action protest and even 3-4 members of
eth organization were able to cross the police cordons as well as
security employees and approaching the doors of the hall where the
session was on. Seeing that the doors were closed they by broking the
door entered the hall, from where they were pushed out.
Simultaneously other members of the KLO tried closing the traffic on
the Tbilisi Avenue, where the hotel was located. The hotel was
patrolled by intensive unit of the police. T.M. -0–
*********************************************************************
ITALIAN EDITION OF CHARLES AZNAVOUR’S MEMOIRS PRESENTED IN MILANO
THEATER DAL VERME
YEREVAN, June 24. /ARKA/. Italian edition of famous French singer of
Armenian origin Charles Aznavour’s memoirs `Past days’ was presented
in Milano Theater Dal Verme As RA Foreign Ministry Information and
Press department told ARKA, the ceremony of the event was opened by
the Director of the largest publishing group RCS Libri Feruccio de
Bartoli. After this former Italian Ambassador in Russia Sergio Romano
red a paper `Reasons of Forgetting the Armenian Genocide’. Famous
Italian piano player Michele Campanella performed on the concert
organized on occasion of the presentation of the book.
The book is published by famous Italian publishing house Rizoli. The
presentation was attended by RA Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary in Italy Gagik Baghdasaryan. T.M. -0–

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 24, 2003
MEETING AT RA PARLIAMENT
On June 19 speaker of the RA National Assembly Artur Baghdassarian
met with the delegation of the NKR parliament headed by Oleg
Yessayan. During the meeting the preliminary findings of the Armenian
Conference of Parliamentarian Friendship were discussed. It was
mentioned that further effective activity of the conference is very
important. The significance of the participation of the NKR
delegation in the conference now and in the future was emphasized.
The participants of the meeting discussed questions of cooperation
between the two parliaments.
AA

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 24, 2003
CONFERENCE ENDED
The June 19 meeting of the Armenian Conference of Parliamentarian
Friendship discussed a number of questions concerning not only
Armenia but also the countries represented at the conference. Also
the economic and social state of those countries were presented. A
number of questions regarding NKR were discussed, including problems
of exchange of information. NKR National Assembly speaker Oleg
Yessayan presented the present economic condition of Artsakh to the
representatives of European countries and particularly mentioned that
every country of the post-soviet period faced two rather complicated
and interrelated problems after the declaration of independence. The
first of these problems, according to Oleg Yessayan, is formation of
the national economy after the dissolution of the economy, and the
second is to maintain the transition of the national economy into the
model of market economy. The NKR NA speaker stated that the military
and political situation in which years ago the economy of this small
country was formed naturally caused a number of serious
complications. However, today the picture is completely different.
With the assistance of the Republic of Armenia the people and the
government managed to achieve economic reforms. `The GDP in our
country only in 2003 increased by 19.8 percent.’ The average salary
in Artsakh totals over 60 US dollars. According to Oleg Yessayan, if
compared to the rates 10 years ago the average salary certainly grew
10 times. As to the development of business, the speaker of NKR
parliament emphasized that favourable conditions have been provided
in our country for foreign investments. According to the NKR
legislation, absolutely the same conditions work for all investors
but with more privileges for the foreign investors. Thus, in case of
investing 50 thousand dollars and more in the first three year the
investor is exempted from all taxes except for the pension fund
payments. Drawing the attention of the foreign members of parliament,
Mr. Yessayan mentioned that Artsakh has all the favourable conditions
for development of economy of the country as well as the growth of
business of foreign businessmen, which is favourable for both the
businessman and the development of independent Artsakh. For example
he mentioned that during the past four years the total volume of
foreign investments exceeded 40 million dollars, which is a serious
number for a country with 150 thousand population. During the meeting
the staff of the conference was also confirmed. The speaker of the
National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Artur Baghdassarian was
elected chairman of the Conference. Six committees were formed.
According to Artur Baghdassarian, the conference will pursue the
settlement of the problems that Armenia and the Armenian nation face,
as well as represent the interests of Armenia and friendly countries
in different international parliamentary organizations. The first
plenary meeting of the Armenian Conference of Parliamentarian
Friendship closed under the hymn of Armenia. The next meeting will
take place next year, however it has not been decided yet in which
country. Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Artur
Baghdassarian considered it appropriate to hold it in Armenia not
refusing invitations from Nagorni Karabakh, Russia and Ukraine. The
delegates of these countries expressed their wish to hold the next
meetings in their countries. And before that the six committees will
discuss and work out the problems for the settlement of which this
unprecedented organization was founded.
