News

On April 11, Gagik Dzangiryan, arrested ex-Deputy General Public prosecutor of Armenia, disseminated his statement that the criminal prosecution against himself and his brother has no legal grounds and has exclusively political character.

In the opinion of Stepan Grigoryan, head of the Analytical Centre for Globalization and Regional Development, the present internal political situation in Armenia is so serious that the general appeals to the authorities to hold dialogue and release the arrested persons to not correct.

Yesterday, on April 11, a policeman died in hospital from the wounds received during the disorders that burst out in Yerevan on March 1-2. Thus, the total number of victims of the disorders has reached nine persons.

The Labour Party is blaming the authorities of Georgia that falsification of elections was prepared at the legislative level.

Today, Miklos Harasti, Special Representative of the OSCE for the press issue, has made a statement on the occasion of prosecution of journalists in Azerbaijan, in which he has accused law enforcement bodies of falsifying cases against journalists.

In the evening on April 10, a picket was held in the Pushkin Square of Moscow in memory of the victims of the "zachistka" (clean-up) committed by Russian troops in the Chechen village of Samashki on April 7 and 8, 1995, during which over one hundred residents were killed.

Upon the initiative of the Karabakh-based company "Mlechny Put" (Milky Way) supported by the government of Nagorno-Karabakh, the website www.maragha.nk.am was launched with the information about the massacre of Armenians committed in the Karabakh village of Maraga, located in the Martakert District, on April 10, 1992.

The LiveJournal blogs in Internet continue discussing a fragment of the documentary "Chechen Trap" showing operations in Chechnya during the first war campaign, which was placed by one of the bloggers - dmitryhorse.livejournal.com.

In response to the request of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first president of Armenia and leader of the opposition, the arrested oppositionists stopped their hunger strike on April 11.

Today, the Moscow City Court has refused to consider the case about recognition of the website "Ingushetia.Ru" as an extremist one and its ban.

According to Semyon Charny, expert of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau, recently Moscow has witnessed a rise in number of interethnic crimes, but the authorities of Russia hush up these facts and figures.

Petros Makeyan, Chairman of the Democratic Homeland Party, who is kept in the Penitentiary Establishment "Nubarashen" and who declared a termless hunger strike on April 2, on April 9 refused to drink water.

A roundtable "April 9: Lessons of the Past", dedicated to the events 19 years ago, was held at the Tbilisi International Press Centre of the RIA "Novosti".

In April 1995, regiments of federal armed forces made a punitive "zachistka" (clean-up) in the village of Samashki, Achkhoy-Martan District of Chechnya, which turned into massacre of unarmed people, robberies and marauding.

The Christian Old Ritualists who are evicted now from the Imereti Valley in Sochi want to be redeemed by the authorities for the land alienated from them for erection of Olympic objects at the rate of at least $200,000 for a hundredth of hectare.

The celebratory concert organized in the evening on April 9 in the Republic Square of Yerevan in honour of inauguration of Serzh Sarkisyan, newly elected President of Armenia, from time to time was accompanied by chants performed of isolated groups of people: "Serzhik, go away!", "Levon is President!"

The wives, sisters and mothers of the arrested activists of the opposition of Armenia have addressed the authorities with a demand to release political prisoners and stop prosecutions of their family members.

In connection with the inauguration of Serzh Sarkisyan, in the evening on April 8, more than five thousand Armenians went out to the protest action in the vicinity of Los Angeles called "Minor Armenia" with a demand not to recognize Sarkisyan president-elect of Armenia.

Today, the Arbitration Court of Dagestan has considered the suit of the Ministry of Property and Land Relations of Dagestan to the Regional Public Foundation "Women's Charitable Hospital". The case was postponed till April 11.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev shall release the arrested journalists. This statement was made by Miklos Harasti, OSCE spokesman for the freedom of speech, at the press conference on the outcomes of his visit to Azerbaijan.