The Dominion
Canada's Grassroots National Newspaper

30 September 2004

Extinguishing the Post-Cold-War Dream
World Bank-mandated energy privatization taxes Armenia's poor.

Late last month, an independent Armenia became a teenager. Food, Fireworks and a festive atmosphere commemorated the 13th anniversary of its independence, declared on September 21, 1991. As the first Soviet republic to proclaim sovereignty during the collapse of the USSR, Armenians have reason to rejoice - after decades of cultural and political oppression they may finally flout their language, heritage and national identity without fear of reprisal.

Many in this tiny republic, however, have little else to celebrate. While civil liberties were subject to Soviet-style constraints, the Armenia of the 1980s enjoyed a strong economy, a healthy and highly educated public, and one of the most egalitarian distributions of wealth in the USSR. Once the newly independent government began to adopt market reforms and neoliberal values, gross domestic product plummeted, prices for basic needs such as food and water increased dramatically, while public goods like health care and education began to crumble.

Over a decade later, GDP has finally returned to pre-reform levels. Who has benefited from renewed economic growth, however, is not so clear. Spending on education and health remains low. Real wages are less than one-eighth of what they were in 1990, and economic inequality in Armenia has become extreme. In Yerevan, Armenia's capital, the number of BMWs seen rolling along city streets has mushroomed; so have the ranks of panhandlers roaming those very same urban boulevards.

Poverty has indeed become widespread in Armenia. Affecting roughly fifty percent of the population, it has quickly become an epidemic that shows little sign of subsiding.

Living on less than two dollars a day, the poor are particularly vulnerable to increases in the price of basic commodities. Privatization within the energy sector, however, has preyed upon this very weakness. Imposed by the World Bank through loan conditions, reforms designed to make electric utilities more attractive to foreign takeover left people paying more than twice as much for electricity then they were in the mid-1990s.

Furthermore, inability to pay these inflated rates now results in disconnection. This strict marketplace logic is expressed by Andrei Rappaport, a senior official for Unified Energy System of Russia, the new owner of several Armenian generating facilities: "If you want energy pay for it, and if there is not any money to pay, then goodbye."

Not unsurprisingly, these new conditions led to a serious decline in household energy consumption. The poor in particular were forced to cut electricity use considerably, by twenty percent on average. According to a World Bank report, the typical household barely has enough electricity to power a refrigerator and a handful of light bulbs.

Despite the decline in consumption, increased energy costs now account for approximately thirty percent of all household expenditures, with electricity making up the bulk of these payments. A related concern is the move towards greater wood consumption. While this reduces the reliance on costly electric power, it has also contributed to higher levels of indoor air pollution and accelerated deforestation.

Energy - widely recognized as a fundamental need for human development – has become increasingly inaccessible in Armenia. At the insistence of the World Bank, control over this precious commodity has been handed over to foreign interests, where social priorities are sacrificed in the name of corporate profit and capitalist ethos.

The picture is similar in much of the former Soviet Union: increases in cultural and, to a lesser degree, political freedoms have been overshadowed by a sharp decline in the freedom to meet basic human needs. This failure is directly related to the "shock therapy" imposition of market capitalism on countries with centralized economies - a prescription borne more of ideological zeal than sound economic principles.

Joseph Stiglitz, former Chief Economist of the World Bank, explains:

"From this cold-war perspective, those who showed any sympathy to transitional forms that had evolved out of the communist past and still bored traces of that evolution must themselves be guilty of 'communist sympathies'. Only a blitzkrieg approach during the 'window of opportunity' provided by the 'fog of transition' would get the changes made before the population had a chance to organize to protect its previous vested interests. "

Poverty and inequality remain Armenia's greatest challenges, and some question whether the political will exists to tackle these vital problems. This is true for the Armenian government, but perhaps more importantly, for the World Bank and related organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the United States Agency for International Development. The coercive pressure these institutions place upon governments to engage in fire sale privatisation tactics could be redirected to produce publicly owned utilities that are transparent, efficient, and designed to serve the public good.

Unfortunately, these institutions appear more concerned with ideological imperialism and creating profit opportunities for Western corporations than they are with promoting sustainable economics, accountable governance, and poverty reduction - all of which are necessary for human development to truly prosper.

