Two citizens, Samvel Gevorgyan and Koryun Tadevosyan, went on hunger strike today at 9am in the town of Masis. They demanded the release of the political prisoners. At about 12pm the police arrested them.
Fortunately, Koryun Tadevosian was released afterwards. Samvel Gevorgyan is still in custody. At this point he can be considered a political prisoner himself.
Details on A1+
Fortunately, Koryun Tadevosian was released afterwards. Samvel Gevorgyan is still in custody. At this point he can be considered a political prisoner himself.
Details on A1+
he started this trouble and is rightly imprisoned!
ReplyDeleteValerie Gortzounian - “I am sad in Armenia”
ReplyDelete[May 19, 2008]
Today I am sad. Thirteen years ago I decided to leave France, my third homeland, and relocate to Armenia, with the intention to invest in the fatherland, which I did by creating the Le Cafe de Paris. I invested my time, energy, health and resources, so that our little Parisian cafe could illuminate Abovyan Street.
Over time the Cafe has become a favorite place to do business, meet friends and just relax. However my little dream has turned into an unending nightmare. Not wishing to delve into my personal problems, I’d just like to simple note that due to my faith, perhaps misplaced, in my fellow man I gave a loan to a person. This person claimed that he couldn’t repay the loan while actually he just refused to do so. When I took this person into my business, out of a sense of charity, I realized that he was periodically stealing from me along with other employees he had won the loyalty of. These employees, like their patron, had become corrupted, one more than the other. I could say that this is a fairly commonplace occurrence that can happen anywhere. But everywhere else there is a system of justice that serves as strong defender of one’s rights and interests. The justice system is there to grab the hand of the thief...This is the reality everywhere except in my beloved Armenia where the practice of justice is corrupt to the very core, where compromises are made with the guilty party, where the weak are preyed upon for all they have, the spoils to be split with the powerful, and where money is valued more than the truth. This is the reason for my grief. I am sad that our beloved Armenia, so dear to our hearts, has ceased to function normally. I am sad because in the event that things continue in this way I will be forced to close the Cafe and return to France.
-Hetq online
Valerie - Take them to court. Happens everywhere. If indeed the person you loaned your money to defrauded you, I hope you win.
ReplyDeleteShe says "Not wishing to delve into my personal problems" which makes hard to interpret this event. However it makes sense that the business problem is intertwined with personal problems. And if I am not mistaken the business partner of Valerie is/was her husband.
ReplyDeletereflective-
ReplyDelete'take her to court'? you cannot be that stupidly out of touch with your "homeland".
No, not that stupidly, thanks for asking, anon.
ReplyDeletehave you ever been to Armenia, reflective?
ReplyDelete:) Sure m. You?
ReplyDeletereflective, the woman just said that the justice system is corrupt "to the core"; and you're telling her to take it to court?
ReplyDeleteJudging from what anonymous May 20, 2008 4:29 AM said, sounds like this is one of those personal situations that the self-haters / state-haters like to repeat to justify their frustrations with Armenia.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, if she has a case, she should take it to court. If it is one of bad judgment or a personal falling out, I simply feel bad for her.
She stands to gain nothing from the courts, which as the cases stemming from elections and March 1st demonstrate, are neither fair nor independent. In short, if she's been wronged, it was either endorsed by the regime, or will be done in the courts, since no one in their right mind would wrong a regime-sponsored business. Court proceedings will only produce additional headaches for her but no justice.
ReplyDeleteReflective, I'm just curious, when was the last time you were in Armenia? And how long do your stays usually last? Have you ever lived there? Because I cannot imagine anyone having spent any substantial amount of time there and not been either directly affected by the Aghvanakan justice system or at least witnessed it hard at work.
The government has lost several court cases in the past few years. Note that this is a big change from say, 2000 (and most definitely different from the court-terror days of LTP when such losses were unheard of.)
ReplyDeleteI have been in Armenia for significant periods of time since the early 90s, and am here now.
How about you? For each person commenting so assuredly, when was the last time you were in Armenia? Often the most confident of know-it-alls haven't been in Armenia since they left 10 or 15 years ago, yet they speak as if they are in downtown Yerevan.
My own observations are that like any system founded and ingrained with injustice is destined to take lots of time and effort to improve. Soviet and then LTP and then Kocharian courts are not likely to be used as international best practices for judicial competence or impartiality.
Instead of rationalizing one's absence, Armenians (and Armenia) would be well served to be in Armenia and working to improve the things they seem to care so much about.
"Armenians (and Armenia) would be well served to be in Armenia and working to improve the things they seem to care so much about."
ReplyDeleteyou are absolutely right! so please shut the f@ck up about us that are doing something - most of your crap comments have put the activists down for being ltp zombies. this Valerie lady that you are complaining about - she is doing something to change. she's drawing attention to a corrupt and stagnant system. this is a huge step from being a weak 'vochinch' doormat. is it the only way? no. but it is part of a healthy democracy.
Ease up anonymous. When did I complain about Valerie? I just encouraged her to sue the guy who defrauded her (if indeed he did). I even expressed that I hope she wins. When you calm down you can re-read my postings.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, you are not so tolerant of slightly different (or in this case, the same) opinions.
Additionally, I don't understand what you mean by "vochinch" doormat. I also don't agree that the system in Armenia is stagnant. But whatever.
Reflective, I have to tell you that I'm absolutely shocked that you have ever even been within a 15,000 mile radius of downtown Yerevan. Perhaps you should be more attentive of what's going on around you. I urge you to put aside your irrational obsession with LTP and seriously follow what's going on with some of the elections and March 1st courts cases. If after that you still think that this woman has any legal recourse, or really anyone stands a chance to get justice in this system, then hats off to you, because you are quite the shining optimist, which I have to tell you, doesn't come through in your posts.
ReplyDeleteI think that effectively reducing every argument or discussion about Armenia's current deplorable situation to "yeah, but how was it in LTP's time?" is ridiculous and serves no purpose. Actually, comparatively speaking, today's system ( the broader one, not just the judicial one) is in every aspect much worse than LTP's. You can choose to delude yourself into thinking that you are seeing progress where there is none. Again, I applaud your ability to see the good in even the worst of situations.
Oh, forgot to say. Last time I was there was summer '07, prior to that I lived there for 13 years, during all of LTP's rule, and about 4 years of RQ's.
ReplyDelete///Last time I was there was summer '07, prior to that I lived there for 13 years, during all of LTP's rule, and about 4 years of RQ's.// And to justify my unpatriotic decision of leaving my country I have to blame Armenia and never myself. Psychology my friend.
ReplyDelete