CHRISTINE MNATSAKANIAN

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 24, 2003
NO ONE-SIDED CONCESSIONS
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the cease-fire the public
undertaking `Defence of Liberated Territories’ in Yerevan published a
report. The authors of the report think that the negotiations for the
regulation of the Karabakh conflict have reached a deadlock and it is
time to make changes. The report says, `Although the cease-fire was
maintained the diplomatic war goes on.’ The mentioned public
organization informed journalists about this during the seminar on
June 19. `The past years were enough to make it clear that the
international regulation of the Artsakh issue is not its settlement
but the continuation of the war through diplomatic means,’ says the
report. According to the representatives of the public undertaking
`Defence of Liberated Territories’, returning the liberated
territories or part of them is the main problem discussed at the
negotiation, and if it is fulfilled, it will mean serious
reconsideration of the results of the war not in favour of Armenia.
According to the authors of the report, `the current situation has
two solutions: either the liberated territories are fixed in our
consciousness as motherland, populated and made part of the Armenian
state or are merely considered temporarily occupied territories for
the aim of security and estranged sooner or later.’ The settlement of
the Karabakh conflict is related to the problem of telecommunication
and refugees. The authors of the report think that because of the
long-lasting and fruitless negotiations we have appeared in a
deadlock and live under the threat of the imposed one-sided
concession. The director of the undertaking thinks that the policy of
the current government does not differ from the former. The core
principle of the both is willingness for concessions. `The only
difference perhaps is that if the former authorities expressed their
willingness for concessions in plain text, the present government
tries to postpone, not to make that step under different pressuresâ=80¦’
This is, of course, the opinion of the director of the undertaking.
And in order not to mislead the reader, we consider it necessary to
quote one of the representatives of the authorities, vice speaker of
the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Vahan Hovhannissian.
Recently in an interview in answer to the question of the journalist
whether it is possible to make pressure on the government of Armenia
and impose a non-favourable variant in reference to the Karabakh
problem, and under the foreign pressure Armenian will make one-sided
concessions, Mr. Hovhannissian said, `No, because Armenia is an
independent country and it is difficult to whitewash. We also have
eyes abroad.’ Of course, this is not the only argument and more
similar statements of representatives of the present authorities of
Armenia can be enumerated but this is not our task. Our task is to
agree to the healthy idea of the representatives of the public
organization `Defence of Liberated Territories’ that the position of
each conscious Armenian must be that all the liberated regions are an
indivisible part of Armenia and cannot be surrendered to the
strangers or become subject of negotiation bargaining. The speaker of
the National Assembly of NKR Oleg Yessayan said, `For a divided
nation the consistent accomplishment of its integrity must be a law.â=80=9D
And this integrity must not merely be physical but ideological and,
of course, determined, which is more important. With ideological
integrity we may state confidently that we will manage to achieve our
aims. Although as the participants of the seminar mentioned, `Today
Azerbaijan is not ready to admit and sign an agreement recognizing
the right of the Armenians to live free and have self-governance on
the land of Artsakh’, this is a matter of time. And the sooner our
integrity is maintained, the sooner we will manage with the
participation of our as well as a number of European organization
dealing with the Artsakh issue to make our neighbour Azerbaijan
recognize the dominance of Artsakh on the territory which Artsakh
controls de facto as well as recognize that the Republic of Nagorni
Karabakh is a self-governing state and never was and can be part of
independent Azerbaijan.
CHRISTINE MNATSAKANIAN.

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 24, 2003
MASS MEDIA – PART OF DEMOCRATIZATION
The topic of the training `Mass Media During Elections’ held in
Stepanakert last week (organized by Stepanakert Press Club with the
assistance of the international organization `Article 19′) was not
only the role of the mass media during elections but also in the
process of democratization of the society in general. The mass media,
as one of the conductors of the training noticed, is like litmus
paper indicating the level of democratization of the society. On the
topic of the role of the mass media in the democratization of the
society and the practical implementation of this role in Ukraine and
Armenia we talked to the conductors of the conference Alexey Koshel
and Elina Poghosbekian.
THE MARKET OF FREE MASS MEDIA IS NOT COMPLETELY FORMED IN UKRAINE.