Rob Maguire is a Canadian activist and graduate student living in Yerevan, Armenia. He can be found online at www.projectcommunis.org.

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http://dominionpaper.ca/accounts/2004/09/30/extinguish.html

Today was my future grandmother-in-laws birthday (the mayor’s mom). She asked that we do nothing special and told me that there was no need to give her a gift, though if I had not given her something, I would have felt bad, since she always give me something for my birthday. I got her this really nice antique looking fruit bowl, with 24k gold trim from a store here in Martuni. I was really impressed that such things were available here and for only $16.

We had a sit down dinner, which was very simple. Though we wanted to barbeque some pork, she told us there as no need, and the beef stew her daughter-in-law made was all that she wanted. We also had fresh bread with village butter and honey.

The weather here I’m not going to say has changed and winter is here, but we had snow in the nearby villages and tonight my reinstalled my wood stove. My house when I got home was 13.4c (which is a little bit too cold for me) and now that I got the stove lit is rising and already neared 17. Though natural gas would be great to have right now, there is something different and more appealing to the heat from wood.

I got a call from Vahe (the president of the Monte Melkonian Fund, USA), who was calling me on a cell phone from Lachin to let me know he should be arriving in Martuni around noon. I guess Karabagh Telecom has the cell service working in Lachin and just learned a few minutes ago, it is also working on Jardar (the largest village in the Martuni region). Very convenient.

With fuel prices on the rise, I’m looking into possibly building an electric car to use inside the Martuni region. I’m thinking to convert a Zap, automobile, which is the smallest car they made in the Soviet Union, and is very convenient, as most everything on it is non-powered, meaning I wont need an electric vacuum-pump to power the brakes, or hydraulic pump for steering and so on. It also has a heater which works off of gasoline and though this is suppose to be an electric car, it will use gasoline to heat it when need be, which will save the battery to give it greater range. Anyway, let’s see if I build it or not. Planning is fun to do, but doing something here is sometimes more a challenge than it would be in America where everything is available at your fingertips. My biggest plus in making an electric car is not that it will cost me only 20% to fuel it as it cost a gas car, but due to bad fuel, bad engine oil, as inferior replacement parts, an electric car should be easier to maintain and more reliable, which should save me money, time and nerves. The only drawback is that the range will be limited, which for me is not a big deal since I don’t intend to drive it to Yerevan, though having one there too would be great, which I guess if the first one works out as I want, a second one to build would be worth it, though taxis are so cheep that who really needs a car in Yerevan?

I’m now on a new diet. Over the summer, when I usually loose weight from running around, I gained weight. I know exactly how I did it and that was by not wasting food that my fiancé would leave uneaten in her plate when we would eat out. She would order more than she could eat and since I was brought up to never leave anything on your plate, as there are hungry people out there who do have, I would force myself to eat what she refused to eat. Six kilos later, my pants are not fitting like they should, so now I’ve gone to eat as I usually do in the summer which is one meal a day and I stop before I am full. I also ignore the stomach when it tells me I am hungry. I’m also taking high potency multiple vitamins that my brother brought for me when he came to visit, which will assure I’m getting the minimal vitamins.

Jerusalem's disgrace

Ha'aretz
Oct 12 2004

The police interrogation of Armenian Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, who allegedly slapped yeshiva student Zvi Rosenthal after Rosenthal spat at Manougian and at a crucifix during the Exaltation of the Holy Cross procession in the Old City this week, reveals a little bit of the increasingly wild Jewish-nationalist-religious atmosphere in Jerusalem.

It is the bad luck of the Armenians, a peaceful and modest community in the city, that its churches and other institutions, including their ancient cemetery, is on the way to the Jewish Quarter in the Old City. As a result, the priests of the community suffer from the unrestrained behavior of yeshiva students who pass through the Armenian Quarter, sometimes deliberately, to do harm and cause strife.

This is not the first time the Armenians have fallen victim to such bullying. The police does not make an effort to prevent the disgraceful phenomenon of spitting at priests - Armenians and others - and at the crosses they carry.

The Interior Ministry has done nothing in response to appeals by the heads of the church regarding their plight. Thus the state is neglecting its duty to protect the legitimate representatives of a peace-loving community.

