Human rights activists, an attorney, neighbors and relatives of a Baghramyan political party head are charging that police in their region “planted” illegal drugs in the leader’s home, in order to justify his imprisonment.

Lavrenti Kirakosyan, 44, has been in jail since April 10, since first being arrested during a political demonstration at Yerevan’s Opera House. He was arrested for failing to obey a police order, however court records do not say what that police order was.

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Aiming to support the most vulnerable groups of the population, the Ministry of Health in Armenia has launched a campaign against corruption in the medical institutions of the country and against dishonest physicians.

Starting next week the halls of polyclinics and hospitals will welcome the citizens not only with price lists for services, but also with posters telling if the citizens can apply for their treatment free of change.

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She said to me: “Who do you read?”

Like that. Like it was assumed that everybody has someone he reads.

We were at a cocktail party, the kind of thing where in my country chit chat might have centered around whether j.lo and Marc Anthony have a chance. Here, literature was the topic.

“Bukowski’s my man,” I replied.

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On a busy thoroughfare in Yerevan young people sewed panels onto a quilt under the glance of passersby near that Alexander Tamanyan monument last Saturday.

Thirty-nine panels for 39 AIDs victims were being stitched together to make a message that AIDs is not just a global problem; it has a presence in Armenia, too. The youth gathered to make a quilt they hope will not grow bigger.

It has been 17 years since the world was introduced to “the AIDS quilt”.

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Construction of a new nuclear power station is viewed by the Armenian government as one of the possible alternatives to the aging atomic plant at Metsamor, Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan said this week.

Movsisyan told journalists the possibility is also “quite a competitive option”. The minister says the ambitious project can be implemented with $1 billion demanded by the government from the European Union in exchange for the closure of the Metsamor plant.

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On May 25 in Ararat Region’s Dimitrov village land plots were put up for auction and sold.

The land included plots which for years villagers have tended for gardens. Immediately after independence, rights to use the land were given by the state. Later, rents were imposed.

When the land went up for sale, most of those villagers were not among the bidders because they could not afford the average price of about $445 per 1000 meters plus about $60 in administrative sales costs.

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The International Chess Federation (FIDE) continues to organize tournaments dedicated to legendary Armenian chess player and 9th World Chess Champion Tigran Petrosyan. The year has been declared the Year of Tigran Petrosyan by FIDE.

Twelve grandmasters gathered in Moscow, Russia for participating at the tournament dedicated to Petrosyan’s 75th Anniversary that will be taking place through June 15 in “Ararat-Hayat” hotel.

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