Alexey Koshel, expert of the international organization `Article 19′,
deputy chairman ofthe non-governmental organization `Committee of
Voters of Ukraine’. – Mr. Koshel, what changes took place in the life
of your society after independence and to what extent are they
principal? – I should say that the transition to new market
relationships is painful not only in our country but in the entire
post-soviet territory. And this is natural. The old always yields
hardly. Principal changes, however, happened. This refers first of all
to the process of democratization of the process of elections. The
second is the publication of the work of the government agencies. Each
citizen has the opportunity to read in the mass media and online the
texts of the speeches in the parliament and government meetings, the
results of voting. The third is structuring of the political processes
in the country the evidence to which is the institute of the
elections, transition of the mass media to market relationships,
freedom of moving, freedom in economy, religion and other spheres. –
During the training you told that governmental mass media should not
exist. Why? And what is the situation of the mass media in Ukraine? –
Governmental mass media cost too expensive to the state budget. 1600
journalists work on the TV and radio of Ukraine. And the largest
private TV channel has 200 journalists even with a greater volume of
work. By the way, these companies are going to make their work more
optimal reducing the number of journalists to 80. I think the numbers
say everything. Today in our country the governmental mass media are
a TV and radio channel and two newspapers which mainly publish state
documents. Among these there are also regional mass media, usually
with too big staff and little circulation. 80 percent of the mass
media are private, the largest are `Facti’ (800 thousand copies),
`Selskie Vesti’ (514 copies), `Vechernie Vesti’ (430 thousand) and a
great number of newspapers with little circulation. In brief,
economically the governmental mass media are not optimal. These should
be replaced by the public mass media. – Closing the training you said
that independent mass media in fact do not exist and these are
considerably dependent on those on whose expense they exist. – If
there are no objective mass media, consequently there is no objective
monitoring? – Yes, independent, therefore objective mass media do not
exist but this does not mean that we should not fight for
accomplishment of at least relatively independent mass media. In
Ukraine this process lasted for 10 years. The Ukrainian private mass
media already know that by disrespectful attitude they may lose their
readers and thus their source of funding. I may state with all
responsibility that there is, nevertheless, relative independence of
the mass media in Ukraine.
SITUATION CHANGED LITTLE.
Elina Poghosbekian, editor of the bulletin of Yerevan Press Club. –
What is the situation of the mass media in Armenia in terms of the
past decade? – After the declaration of independence up today the
situation changed little. And this is conditioned by the fact that the
mass media in Armenia are in great dependence on the political
forces. – Will it go on like that? Which is the way out? – In the
Soviet period the situation was much worse, presently the situation is
better. The way out, in my opinion, is financial independence and
profitability as an economic entity. Today this is very difficult in
the conditions of Armenia. The circulation of the newspapers is
small. Most of the population lives in poverty and purchasing ability
is law, even the small circulation newspapers are sold with
difficulty. I think you are acquainted with this problem. It is
possible to acquire money from advertisement but this is not much for
the same reason that the society is not rich. As long as the mass
media cannot step on their own feet, as long as the legislative sphere
is not accomplished, it is easy to make pressure on the mass media, as
it happened with the 24 hour oppositionist channel A1+. – They say the
mass media are the reflection of the society. To what extent do the
mass media of Armenia reflect the process of democratization and how
can they affect that process? – This is a complicated process for the
progress of which first of all our willpower is important. The
European assistance to our society in democratization is little: we
must first set the aim to achieve it. If at the beginning of the 90’s
the mass media were entirely under the influence of political forces
in the result of which they lost all the best qualities, at the end of
the 90’s and the beginning of the next decade the situation got more
or less better. Among positive changes I would mention the cooperation
of Yerevan Press Club with the Union of Journalists of Armenia
(actually a half-governmental organization), as well as `Internews
Armenia’ and the committee for protection of journalists. This
cooperation enabled to smooth the decision of closing down the channel
A1+, organize protest meetings connected with the bill `On the mass
media’ worked out by the Ministry of Justice after which amendments
were made to the joint project. At the second reading it already
corresponded to the international standards. The work on the third
reading was pure editing and in December the parliament adopted the
bill. There were unhappy attempts to affect the parliament. The above
mentioned organizations tried to oppose to the introduction of
regressive changes in the law `On television and radio’ but in
vain. Today we are attempting to set forth an amendment which would
allow to move the punishment for libel and offence from the criminal
to the civil code (fine instead imprisonment). – During trainings much
was said about the code of ethics of journalists. Are the rules of
ethics kept by the journalists? – Unfortunately we have little in this
sphere to be proud of. The code of ethics of journalists was adopted
by certain mass media and public organizations working in this
sphere. The adoption of the code is actually one of the ways of
self-regulation. However the unwritten laws of the fourth branch of
power have greater force than the written ones. And this is the
reflection of the actual state of the society. The more the rights of
each individual of the society are honoured, the more the journalists
will honour the written laws.