That negligence, just like the bullying, is a disgrace to the state of the Jewish people, which was persecuted through the generations because of its religion and customs.

Moreover, it is a disgrace for Jerusalem. Ever since the city was "reunited," the city burghers and ministers in charge of it have claimed the capital of Israel would protect the dignity and stature of the three monotheistic religions and that their rights would be honored, including the right to freedom of movement.

And now, while the police and Shin Bet focus on preparations for the threat of impassioned assaults on Muslims on the Temple Mount, it turns out that for some time the Christians in Jerusalem have been suffering from various and sundry provocations by wild young people. The provocations - from spitting near or at crosses to throwing trash on the doorsteps of Christian edifices on Mt. Zion - have become an ugly routine in recent years, fitting right in with the increasingly extremist political atmosphere.

Jerusalem is a city holy to the three monotheistic religions. The state of Israel and the Jerusalem municipality are responsible for all the institutions and personages representing those three religions. The churches, monasteries, schools and gardens in within the municipal jurisdiction not only have the right to protection or police escorts during their holidays, but also the sense of belonging and full freedom of activity.

It is intolerable that Christian citizens of Jerusalem suffer from the shameful spitting at or near a crucifix. Similar behavior toward Jews anywhere in the world would immediately prompt vehement responses.

The mayor, the government and the security services must therefore make clear to the heads of all the religious communities that the protection of their safety is the top-ranking priority for them. At the same time, they must take firm action against those enflamed youths looking for opportunities to sabotage the complex fabric of life in Jerusalem.

I was just reading on Groong that the Prime Minister of Artsakh is in the US, touring to raise funds and prepare of the annual telethon.

Yes folks, once again, the Artsakh government is out begging for money for the construction of the North-South highway and my conversation with Era the other day about the military pension she gets for her husband loosing his life in the war and it being short by 2,500 dram is now making sense to me.

If you remember last year at the end of November, I commented on the report that 55,000 people from Karabagh had made donations and stated “More like 54,998 Karabakhis were forced to partake in the fund raising, having their unwilling donation automatically deducted from their already meager salary that undoubtedly will end up in the pockets of some corrupt officials. From the results of the telethon, the 99% of Diaspora Armenians that didn’t partake understood this. What a joke.”

So if my hunch is right, Era, who from my log you can see is already discontent with her treatment from our government, my have been piled in the group of natives that the government will claim willing gave to the telethon, in hopes that the naïve Diaspora will be conned to willingly give too since the people here “believe in this cause”.

Since I spoke of my missing about talking of the weather here, it is noteworthy to report that in the last 24 hours, the temperature dropped 9 degrees and it is now raining. I love it when it rains and I’m inside all cozy in my bed with the electric heating bad turned up.

I would also like to report that I have a mouse that is living in my ceiling, which is worse than the old woman who lived above me when I had an apartment in Glendale. The old woman was an insomniac and so is this mouse, who seems to run around all night like the old woman. On top of this, this mouse is crying out right now, as if it is giving. Tomorrow, I’ll leave for it some nice tasty wheat, which should put an end to all this noise it is making.

Arminfo
http://www.arminfo.am/
October 12, 2004

Armenian anticorruption commission highlights 10 main areas of activity

Yerevan, 11 October: The anticorruption monitoring commission under the Armenian president at today's sitting determined 10 directions of activity.

Bagrat Yesayan, Armenian presidential aide on issues of combating corruption and chairman of the commission, told the sitting that a separate working group will function for each direction, where it is expected to involve representatives of the country's public organizations. The directions for commission's activities, as Yesayan said, are:

1. Control over the activities of state organizations specializing in the sphere of finance - the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank

2. Control over the financial activities of physical and legal entities

3. Control over the activities of the legal system

4. Control over the activities of the judicial system

5. Control over the public health system

6. Control over the public health system [as published]

7. Education sphere

8. Control over the sphere of environment

9. Transport and communications

10. Control over the sphere of economic competition

Yesayan also said that in connection with numerous cases of violation of laws of the Armenian Republic in the media and mass media outlets, a special working group of the commission, headed by the chairman of the Association of journalists-investigators, Eduard Bagdasaryan, will monitor the fulfilment of the abovesaid laws.

