Author: Emil Karabekian

The International Weightlifting Federation extended condolences over the death of Armenian weightlifting legend Yuri Vardanyan, the IWF website reports.

“The weightlifting world mourns the untimely death of the Armenian legend considered by many as one of the All-Time Greatest. Vardanyan won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world’s first weightlifter to achieve a 400 kilogram total in the 82.5 kg bodyweight category. He was a seven-times World and five-times European Champion and held 41 world records. IWF offers it’s condolences to the Vardanyan family and the Armenian Weightlifting Federation”, reads the condolence letter.

Yuri Vardanyan has passed away on November 2 in the United States at the age of 62.

The government approved the dismissal of several governors during today’s Cabinet meeting.

Aragatsotn Province Governor Ashot Simonyan, Lori Province Governor Hrant Margaryan, Vayots Dzor Province Governor Aragats Saghatelyan, Armavir Province Governor Gagik Mirijanyan, Gegharkunik Province Governor Ishkhan Saghatelyan, Syunik Province Governor Karen Hambardzumyan were sacked.

The governors were representing the Prosperous Armenia and ARF parties.

Speaking at a rally on October 2 in Yerevan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that the governors and other officials representing the two parties will be fired, after the parliament adopted the highly controversial bill which is seen as a move to limit the possibilities of calling early elections of parliament.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has signed an order on dismissing Michael Manukyan from the position of chairman of the forestry committee of the ministry of nature protection.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has commented on the brief conversation that took place between Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Dushanbe.

Peskov said that Putin did not discuss prospects of his visit to Armenia with Pashinyan. “They’ve talked about other topics, current [topics],” Peskov said, according to RIA Novosti.

Armenian professional MMA fighter Karine Karapetyan has triumphed over Azerbaijan’s Rena Safarova in the Tbilisi International MMA Championship in Georgia.  Rena Safarova is the sister of Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani army officer convicted for the 2004 shocking murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan during a NATO training program in Budapest, Hungary. The Armenian lieutenant was 25 years old at the time of his murder.

“I dedicate my victory to the memory of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan,” the MMA fighter said on Facebook.

The murder happened during NATO Partnership For Peace English-language courses.

In the night of February 19, 2004 Safarov, armed with an axe, broke into the dormitory room of Gurgen Margaryan and attacked the Armenian officer while he was asleep. He delivered multiple blows to Margaryan with the axe.

After nearly two years of trial, a Budapest court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment.

However, on August 31, 2012, Safarov was extradited to Azerbaijan, where he received a state-level hero’s welcome. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev promoted Safarov to the rank of major and provided him with over eight years of back pay. The same day, Armenia severed diplomatic ties with Hungary.

Belgian martial artist and movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme, aka JCVD, will visit Armenia over this weekend.

This is the first visit of JCVD to Armenia.

Van Damme, 57, will arrive to make an appearance in the Armenia series of Comedy Club, the Russian stand-up TV show. The filming of the series will take place September 15-16, sponspored by Tashir Group of Companies.

The series will also feature Russian show business stars.

The Prosecutor General’s Office has received the report of the ministry of transportation, communication and information technologies about the North-South Road Corridor.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said that studies into the project revealed that officials who were involved in the development and implementation process of the North-South Road Corridor have made unnecessary changes in the contracts numerous times in 2009-2018, and have included in the contracts ineffective and ungrounded works and have implemented design and calculation documents with obvious errors.

The officials involved have also agreed to extend the construction and consulting services deadlines without charging the damages, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office. Misconduct also includes changing the costs in the contracts, which led to overpayment to consulting companies.

The Prosecutor General’s office also said that the officials have failed to conduct monitoring on the works and as a result the Tranche 1 Yerevan-Artashat and Yerevan-Ashtarak sections have been commissioned despite poor quality.

Damages caused to the state by misconduct exceed 23 billion drams.

A criminal case has been initiated.