Armenian News
No Arrests As Slain Armenian Prosecutor Buried
By Karine Simonian in Vanadzor
By Karine Simonian in Vanadzor
27 August 2007
A senior Armenian prosecutor murdered over the weekend was buried on
Monday in the presence of top government and law-enforcement officials
who pledged to identify and punish the perpetrators of the latest
high-profile killing.
Albert Ghazarian, the chief prosecutor of the northern Lori region, was
shot dead outside his home in the regional capital Vanadzor on Saturday
night. Law-enforcement authorities swiftly launched a criminal
investigation conducted by a team of prosecutors, police officers and
investigators from the National Security Service (NSS).
A spokesman for President Robert Kocharian issued a special statement
the next morning strongly condemning the murder. The Office of the
Prosecutor-General said `all necessary measures to clarify all
circumstances of the crime and identify the guilty.' No arrests were
reported as of Monday evening.
Ghazarian's funeral in Vanadzor was attended by Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian, Justice Minister Gevorg Danielian and Prosecutor-General
Aghvan Hovsepian. The latter cut short his vacation to personally
oversee the ongoing inquiry.
Hovsepian's written message to his subordinates was read out during the
funeral by Deputy Prosecutor-General Mnatsakan Sargsian. It described
the killing as a `desperate reaction from criminals who are in their
death throes.' `I am confident that all circumstances of the crime will
be fully uncovered and the guilty will get their deserved punishment,'
read the message.
Investigators have so far refused to be drawn on any theories of the
crime considered by them. It is not clear if any of those theories
relates to Ghazarian's strained relationship with Vanadzor Mayor Samvel
Darpinian. It was exposed when the slain prosecutor's son-in-law, Gagik
Hovsepian, was controversially defeated by Darpinian during the last
mayoral election held in Armenia's third largest city. Ghazarian
subsequently clashed with Darpinian over what he considered illegal
allocations of municipal land.
The Vanadzor mayor was also among several local officials, including
Lori's former Governor Henrik Kochinian, implicated in a embezzlement
case brought by the Lori prosecutor's office last June. They are
suspected of a large-scale theft of equipment from a local sewage works
which allegedly occurred during the 1990s.
A spokeswoman for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Sona Truzian, refused
to specify whether the investigators see a possible link between this
and the murder. `In the interests of the investigation, no information
about steps taken by investigators will be released for the time being,'
she told RFE/RL. `As for the theories of the crime discussed during the
investigation, they are not subject to publication.'
Darpinian, meanwhile, was conspicuously absent from the funeral.
Witnesses said an official from the mayor's office who visited
Ghazarian's house to offer his and his boss's condolences met with a
hostile reception from the slain prosecutor's relatives.
A senior Armenian prosecutor murdered over the weekend was buried on
Monday in the presence of top government and law-enforcement officials
who pledged to identify and punish the perpetrators of the latest
high-profile killing.
Albert Ghazarian, the chief prosecutor of the northern Lori region, was
shot dead outside his home in the regional capital Vanadzor on Saturday
night. Law-enforcement authorities swiftly launched a criminal
investigation conducted by a team of prosecutors, police officers and
investigators from the National Security Service (NSS).
A spokesman for President Robert Kocharian issued a special statement
the next morning strongly condemning the murder. The Office of the
Prosecutor-General said `all necessary measures to clarify all
circumstances of the crime and identify the guilty.' No arrests were
reported as of Monday evening.
Ghazarian's funeral in Vanadzor was attended by Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian, Justice Minister Gevorg Danielian and Prosecutor-General
Aghvan Hovsepian. The latter cut short his vacation to personally
oversee the ongoing inquiry.
Hovsepian's written message to his subordinates was read out during the
funeral by Deputy Prosecutor-General Mnatsakan Sargsian. It described
the killing as a `desperate reaction from criminals who are in their
death throes.' `I am confident that all circumstances of the crime will
be fully uncovered and the guilty will get their deserved punishment,'
read the message.
Investigators have so far refused to be drawn on any theories of the
crime considered by them. It is not clear if any of those theories
relates to Ghazarian's strained relationship with Vanadzor Mayor Samvel
Darpinian. It was exposed when the slain prosecutor's son-in-law, Gagik
Hovsepian, was controversially defeated by Darpinian during the last
mayoral election held in Armenia's third largest city. Ghazarian
subsequently clashed with Darpinian over what he considered illegal
allocations of municipal land.