Bagdasaryan immediately proposed setting up a special website to publish declarations about the properties owned by the country's officials.

Apart from this, Bagdasaryan familiarized members of the commission with a decision by the Yerevan mayor to allocate free of charge 6,000 square metres of [office space] worth 240,000 dollars for a certain public organization supporting the combating of terrorism, which is a gross violation of the country's legislation. Asked by Bagdasaryan on how this should be combated, Bagrat Yesayan said that this decision should be handed over to the relevant bodies, and if they failed to do anything, these facts should be made public and that he should inform the president of this "not as a journalist, but as a member of the anticorruption monitoring commission". The commission is not entitled to carry out its own investigation, Yesayan said.

Gosh I really miss the old days of logging about the weather. Life for me was so much simpler then and so uneventful.

Not that I’m sorry that things in the homeland have gone from bad to worse, but when there are people who can’t swallow the pill called reality, without having an allergic reaction, it makes life for me a bit worse than what it really is. Maybe it’s my problem of having an allergic reaction to expecting people to be more in tune and accepting of reality without becoming defensive.

Anyway, with that said, the following is not another happy story of some great wedding, or birthday party, no my friends, this is another one of those depressing stories of injustice, that have become common in Armenia and Artsakh.

Tonight I went to visit a friend of mine who wanted my advice on starting a shoe and clothing store in Martuni. I have written about this friend, who was the person that Vahram Parseghyan, President Kocharian’s current controller had solicited funds from the Diaspora back in 1999 for an immediate surgery that he allegedly needed, but in fact didn’t. To kick-start your memory if you have not placed this story, it is the story that involved the late Mesrop Srpazan.

Anyway, after advising my friend not to take the risk to start such a store, because of today’s economic reality, the fact that when Martuni was economically well off, no such a store existed. He agreed, as what I told him only reaffirmed his own fears and echoed what others had told him.

My friend excused himself, to go to the store to get something, leaving his mother and I to talk.

I asked her how she was and she said she was not well at all.

To remind those that are new to the logs, this woman during the war had lost her oldest son, then her husband, followed by her youngest son 40 days later at a New Years celebration, when he was hit by bullet that fell to earth after shot in the air to bring in the New Year. And this happened while sleeping in the arms of my friend, who didn’t know that he had been hit.

My friend’s mother, Era, told me that she is very thankful for the sponsor she had (the same reader that sponsors Rosa Myrig (in all he sponsors 10 people)). Era said that it pays for much needed medicine, which keeps her alive. She said without that help, she knows she would be dead.

Era said that she wanted to write a letter to the President, as there are many issues that need to be resolved. She said her only fear is that she has heard that letters from citizens never make it to the President’s desk and are promptly given an answer of they have received the letter and are looking into the matter. She said she already wrote a letter to the President a few years ago, which still has not been answered.

She went on to tell me some of the things that she needs resolved.

She said for one thing, she lost her husband and 2 sons in the war, but she only gets a pension for loosing her husband. She said for her loss of him, she was getting 16,500 dram a month, which was raised to something like 21,000 dram a month in August and then last month, was reduced to something like 19,500. She said that when she got less than what she was expecting, she didn’t know which debts not to pay. She said that they not only cut her pension, but cut everyones. She went on to say that at least they should give her compensation for loosing her eldest son, as he was killed in battle. Though her younger who was 12 years old when he was killed on New Years by an Armenian bullet and was not officially registered as a solider, during the war, on his horse, use to take food and water to the front line. He was also used as a messenger to take word from headquarters to the front line. In short, he was no less a solider and in many ways did more than those on the front.

Then she went on to the condition of her house. She said that as a family that lost family to the war, they are entitled to having their house renovated. She said that over the years they have come out to her house a thousand times to survey, but until now, of the $3,000 which is suppose to be allocated for the work needed, only $1,000 was given, which was not enough to build an indoor bathroom. She had to sell parts off of an old truck that belonged to her husband to cover the shortfall. BTW, she sleeps in the kitchen, as her bedroom and in fact all the bedrooms on the second floor have mold damage in the walls, making them uninhabitable.

