Those in power and those that turn a blind eye should be hung up by the BALLS!!!

As the “legal” theft of persons homes and property continues, the world turns a blind eye to the criminal activities of the Armenian Government.

The United States Government’s Millennium Challenge program as already signed into a contract for the continuation of their programs even though their program clearly stipulates that if there are any open cases regarding corruption by the receiving governments, no programs will funded.

Not only is there the case below, but also there is a clearly documented case that the Department of State has been formally informed about regarding the Armenian Engineers and Scientists tree program that was started in the early 1990’s and the land which belongs to them has been “legally” misappropriated by someone related to a very high ranking person in government.

I tell you what needs to happen in the end. ALL those bulidings that were built by illigal means need to be confiscated from those criminals who today have the luxury of the protection from the law of Robert Kocharian and his criminal gang and given to the people who owned the land they stand on. All those that purchased houses and commercial space in those new buildings can go after those that sold them the stolen property. This is on our to-do list and even if it is 30 years from now will happen. I again tell those from the Diaspora that are looking for a place to buy in Armenia to stay away from new buildings in the center of the city, as in a few years you may be getting kicked out of a place that you thought was yours but belongs to someone else.

House Demolitions Continue In Yerevan

RFE/RL Armenia Report - 03/01/2007
By Shakeh Avoyan

Security forces used force to evict on Thursday yet another family in downtown Yerevan whose old house has been confiscated by the state to be torn down by private real estate developers.

The family of nine persons were forced out of their eight-room property after refusing to accept a $23,000 compensation offered by municipal authorities. Citing `public needs,' the authorities have decided to give it to the owner of an adjacent building housing a night club and a department store.

The evicted residents say the proposed compensation is worth a fraction of the market value of their home and insufficient even for buying a tiny apartment on the city outskirts. The authorities counter that the sum is modest partly because some parts of the house were constructed illegally.

The main house owner, Samvel Gharibian, has unsuccessfully challenged his family's displacement in two courts. He filed an appeal to Armenia's Court of Cassation and is currently awaiting a judgment.

Justice Ministry bailiffs, backed up by special police, cited the lower court rulings as they broke into Gharibian's house. His wife and one of the daughters put up fierce resistance to the law-enforcement officers, screaming and condemning them as `fascists.' The pregnant young woman was injured in the scuffle and required medical assistance.

In the meantime, dozens of other people, who have already been evicted from other old neighborhoods of Yerevan, gathered outside in a show of solidarity with the Gharibian family. `You don't defend the interests of the people,' one man shouted at the bailiffs.

`I'm not the one who is forcing them out,' countered one of the officials.

Hundreds of families have been affected by the ongoing controversial redevelopment which is rapidly changing the city center. Many of them have been similarly unhappy with the modest amount of compensations, alleging high-level government corruption. Some have resisted eviction by filing lawsuits and even building barricades.

The Armenian constitution stipulates that private property can be taken away by the state `only in exceptional cases involving overriding public interests, in a manner defined by law, and with a prior commensurate compensation.' The process has until now been regulated only by government directives, however. Armenia's Constitutional Court effectively declared it illegal in April, but stopped short of ordering the authorities to return the increasingly expensive land to their former owners. It only ordered the government to pass a bill regulating all aspects of urban development.

The government-controlled parliament approved such a bill last November amid strong protests from the opposition minority which considers it too discretionary. It essentially allows the authorities to continue to demolish old houses in the capital and other parts of the country by simply invoking `needs of the public and the state.'

The government again used that prerogative at a weekly meeting on Thursday, approving redevelopment projects in some parts of the Armenian capital. A government press release did not specify those areas.