The Vanadzor mayor was also among several local officials, including
Lori's former Governor Henrik Kochinian, implicated in a embezzlement
case brought by the Lori prosecutor's office last June. They are
suspected of a large-scale theft of equipment from a local sewage works
which allegedly occurred during the 1990s.
A spokeswoman for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Sona Truzian, refused
to specify whether the investigators see a possible link between this
and the murder. `In the interests of the investigation, no information
about steps taken by investigators will be released for the time being,'
she told RFE/RL. `As for the theories of the crime discussed during the
investigation, they are not subject to publication.'
Darpinian, meanwhile, was conspicuously absent from the funeral.
Witnesses said an official from the mayor's office who visited
Ghazarian's house to offer his and his boss's condolences met with a
hostile reception from the slain prosecutor's relatives.
Government Approves Pension Hike
By Irina Hovannisian
In a move certain to be linked with the approaching presidential
election, the Armenian government approved on Thursday a 60 percent
surge in modest pensions paid to hundreds of thousands of elderly
citizens.
A government statement said they will receive an average of about 20,000
drams ($60) per month starting from January 1.
`The decision did not come all of a sudden,' Vazgen Khachikian, director
of the state pension fund, told RFE/RL. He said Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian's coalition cabinet envisaged the drastic increase in its
five-year policy program approved by parliament in June.
The increase will take effect on the eve of the 2008 presidential
election in which Sarkisian will be a top contender. Pensioners make up
a considerable part of Armenia's electorate and usually vote in large
numbers. Pension rises approved by the government until now were far
more modest.
Khachikian, who is a member of Sarkisian's Republican Party, insisted
that the latest measure is not aimed at inducing pensioners to vote for
the Armenian premier. `There is no need to look for black cats in a dark
room, especially if they are not there,' he said, adding that the
government plans to gradually raise the average pension to at least
36,000 drams by 2012.
Armenian Phone Fees `Higher Than In U.S.'
By Ruben Meloyan
Armenians pay more for fixed-line phone services than residents of not
only neighboring countries but the United States, according to new
research presented in Yerevan on Thursday.
A study conducted by the Armenian Center for National and International
Studies (ACNIS) found that an Armenian phone subscriber pays an average
of $38.4 per month, compared with $23 paid by a typical phone user in
the U.S. The monthly phone bills in Georgia and Azerbaijan average $25
and $19 respectively, according to it.
`Phone expenditures in Armenia make up an average 19.5 percent of the
average monthly wage,' said Ashot Turajian, the main author of the
study. Americans, by contrast, spend less than one percent of their
monthly income on fixed-line phone calls, he said.
In Turajian's words, the ratio is higher in Georgia, at 22 percent, only
because the official monthly wage there is considerably lower than in
Armenia. He put the same figure for Azerbaijan at 9 percent.
The ACNIS study noted that the ArmenTel national telecommunication
company's fixed monthly fees covering six hours of domestic phone calls
and per-minute charges levied from subscribers exceeding that limit are
both higher than similar tariffs set by U.S. fixed-line operators. It
said that unlike ArmenTel, the latter do not differentiate between
individual and corporate phone users. Armenian legal entities have to
pay more for the service than private individuals.
The cost of the service would have been even higher if the Armenian
government and state regulators had agreed to all tariff increase sought
by ArmenTel's current and previous owners. The Russian-owned company's
most recent attempt to raise its fees was blocked by the Public Services
Regulatory Commission (PSRC) this summer.
The ArmenTel management agreed this month to keep the tariffs unchanged
until next April but indicated that it expects the regulatory body to
allow it to raise them later in 2008.
By Irina Hovannisian
In a move certain to be linked with the approaching presidential
election, the Armenian government approved on Thursday a 60 percent
surge in modest pensions paid to hundreds of thousands of elderly
citizens.
A government statement said they will receive an average of about 20,000
drams ($60) per month starting from January 1.