She said that she also has a debt that her son defaulted on at the bank from a few years back, which went to court and the court relieved him of the interest, leaving a balance of about $2,000, which he has $4 a month withheld from his paycheck each month. The loan was to renovate part of their house so he could get married, which he did and then later divorced as he was suffering from stress and his bride could not longer live with him.

Her son works as a clerk in the government finance office in Martuni and was making $36 a month, which was or is going to be increased to $50 month. He smokes and that money is enough to cover his habit. He too take medicine to deal with depression and stress, which I didn’t even ask where that money comes from.

He recently planted a small orchard of pomegranate trees, which he said in a few years will provide him with an income.

She went on to say that they are entitled to 3 hectors of land, and when they went to inquire what land is available, they were told there is none and if she can show them where there is, they will give it to her. She said that yesterday near Martuni, 2 people were injured while walking in the unplanted fields, one lost his leg, the other may loose his sight. She said that now they want me to send my son off to look for land that no one is planting? Those fields that are not planted have land mines. He is all I have left and is going no where near those fields. She went on to say that there is not 3 hectors of land for her, but the President, regional ministers and so on each have over 100 hectors of land to plant (the former regional minister has 350 hecotors and the present has at least 155 hectors).

She finished by saying that her son wants to get married and start a family, but she does not have money to give him a wedding. She said that all she wants is a grandchild and said that when she visits with her relatives who have grandchildren, she walks home and cries, as she does not have one, nor does she have hope of having one in the future. She said, what is the point of this big house my husband built. Who will she leave it to? Life is all about family and having children so they can give you grandchildren to carry on the family name. She said that this is really all she wants, even if that child is for some reason sick, she would be okay with it, just so long as it is hers to love.

Tonight I went to Rosa Myrig and Hurant’s house for dinner. I just love them dearly. They are such nice and down to earth people.

Rosa Myrig gave me my birthday gift of a pair of socks, an undershirt and a Russian made hazelnut chocolate bar (YUM).

Tonight during dinner, we talked about pensions and the cost of living these days. Rosa Myrig said that if it was not for their sponsor (one of our readers), they would be in very bad shape. They not only have their basic living expenses, but they also help out their grandchildren, one of whom is a university student. Rosa Myrig said that if they didn’t have a sponsor, she would still have found a way to pay her grandson’s tuition, even if that meant they had to live in poverty.

We then began to wonder how everyone else is surviving, after I said that it was impossible for someone to survive off of $50 a month for food in Yerevan. Rosa Myrig said no one could survive off of $50, even in Martuni. Things have gotten very expensive here too.

As we were talking, the television began to broadcast the Chaney/Edwards debate, translated in Armenian. We only watched a few minutes of it and I could not watch any more. I remembered the second Bush/Kerry debate (which I didn’t bother viewing, but did read the transcript yesterday), which Bush said:

“I believe Palestinians ought to have a state, but I know they need leadership that's committed to a democracy and freedom, leadership that would be willing to reject terrorism.”

and…

“And the reason I'm worried is because there's a vicious enemy that has an ideology of hate.

And the way to defeat them long-term, by the way, is to spread freedom.

Liberty can change habits. And that's what's happening in Afghanistan and Iraq. “

I too am worried. I’m worried because America is trying to preach what liberty, democracy, leadership and freedom is.

What Bush said for me translates into America is going to entice the rest of the world with ideas and a way of life that they don’t have (this is a part of US military Low Intensity Conflict), and those persons that have been enticed, are encouraged to demand from their governments that life which is not only contrary to their culture, but which can not be provided due to a lack of resources. On top of this, they provide big dollars to those leaders that play along with what America wants to do and in the end, as it has happened in Armenia, we begin to loose our culture, destroy of infrastructure and in the end, cause irreversible damage to our people. We have done this and we can thank ourselves for being so naïve and blind, playing right into it.

In short, America’s job is to play with peoples emotions, manipulate them and disrupt any balance they may have had, or were heading towards, giving America a chance to also capture any material wealth (in Armenia’s case, brain power) that those countries may have to benefit their parasite citizens.