SUSANNA BALAYAN
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Today
June 25 2004
KLO Activists Get Two Months in Jail for Their Anti-Armenian Action
Baku’s Nasimi District court on Thursday sentenced five jailed
activists of the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) to two months
in jail for their unauthorized protest action against Armenian
participation of a Baku-hosted NATO conference.
The KLO chairman Akif Naghi, along with four other activists of his
organization, Mursal Hasanov, Ilkin Qurbanov, Rovshan Fatiyev and
Manaf Kerimov, were found culpable of resisting police, violating
public order and hooliganism.
The KLO members on Tuesday protested Armenian participants of the
planning conference for NATO’s `Cooperative Best Effort-2004′
exercises, Col. Murad Isakhanyan and Sen. Lt. Aram Hovhanesyan, by
breaking into a conference hall of Baku’s Grand Hotel Europe, where
the event was taking place.
As a result, the conference was stopped for several minutes.
Several windows of the conference hall of the hotel were broken by
the protestors and there was no report of serious injuries on police
or KLO activists during the incident.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

armenianow.com
25 June 2004
Fruitful Season of Film: First international festival to begin this week
By Gayane Abrahamyan ArmeniaNow arts reporter From June 30-July 4, Armenia
will host its first international film festival.
The “Golden Apricot” International Film Festival comes during a year when
Armenia’s real apricot crop is questionable, but festival organizers are
promising a fertile cultural event.
The idea of carrying out an international film festival in Armenia has been
on cinematographers’ mind for many years, but the ambitious step was taken
by movie director Harutyun Khachatryan, the chairman of Armenian Association
of Film Critics and Cinema Journalists Susanna Harutyunyan and film critic
Michael Stamboltsyan.
..
“First, this step of ours seemed to be insanity, since to carry out such a
festival at least $2.5 million are needed. Anyway, thanks to joint efforts
we created a ridiculous budget of $100 thousand, we found people who
believed in us and as you see the goal became true,” says Khachatryan, the
director of the festival.
According to Khachatryan film is one of the basic tools of art, through
which one can show the world the country’s history, its art and culture.
“If before there were five countries in the world that didn’t have a film
festival, Armenia was one of them. This is funny and it’s a shame,”
Khachatryan adds.
Fifty filmmakers from 20 countries will take part in the festival.
Fifty-five films will be shown in five competitions and 30, hors concours.
Prizes will be awarded for: Best Full Length Fiction; Best Short Fiction;
Best Documentary; Best Animation or Experimental; and Best Student Film.
The jury for the festival will consist of cinematography specialists of
international repute, including: Massimo de Grandi (Italy), president of
International Association of Film Unions; Ally Derks the director of
Amsterdam International Film Festival,; Kirill Razlogov project director of
Moscow International Film Festival, Swedish movie director Gunar Bergdahl
and others.
Three retrospective programs will be carried out during the festival
dedicated to Armenian Film, and to Sergei Parajanov’s and Charles Aznavor’s
80th anniversaries. New Russian, Swedish, German, Bulgarian and Italian
movies will be shown under the title Yerevan Premieres.
The movies will be shown at Moscow and Nairi movie theatres, and a press
center will organize press conferences each day, as well as meetings with
cinematographers in order to present completely the works of the film
festival.
“The main purpose of the festival is to bring art movies to Armenia, which
create a desire to think, to philosophize, to connect with real art,” says
Khachatryan. “Our youth doesn’t see anything but the American movies, we
need to bring up a new movie audience.”
Financing for the festival is being underwritten by the Union of
Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia.
“This is the first serious attempt to make Armenia a country of
international culture. Maybe this very festival will give a new life and
spirit to our art,” says the President of the Union of Businessmen Arsen
Ghazaryan. “A face of a country is its culture; let us help ourselves not to
lose that face.”