`The decision did not come all of a sudden,' Vazgen Khachikian, director
of the state pension fund, told RFE/RL. He said Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian's coalition cabinet envisaged the drastic increase in its
five-year policy program approved by parliament in June.
The increase will take effect on the eve of the 2008 presidential
election in which Sarkisian will be a top contender. Pensioners make up
a considerable part of Armenia's electorate and usually vote in large
numbers. Pension rises approved by the government until now were far
more modest.
Khachikian, who is a member of Sarkisian's Republican Party, insisted
that the latest measure is not aimed at inducing pensioners to vote for
the Armenian premier. `There is no need to look for black cats in a dark
room, especially if they are not there,' he said, adding that the
government plans to gradually raise the average pension to at least
36,000 drams by 2012.
Armenian Phone Fees `Higher Than In U.S.'
By Ruben Meloyan
Armenians pay more for fixed-line phone services than residents of not
only neighboring countries but the United States, according to new
research presented in Yerevan on Thursday.
A study conducted by the Armenian Center for National and International
Studies (ACNIS) found that an Armenian phone subscriber pays an average
of $38.4 per month, compared with $23 paid by a typical phone user in
the U.S. The monthly phone bills in Georgia and Azerbaijan average $25
and $19 respectively, according to it.
`Phone expenditures in Armenia make up an average 19.5 percent of the
average monthly wage,' said Ashot Turajian, the main author of the
study. Americans, by contrast, spend less than one percent of their
monthly income on fixed-line phone calls, he said.
In Turajian's words, the ratio is higher in Georgia, at 22 percent, only
because the official monthly wage there is considerably lower than in
Armenia. He put the same figure for Azerbaijan at 9 percent.
The ACNIS study noted that the ArmenTel national telecommunication
company's fixed monthly fees covering six hours of domestic phone calls
and per-minute charges levied from subscribers exceeding that limit are
both higher than similar tariffs set by U.S. fixed-line operators. It
said that unlike ArmenTel, the latter do not differentiate between
individual and corporate phone users. Armenian legal entities have to
pay more for the service than private individuals.
The cost of the service would have been even higher if the Armenian
government and state regulators had agreed to all tariff increase sought
by ArmenTel's current and previous owners. The Russian-owned company's
most recent attempt to raise its fees was blocked by the Public Services
Regulatory Commission (PSRC) this summer.
The ArmenTel management agreed this month to keep the tariffs unchanged
until next April but indicated that it expects the regulatory body to
allow it to raise them later in 2008.
RUSSIA BANS ARMENIAN MEAT AMID DISEASE OUTBREAK
By Irina Hovannisian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 29 2007
Russia banned imports of meat from Armenia on Wednesday, citing an
outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) registered in the country's
northern regions late last week.
Russian authorities also restricted imports of some Armenian
agricultural products for the same reason.
According to the Itar-Tass news agency, the ban followed the release
of the results of laboratory tests conducted in Armenia by Russian
food safety experts. They concluded that ASF, which rarely occurs
outside Africa, was the cause of mass deaths of pigs reported from
several villages in the Lori and Tavush provinces bordering Georgia.
The Armenian Agriculture Ministry arrived at the same conclusion at
the weekend, quarantining the affected communities. "Transport of
pork, live pigs and animal fodder from those communities is banned,"
Grigor Baghian, head of the ministry's Food Safety and Veterinary
Inspectorate, told RFE/RL.
Baghian said police and veterinary services have set up roadblocks
outside those villages to enforce the quarantine. The authorities have
also ordered a mandatory cull of all local pigs, he said, adding that
more than a thousand of them have already been killed.
Baghian said his agency believes that the disease spilled into Armenia
from Georgia where an ASF outbreak occurred on a larger scale earlier
this summer. Tens of thousands of pigs have died or been culled there
as a result.
Although the disease poses little danger to humans, it seems to have
already reduced pork consumption in Armenia. Pork was not available
for sale in one of central Yerevan's main markets on Wednesday.
"People don't buy pork, and so we stopped selling it," one meat trader
told RFE/RL.
Traders in another market did sell pork which they said is supplied
from the country's southern regions and closely inspected by food
safety experts. But they said pork sales have dropped considerably
in the past few days.
By Irina Hovannisian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 29 2007
Russia banned imports of meat from Armenia on Wednesday, citing an
outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) registered in the country's
northern regions late last week.