Yea, Iraq had its problem and maybe Sadam suppressed his ethnic minorities who were demanding more than he could give them, but remember, it was America that financed Sadam to fight against Iran, and it was America that gave Sadam the green light to invade Kuwait. From the people I know who were living in Iraq, they didn’t have a problem with Sadam and were living a very stable life.

The Iraq war was not about human rights. That was America playing on the emotions of the Western world to justify invading Iraq. It was all about oil and nothing more.

Remember, Americans have a habit to feed, which is their need of 25% of the energy of the world for their less than 5% of the world population. They consume 5 times more than nature intended them to have. They upset the balance of the world in so many ways so they can continue to survive. Americans are brainwashed to believe they are entitled to the “American Dream”, but guess what, their not. They are entitled to 5 times less than what they have and nothing more.

I strongly believe this is the reason why America has so many enemies and I can tell you those kinds of enemies you can’t stop by spreading ideas of “American Freedom”, because “American Freedom” is really not freedom at all (we all know this), it’s really a Trojan Horse with a very damaging surprise inside. And those people that Bush refers to as having an “ideology of hate,” in many cases are people who have a very good ideology of FREEDOM, that America HATES and is doing everything to prevent from maturing.

Americans, ask yourself if you could survive on 5 times less than what you have today (your entitlement)? If you answer no, then the next time your country is attacked by nationals from a country that you leach off of, please don’t complain, since you had it coming.

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS OF ARMENIA / HETQ ONLINE

English Version: http://www.hetq.am/eng/
Armenian Version: http://www.hetq.am/arm/


6 October 2004

"Mother pimp" gets two years in prison

On August 13, 2003 the Prosecutor's Office of Armenia instituted proceedings against Armenuhi Simonyan, based on charges brought by Marietta Ghazakhetyan. As we previously reported, in 2001 Armenuhi Simonyan lured Marietta Ghazakhetyan to the United Arab Emirates with the promise of a well-paid job, and then forced her into prostitution. (See: Trafficking in Armenian women).

When she returned to Armenia in 2002, Simonyan registered a pro forma marriage with one of her relatives and changed her last name to Sahratyan.

According to the charges against her, "Between 1999 and 2003, Armenuhi Simonyan-Sahratyan, a resident of Vanadzor in the Lori Marz, recruited women in various parts of Armenia with the sponsorship of procurer Amalia Mnatsakanyan (nicknamed Nano) and sent them to the United Arab Emirates for sexual exploitation." Charges were filed against Amalia Mnatsakanyan and a search for her was instituted in September 2002. In 2003, these two criminal cases were merged into one, since the women who had been recruited were forced into prostitution by Mnatsakanyan.

The Court of First Instance of the Kentron and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan heard the case between June 2 and August 25, 2004.

Out of forty witnesses involved in the case, eleven took part in the proceedings. According to prosecutor Ara Amirzadyan, "More than half of the witnesses were questioned and all the evidence in the case was examined."

The preliminary investigation lasted for almost two years and concluded that Amalia Mnatsakanyan had been abetted in the crime by Artak Simonyan (Armenuhi Simonyan's brother), the brothers Ashot and Hrant Najarian, and Arusyak Gevorgyan. The main defendant in the case was Amalia Mnatsakanyan - Nano, who had a previous conviction.

On August 16, 2000, 40-year-old Amalia Mnatsakanyan had been given a suspended sentence for procuring. The investigation revealed that during her two years on probation and subsequently, she continued to engage in procuring. It was also revealed that during this period Nano "forged and used official documents and induced and abetted other persons in illegally crossing the state border of the Republic of Armenia."

On March 10, 2004 Amalia Mnatsakanyan, arrested thanks to cooperation between law enforcement agencies in Armenia and the United Arab Emirates, was transferred to Armenia .

One of Nano's victims and a witness in the case, Marine Vardanyan, stated in her testimony. "They tortured me and others like me in unspeakable ways. They forced us to perform all kinds of perversion. And Nano was behind all of this; she was the boss. She spared no one; she forced us to service clients even when we were sick, in order to get her money. People like her should be annihilated."

Another witness, Marietta Ghazakhetsyan, is convinced that the criminals will go unpunished. "These women have no right to be called human. They hold nothing sacred. They treated us like products; they sold us to Muslims and made thousands of dollars. And now are we supposed believe that they'll be held responsible? They'll pay a bribe, like always, and go free."