For more information about the festival see

armenianow.com
25 June 2004
Guilty?: Opposition leader sentenced to 18 months
By Vahan Ishkhanyan ArmeniaNow reporter
A court in the Armavir Region has sentenced political leader Lavrenti
Kirakosyan to 18 months in prison on drug charges. Human rights activists
and political opposition leaders say Kirakosyan, regional head of the
National Democratic Union, was framed by police who planted drugs in his
home during a search, and that his arrest was for political reasons.
In reaching its decision, the court relied on testimony of five policemen,
while disregarding the testimony of two civilian search witnesses whose
testimony implied that police placed marijuana in Kirakosyan’s home.
As previously reported in ArmeniaNow, Kirakosyan was arrested April 10,
during a political protest. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail for failure
to obey a police order. Two hours before he was to be released, police were
sent to search his home, on suspicion that he was holding weapons for
acquaintances who were suspected of a crime.
His lawyer confers with Kirakosyan in court
No weapons were found. A second search was ordered, after which police
produced 59 grams of marijuana they said was found atop a water heater in
Kirakosyan’s home.
Policeman Mnatsakan Mnatsakanyan testified that he found the marijuana.
“We finished the search. When we were going to leave the building he (deputy
head of the police department) told me to check the water heater, because I
am tall,” Mnatsakanyan said. “I heard someone had tried, but was too short
to reach it.”
(Witnesses of the search say the first policeman who checked the water
heater is in fact appreciably taller that Mnatsakanyan.)
Police contradicted their own testimony. For instance, some of them said
after searching the water heater for the first time they searched the whole
house, roof and yard and in the end again searched the water heater and only
after that they found marijuana. Another policeman said they had searched
the water heater two times without intervals.
Search witness Misha Shmavonyan said a plastic vase was found in the same
location as the drugs and that the vase was covered in dust, while the
package holding the marijuana was clean – a suggestion that the drugs had
been placed there moments earlier.
(Police dogs were used in the search, but did not detect the drugs.)
A policeman took photographs of the search, but testified that the film has
been damaged and no photos are available.
Shmavonyan and another search witness, Gevorg Gevorgyan, say they were
forced by police to sign statements verifying the search. Shmavonyan also
testified that police had come to his home to try to persuade him to not
appear as a witness at the trial.
A urine sample was taken from Kirakosyan during his detention and traces of
marijuana was found in his blood. However, prior to the specimen being
taken, Kirakosyan had become ill after eating food prepared in the jail and
claims that the drug was cooked into the food he was given. A doctor treated
Kirakosyan.
The court refused Kirakosyan’s attorney Vardan Zurnachyan’s motion to call
the doctor as a witness.
Residents from Kirakosyan’s village of Karakert, filled the court for his
trial. Some among the 600 residents wrote letters praising Kriakosyan’s
civil service. One said he is a man who others call even for settling
marital disputes.
“He always helps people and struggles for justice,” wrote villager Lavrenti
Safaryan. “I will tell you a story that happened two days before he was sent
to prison. I was in Ikarus (a type of bus). There is a sick woman in the
village, she is helpless. She was suffering from complication of her arm.
Lavrenti helped her to get into the Ikarus, took her to hospital, made
doctors treat her and brought her back. He paid for her bus ticket and told
the driver, ‘next time don’t take money from this woman’.”
The court was filled with supporters from Karakert
For his part, Kirakosyan stated he has been subjected to political
persecutions for several years. In 1996 he was sentenced to six months of
imprisonment on charges, he claims, that were also fabricated, and again
following his protest of presidential elections.
Kirakosyan testified that during detention Deputy Head of Police of Armavir,
Edik Lazarian, told him that if he would promise to stop his political
activities, he would be released.
Kirakosyan said the head of the police department was asking him questions
about his political party activities and specifically wanted to know the
plans of opposition leaders Aram Sargsyan and Stepan Demirchyan. Kirakosyan
says he told police: “I am not a spy”.
Prior to the trial’s conclusion, leader of the National Democratic Union
Vazgen Manukyan held a press conference and stated that Kirakosyan is a
political prisoner and holding him violates Council of Europe mandates
regarding human rights.
“This is political matter,” Manukyan said. “They can fabricate a drug or a
murder case, however, the essence remains the same. If this case and Edgar
Arakelyan’s case (a demonstrator also convicted to 18 months for
hooliganism) are stomached, then in the future any political cases will be
turned into criminal ones.”
On the evening before the final court session Head of Police Department of
Baghramyan Region (where Kirakosyan had been held) Spartak Nahapetyan died
in a car accident.
