ARMENIAN COURT EVACUATED IN ANOTHER ‘BOMB ALERT’
By Ruzanna Khachatrian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Oct 1 2007
Armenia’s Court of Appeals became on the Monday the latest target
of false bomb alerts that seem to be becoming a regular occurrence
in Yerevan.
A statement by the national Police Service said the court judges and
other staff were briefly evacuated from the building in the morning
immediately after an unknown individual claimed to have planted a bomb
there in a phone call to a nearby police station. It said security
forces searched the building but found no explosive devices.
"As a result of the thorough search, nothing was found in the court
building, after which the institution returned to its normal work,"
the statement said. It added that the police launched a criminal
investigation under a relevant article of the Armenian Criminal Code.
Dozens of teachers and other employees of a public school in Yerevan
were evacuated after a false bomb alert on August 30. The incident
occurred less than two months after a similar anonymous phone call
forced the evacuation of employees of several government ministries
located in a single building. Police quickly arrested at the time an
elderly man reportedly suffering from a mental illness.