From 2000 to 2003, Amalia Mnatsakanyan recruited more than forty women and sent them to the Emirates. According to the charges, she made $221,000 over that period of time.

Her 26-year-old co-defendant, Artak Simonyan, aided in sending the women recruited for sexual exploitation to the United Arab Emirates in 2000-2002, to Amalia Mnatsakanyan and to his sister, Armenuhi Simonyan-Sahratyan. Last year Artak Simonyan signed a document that confirms his participation in forcing women into prostitution: "I am paying $200, an insignificant portion of our debt to Narine Karapetyan, to compensate for material losses she suffered as a result of the sexual exploitation we subjected her to in the United Arab Emirates in 2001."

Defendants Ashot and Hrant Najaryan are also charged with aiding in procuring. They too helped the main defendant, Nano, in transferring Armenian women to the Emirates. According to the charges, another defendant, Arusyak Gevorgyan, "in 1998-1999 aided and abetted her friend, Anna Alexanyan, who was engaged in procuring in the United Arab Emirates, in recruiting women in the territory of the Republic of Armenia and in sending them to the UAE for sexual exploitation. After that, from the end of 1999 to August 2000, she herself was engaged in procuring in the UAE. And in 2001-2002 she aided another friend, Amalia Mnatsakanyan, who was also engaged in procuring in the UAE, in recruiting and sending women to the Emirates for prostitution."

Armine Abrahamyan testified in court, "In December 2000 I lost my passport at the Etchmiadzin bazaar. Later I was informed by the police that someone had left for the United Arab Emirates using my passport." It turned out that the defendants obtained lost passports and used them to send their victims to the Emirates.

Witness Lusine Petrosyan said that she had gone to the Emirates voluntarily: "I myself looked for and found Nano (Amalia Mnatsakanyan). I knew I was going to engage in prostitution. I worked there for two years. And I gave Nano about $9,000 of the money I earned. But I am not dissatisfied."

Witness Marine Vardanyan could not restrain her anger in the courtroom: "They took me to the Emirates, took away my passport, and forced me to do all kinds of things. I stayed there for twenty-one days and didn't earn a penny. Whatever money I made I had to give to Nano. But I couldn't stand it. I ended up in the police station and was sent back. I came to Armenia in a horrible condition. And now I am a third degree invalid."

Arayik Voskanyan, a police officer from the Vanadzor police department, testified as well. He acknowledged that at the request of senior lieutenant Gagik Gevorgyan and Artak Simonyan he had accompanied three women to the Gyumri airport. "But I didn't know anything. I only found out during the interrogations that these girls were sent to Dubai for prostitution," he said.

Amalia Mnatsakanyan, Arusyak Gevorgyan, Artak Simonyan, and Ashot Najaryan refused to testify in court. But they pleaded guilty. Arusyak's only regret was that her name became known but she earned an insignificant amount of money.

Artak Simonyan said, "I don't consider that it was abetting on my part. These girls went there voluntarily." Ashot Najaryan accepted his guilt in part: "I will not testify. Perhaps there were instances when I was guilty. Let the court decide the degree of my guilt. I accept my guilt in part."

Since the interrogations were conducted from 1998 to 2003, the judges had to apply the old Criminal Code in sentencing. But there were no articles on trafficking in human beings (in this case for sexual exploitation) in the old Criminal Code.

It was mainly Article 262 of the Criminal Code, which deals with procuring, that was applied to the defendants. "Even if there had been an article on human trafficking in the old Criminal Code we could not have applied it. In this case there was no human trafficking. All the women were prostitutes and knew where they were going and why," said prosecutor Ara Amirzadyan.

But Gulnara Shahinyan, vice-chairman of the Commission of the Council of Europe dealing with trafficking in human beings, insists the victims in this case are victims of trafficking. "Sexual exploitation is one of the manifestations of trafficking in humans. The fact that our law enforcement officers don't understand this phenomenon properly and are not serious about these issues is another question," she said.