Before making his final statement Kirakosyan asked participants of the trial
and those present in the courtroom to rise and have a minute of silence in
memory of the Head of Police Department.
Then Kirakosyan said his case is an ordered hearing and real criminals are
policemen who had fabricated the charges.
“This trial is an exceptional demonstration of dictatorship,” Kirakosyan
told the court. “However, it is well known that sooner or later all
dictatorships collapse.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CENN – June 25, 2004 Daily Digest – Armenia
Table of Contents:
1. EU freezing 100m euros aid to Armenia re refusal to shut down ANPP
2. Germany to help Armenia improve water supplies
3. Armenia, Iran Boost Energy Cooperation
4. Germany to provide fresh loans to Armenia
5. Armenia hopes for Iranian credit to build hydro plant
1. EU freezing 100m euros aid to Armenia re refusal to shut down
ANPP
Source: Bellona, UK, June 23, 2004
EU is freezing 100m euros of aid to Armenia after refusal to shut down its
nuclear plant.
“Our position of principle is that nuclear power plants should not be built
in highly active seismic zones,” stated Alexis Loeber, head of the EU’s
delegation in Armenia. The European Union, as part of its general policy
seeking the closure of elderly nuclear plants constructed in territories of
the former Soviet Union, agreed to give the grant aid ($122m) to Armenia for
finding alternative energy sources and for helping with decommissioning
costs at the plant. In return, the government in Yerevan would commit to a
definite date for the plant’s closure. “We cannot force Armenia to close the
plant,” says the EU’s Mr Loeber. “We feel that should definitely be well in
advance of the end of Metsamor’s design lifecycle in 2016.” The Metsamor
plant has no secondary containment facilities, a safety requirement of all
modern reactors, BBC reported.
Another concern is that due to border and railway closures with surrounding
territories, nuclear material to feed the plant is flown into Armenia from
Russia. “It is the same as flying around a potential nuclear bomb,” says Mr
Loeber. “It’s an extremely hazardous exercise.” Areg Galstyan, the country’s
deputy minister of power, says $50m has been spent on upgrading safety at
Metsamor. “It was a big mistake to shut the plant in 1988,” says Mr
Galstyan. “It created an energy crisis and the people and economy suffered.
Electricity industry specialists say that due to the expansion and updating
of existing thermal and hydro-energy plants, the country has become an
electricity exporter in recent years. A major new power source will come on
stream in 2006 when a pipeline supplying gas from neighboring Iran is due to
be completed, BBC reported.
At the same time PACE prepared four documents urging to close the station.
Despite some calls of international organizations to close the station, the
Armenian government did not respond to them. European Union many times
suggested Armenia to close Metsamor but Armenia rejected them. As a result,
European Union had to impose an economic sanction on Armenia by refusing to
allocate $100 million.
Armenian Trade Minister Chshmaritian reiterated Yerevan’s rejection of the
offer, saying that as much as $1 billion is needed for safely shutting down
Metsamor safely and putting in place an alternative source of inexpensive
energy. He added the Armenia-EU body decided to set up a working group that
will look into the issue in detail and present its findings by the end of
this year, Baku Today reports.
The Metsamor Nuclear Power plant produced 1.9 billion kilowatt hours of
electricity in 2003, or 36 percent of the total generation of electricity in
Armenia. ZAO Inter RAO UES, a subsidiary of Russia’s Unified Energy System,
and Armenia signed a contract in September 2003 to hand over trust
management of the plant to Inter RAO UES.
2. Germany to help Armenia improve water supplies
Source: Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan, June 22, 04
[Presenter] Armenian and German businessmen are preparing cooperation plans.
The Armenian side is presenting in Berlin proposals to increase the volume
of commodity turnover. Armenian legislation is more liberal on protecting
investment and ensuring economic competition.
[Correspondent Hermine Bagdasaryan from Berlin] An additional 8m euros to
improve water supplies to Armenia’s distant districts – Armenian Prime
Minister Andranik has reached this agreement with German Minister of
Economic Cooperation and Development Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. This is not
the beginning of German support, but a continuation of several years of a
programme of improvement for the republic’s water supply, assisting small
and medium-sized businesses and developing alternative sources of energy.
Minister Zeul asked Andranik Markaryan about the Caucasus Initiative
programme, expressing concern that only Armenia and Georgia are involved in
it. Our neighbours [Azerbaijan] politicize our joint cooperation in the
ecological and economic sectors although Armenia has declared its readiness
for cooperation without any conditions, Andranik Markaryan said.