Russian authorities also restricted imports of some Armenian
agricultural products for the same reason.
According to the Itar-Tass news agency, the ban followed the release
of the results of laboratory tests conducted in Armenia by Russian
food safety experts. They concluded that ASF, which rarely occurs
outside Africa, was the cause of mass deaths of pigs reported from
several villages in the Lori and Tavush provinces bordering Georgia.
The Armenian Agriculture Ministry arrived at the same conclusion at
the weekend, quarantining the affected communities. "Transport of
pork, live pigs and animal fodder from those communities is banned,"
Grigor Baghian, head of the ministry's Food Safety and Veterinary
Inspectorate, told RFE/RL.
Baghian said police and veterinary services have set up roadblocks
outside those villages to enforce the quarantine. The authorities have
also ordered a mandatory cull of all local pigs, he said, adding that
more than a thousand of them have already been killed.
Baghian said his agency believes that the disease spilled into Armenia
from Georgia where an ASF outbreak occurred on a larger scale earlier
this summer. Tens of thousands of pigs have died or been culled there
as a result.
Although the disease poses little danger to humans, it seems to have
already reduced pork consumption in Armenia. Pork was not available
for sale in one of central Yerevan's main markets on Wednesday.
"People don't buy pork, and so we stopped selling it," one meat trader
told RFE/RL.
Traders in another market did sell pork which they said is supplied
from the country's southern regions and closely inspected by food
safety experts. But they said pork sales have dropped considerably
in the past few days.
DIRECTOR OF BYURAKAN OBSERVATORY: STATE DOES NOT
GIVE ENOUGH ATTENTION TO SCIENCE IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Aug 28 2007
YEREVAN, AUGUST 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The holding of the 15th European
and national astronomical forum in Yerevan bears evidence that the
Armenian astronomy is at a very high level today, the co-chairman
of the Armenian Astronomical Company Areg Mikaelian stated at the
August 28 press conference. According to him, about 300 astronomers
from 37 countries participated in the forum held on August 20-25. 8
conferences and 6 sittings took place in parallel with this forum. All
important problems of astrophysics were discussed at the forum "Our
Corner Cosmos".
Director of the Byurakan Observatory Hayk Harutyunian said that
Armenia, a country that made a significant contribution to astronomy,
is continuing to be a member of the European Astronomical Company
even though it has not paid its membership fees amounting to only 2.5
thousand USD annually for 15 years, whereas Azerbaijan and Georgia
were deprived of their membership right for this reason.
In the words of H. Harutyunian, in Armenia the state does not give
enough attention to culture and science. In his opinion, there are
state establishments and institutions whose problems should be solved
by the state. Whereas, according to H. Harutyunian, most receiving
devices of the Byurakan observatory have been purchased with the
assistance of their foreign partners. He noted that the Byurakan
observatory has the opportunity and potential for becoming a regional
scientific and educational center.
Noyan Tapan
Aug 28 2007
YEREVAN, AUGUST 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The holding of the 15th European
and national astronomical forum in Yerevan bears evidence that the
Armenian astronomy is at a very high level today, the co-chairman
of the Armenian Astronomical Company Areg Mikaelian stated at the
August 28 press conference. According to him, about 300 astronomers
from 37 countries participated in the forum held on August 20-25. 8
conferences and 6 sittings took place in parallel with this forum. All
important problems of astrophysics were discussed at the forum "Our
Corner Cosmos".
Director of the Byurakan Observatory Hayk Harutyunian said that
Armenia, a country that made a significant contribution to astronomy,
is continuing to be a member of the European Astronomical Company
even though it has not paid its membership fees amounting to only 2.5
thousand USD annually for 15 years, whereas Azerbaijan and Georgia
were deprived of their membership right for this reason.
In the words of H. Harutyunian, in Armenia the state does not give
enough attention to culture and science. In his opinion, there are
state establishments and institutions whose problems should be solved
by the state. Whereas, according to H. Harutyunian, most receiving
devices of the Byurakan observatory have been purchased with the
assistance of their foreign partners. He noted that the Byurakan
observatory has the opportunity and potential for becoming a regional
scientific and educational center.
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