On August 25, 2004 the trial was adjourned and the verdicts announced. Amalia Mnatsakanyan was sentenced to two years in prison, Ashot Najaryan to one year, and Artak Simonyan to ten months. Defendants Arusyak Gevorgyan, and Hrant Najaryan were given suspended sentences. Gevorgyan received two years on probation, and Najaryan one.

With this verdict, the "mother pimp" was sentenced to just two years in prison, which means that in a couple of months she will be set free and will continue her previous work, just like she did the last time.

Arpine Harutiunyan

KARABAGH RIVERS WERE CONTAMINATED BY SOVIET AZERBAIJAN, POLITICAL
ANALYST SAYS

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS: Few people know that apart from the so-called Minsk group, mandated by the OSCE to mediate peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno Karabagh conflict, there is another format, including representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabagh, USA and Russia who have been meeting regularly behind the closed doors for the last four years to seek a conflict resolution option that would be acceptable to all.

Little information is made public about how discussions, organized within the frameworks of so-called Dortmund Forum, go on. The final conclusion of the Forum is supposed to be presented to the conflicting sides and peace brokers to help them strike the peace deal.

Samvel Babayan, a political analysts from Nagorno Karabagh, who participated in the latest meeting, said to RFE/Rl that discussions held in Moscow are the sole venue where Nagorno Karabagh representatives face Azeris.

"Azeris are very sensitive about any contact with Nagorno Karabagh and because of that the discussions are held behind the closed doors, however I believe that they will be more open," he said.

He said the latest meeting was the 7 consecutive but it has not yet outlined any progress. The Azerbaijani side was led by a former foreign minister Tofik Zulfugarov, who insist that all Azeri lands occupied by Armenian troops must be returned, which is not acceptable to Karabagh.

"These territories are of vital importance for Nagorno Karabagh, making today some 60 percent of its territory, and only 6-7 percent of Azerbaijan," Babayan said, adding that there are other aspects of the issue. "There are some regions that cannot be given back, such as Kelbajar, where all Karabagh rivers originate from. During the Soviet times these rivers were contaminated by the order of Heydar Aliyev, resulting in drastic increase in the number of cancer cases, though before the 1970-s Karabagh boasted of its residents' record live expectancy in the USSR, and we have all grounds to say that then Soviet Azerbaijan carried out hydro-terrorism against the population of Karabagh," he said.

Babayan said the US and Russian moderates do not offer concrete proposals, acting as mediators in an effort to help the sides to find the golden mean, which they have failed so far. According to him, the Karabagh participants of the discussions may refuse to further participate because of Azeris stiff position.

Oh boy, I am so birthday partied out!!!

Yesterday, I was going to go to the Mayor’s house to celebrate his birthday, but since his assistance father passed away, he decided that it would be better if we celebrated his birthday today.

So last night I went to the birthday part of my driver’s wife. It was a simple family gathering, with her grandparents from her mother’s side, her father, mother, brother, husband and me. Very simple, with enough food and drink, but again, nothing really fancy.

Tonight I had a birthday dinner with the Mayor and again it was very small, with only his family, mother and father, mother-in-law, a nephew (my future brother-in-law) and me. Again, very simple with not too much stuff on the table. We had one bottle of wine, which was sent to me by one of our readers, who I was going to save it to drink with my fiancé, since it was sent as a gift for my engagement, but since my fiancé does not drink at all, I decided that this too was a special occasion. BTW, the Mayor and his wife thought that it was one of the best wines they has ever drank and the only problem with it was that there was only one bottle.

Going back to my birthday, which was last weekend, my party was just me and my fiancé, which we didn’t have anyone over and just shared a meal of Chinese stir fried rice that I made. Again, very simple and no extra people, not that we could not afford to have a big party, but I was not in the mood.

In the tradition of years ago, and I am talking of after the fall of the Soviet Union, birthday parties for the most part have been very big deals, which I’ve logged about in the past, being very fancy with stacks and stacks of plates loaded up with so much food and so many people in attendance, that in the states, one goes into debt.

Things are starting to change and one of the topics of discussion I had with my future grandmother-in-law was how expensive it has become in Yerevan to live. She said that it’s not just Yerevan, but even in Martuni, things have gotten so expensive that as much as she tries to cut corners to save something, she is just not able to. The rate of inflation and her pension are not balanced.