The agenda of the Armenian delegation also included economic events. More
than 200 businessmen have arrived in Berlin to take part in the
Armenian-German economic cooperation forum and industrial exhibition.
3. Armenia, Iran Boost Energy Cooperation
Source: Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan, June 21, 2004
(Presenter) The Araks river is in the focus of the Armenian-Iran
cooperation. Armenia and Iran agreed to jointly use the river’s hydro
(electrical generating) potential nine years ago. A joint commission was set
up on in 2000 and after three years a scheme to use the river has been
confirmed. The project includes the construction of two power stations, one
on Armenian and one on Iranian territory. The Armenian Energy Ministry
discussed the preparation of the joint Armenian-Iran programmes and the
issues of the construction of the Megri hydro-electric power station during
the meeting held in Syunik District.
(Correspondent over video of power grids) The preparation works on the
construction power stations on the Araks river are being completed. The
construction site has already been confirmed. The sides will sign an
agreement in two months and the station’s ground stone will be laid in
summer 2005. The power station will be constructed by Iranian financial
means, estimated at about 40m dollars. This amount we (Armenia) shall return
in the form of energy produced in the new power station. This is the third
Armenian-Iran joint project. The first one was the Armenian-Iran
high-voltage power station which was commissioned last year. The second
line’s construction followed the first one which is under construction and
will be completed in the autumn.
There are seven Armenian-Iran joint programmes in the energy industry. The
construction of the Armenian-Iran gas pipeline’ will also start soon. The
agreement has already been signed, the financial sources are being confirmed
and the preparation works are being completed. The construction of oil
processing and chemical plants are possible plans.
(Armenian Energy Minister, Armen Movsesyan, captioned) These seven
programmes which we have with Iran in the energy industry are quite large,
serious programmes. I think that all these programmes will be implemented.
(Correspondent) Apart from the security issues in the field of energy, these
programmes will also promote the development of other districts and the
resolution of social problems, in particular, employment issues.
4. Germany to provide fresh loans to Armenia
Source: ArmenPress, June 22, 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS: Armenian prime minister Andranik Margarian who
has left today for Germany on a three-day working visit to participate in
German-Armenian Economic Cooperation Conference is expected to discuss with
German minister for economic cooperation and development Heidemarie
Witschorek-Zoll, who is also the German co-chairman of inter-governmental
commission for cooperation, a range of issues pertaining to German-Armenian
economic cooperation.
An agreement on release of a package of German credits to Armenia in the
next 3-4 years is supposed to be sealed in 2005. Armenian finance and
economy minister Vartan Khachatrian said today before flying to Berlin that
after the end of the visit an agreement will be signed in Yerevan on the
release of 7.5 millions German loan for the support to building of
hydro-power plants, 1.5 million of which will be allocated as a grant.
Khachatrian also said that a German KwF bank plans to release a 30 million
euros loan to Armenian for upgrading the privatized Yerevan power plant.
5. Armenia hopes for Iranian credit to build hydro plant
Source: Interfax, June 22, 2004
Armenia is hoping to receive a credit from Iran to build a hydroelectric
plant on the Araks river, the cost of which is estimated at $140 million,
Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisian told journalists.
He said that Armenia plans to repay the credit with supplies of electricity
to Iran.
The minister said that there are plans to build two identical hydroelectric
plants on the Araks river – the Megrin Hydroelectric Plant on Armenian
territory and the Karachilar Hydroelectric Plant in Iran. Movsisian said
that in the coming two months a feasibility study would be prepared for the
construction of Megrin Hydroelectric Plant. Construction is set to begin in
mid-2005 and an agreement with Iran will be signed by the end of this year.
The minister said that the plant will have a capacity of 140 megawatts and
will produce 841 million kWh of electricity per year. For comparison he said
that 30 small hydro plants are operating in Armenia, producing a total of
600 million kWh of electricity per year. He said that the new plant would be
the best in Armenia as regards its technical and economic parameters and in
time it is planned to build a whole chain of plants on the Araks River
together with Iran.
The Armenian government and Energy Ministry are currently working on a
program to develop alternative energy production, to ensure Armenia’s
security in the event of Armenian Nuclear Power Plant closing. The main
emphasis in this program is being placed on developing hydro production.
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: [email protected]
URL: