Author: Karabekian Emil

Work to recover tail, landing gear of crashed A320 liner underway

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
May 3, 2006 Wednesday

KRASNODAR, May 3 — On the site of the crash of the A320 passenger
liner of the Armenian airlines Armavia work is underway to recover
the spotted parts of the plane.

A source at the Krasnodar Territory prosecutor’s office has confirmed
reports that so far the bodies of 38 victims have been recovered.

“The bodies are being taken ashore for identification. Another 26
fragments of victims’ bodies have been found,” the source said.

The prosecutor’s office has said it is too early to discuss any causes
of the disaster, because nothing can be ruled out at this point,
including technical problems, the human factor or explosion.

“The crew’s captain first made a decision to make a landing, but poor
visibility and bad weather forced him to change his mind, so he told
the air traffic controller he was returning to Yerevan. However, a
short while later the conditions improved. The range of visibility on
one runway was 100 meters, and on the other, 360 meters. The captain
made a final decision to land at Adler. A short while later the plane
crashed,” the territorial prosecutor’s office said.

A team of investigators from the Russian Prosecutor-General’s office
has left Moscow for Adler to help investigate the incident on site.

The chief of the Prosecutor General’s Office special investigations
department, Vladimir Lyseiko is leading the panel of inquiry.

44 vessels helping recover fragments of crashed Airbus
13:20 | 06/ 05/ 2006

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 6 2006

SOCHI, May 6 (RIA Novosti) – Forty four vessels are continuing to
search for parts of an Armenian passenger plane that crashed off
Russia’s Black Sea coast three days ago, a spokesman for emergencies
ministry said Saturday.

“Over 90% of plane parts floating in the sea were recovered in the
first days, but work continues,” the spokesman said.

He added that captains of all vessels in the incident area were
ordered to report immediately if they found fragments of the plane.

The Airbus A-320 operated by Armenia’s Armavia was flying from the
Armenian capital, Yerevan, to Adler airport, which services the popular
Russian resort at Sochi, when it crashed 6 kilometers off the Russian
coast early Wednesday morning, killing all 113 people onboard.

The ministry said Friday that so far 51 bodies had been recovered at
the site, and 42 of them had been identified.

WILL SERGE SARGSYAN LEAVE FOR BAKU?

A1+
[01:37 pm] 06 May, 2006

The next session of the CIS countries Defense Ministers Council will
take plane on May 31 in Baku, Azeri news agency “Trend” informs.

Issues about cooperation in the defense and military technical fields,
combat against international terrorism and exchange of information
will be discussed.

HUMAN FLOW DOES NOT DISCONTINUE TO ARMENIAN EMBASSY IN PARIS SINCE EARLY MORNING

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 05 2006

PARIS, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Since early morning of
May 5, the human flow has not discontinued to the Armenian embassy in
Paris, where a book of mourning was opened in connection with Armenian
plane’s crash near the Russian city of Sochi on May 3. According to the
RA MFA Press and Information Department, tens of ambassadors accredited
to France, various state and political figures, deputies, senators,
representatives of international organizations and high-ranking
officials of the French Foreign Ministry came to the Armenian embassy
in Paris to offer their condolences. The French President Jacques
Chirac sent a message of condolence to the Armenian President. The
message in particular reads: “Mister President, dear friend, with
deep pain I heard the tragic news of the plane crash near Sochi last
night, which resulted in the loss of over a hundred human lives,
mostly Armenian citizens. On behalf of the French people and myself,
I offer sincere condolences to you and the family members and friends
of the victims of this tragedy. Mr President, please accept my best
regards and sincere friendly feelings in these difficult times.” The
French Prime Minister Dominic de Villepin, Senate President Christian
Poncelet and the Foreign Minister of France Phillip Douste-Balzy
offered their condolences.

SECOND RADIO BEACON DETECTED AT BLACK SEA CRASH SITE

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 4 2006

SOCHI, May 4 (RIA Novosti) – A second radio beacon is believed to have
been discovered at the site where an Armenian Airbus A-320 airliner
crashed off Russia’s Black Sea coast, an emergencies ministry official
said Thursday.

He said a radio signal had been detected near the point where another
signal had been detected earlier in the day.

The plane, belonging to Armenia’s Armavia Airlines, crashed while
flying from the country’s capital Yerevan to an airport in Adler,
which services the Russian resort of Sochi. The A-320 plummeted into
the sea about six kilometers from the Russian coast. All 113 passengers
and crew were killed.

An Emergency Situations Ministry official in Moscow said the
first radio signal, picked up by Airbus specialists, had yet to
be identified.

“It is premature to say that the signal picked up from the seabed
near Sochi is from the flight recorder,” Andrei Legoshin said.

Experts from European aircraft producer Airbus are using special
equipment to search for flight data recorders from the plane. Two
emergencies ministry teams are also working at the site, using radars
to pick up signals.

Transportation Minister Igor Levitin said earlier on Thursday that
parts of the plane had been found at a depth of 680 meters (2,230
feet).

GENETIC EXAMINATION HELD FOR IDENTIFYING KILLED

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2006 19:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The genetic analysis for the identification of
the remains of those killed in the A-320 crash near Sochi has been
launched. Russian Minister of Transport Igor Levitin told reporters
that genetic data was taken from 21 relatives of the killed. The
analysis will take 3 days.

RECORD OF CONVERSATION OF PILOT WITH GEORGIAN DISPATCHERS DECODED

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2006 01:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The record of conversation of A-320 airbus pilot
with Georgian dispatchers a few minutes before the crash of the liner
is decoded. The record is not too clear, not everything can be heard,
but it lets concluding that the crew until the last moment did not
rule out opportunity of return to Yerevan.

Dispatcher: “Specify once again. At the moment 340 will be(”

Pilot: “Yes, 340 still. As the airport is ( Closed ( Then it will be
clear what to do.”

Dispatcher: “Rostov wants to know how much fuel you have and reserve.”

Pilot: “We are returning to Yerevan.”

Dispatcher: “Right now or later(”

Pilot: “Now, they have there 150 by 1500 for two hours.”

Dispatcher: “Ok, got you.”

REPORT: ARMENIAN PLANE CRASH NOT TERRORISM

Malaysia Sun, Malaysia
May 4 2006

Big News Network
Wednesday 3rd May, 2006 (UPI)

Russian officials say they have ruled out terrorism as the cause of
Wednesday’s crash of an Armenian A-320 jetliner in Black Sea early
Wednesday.

All 113 people aboard the plane were killed.

The only thing that can be said about versions of what has happened
is that the version of a terrorist act has been fully excluded,
a spokeswoman for the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office told the
Itar-Tass news agency.

Interfax said 48 bodies had been brought to the southern seaport resort
of Sochi. The tail section of the jetliner had been recovered and was
being examined but the black box flight recorders had not been found.

The Armavia Airlines plane was flying from the Armenian capital of
Yerevan to Adler, which services Sochi, the Novosti news agency said.

ARMENIAN SPEAKER, US MEDIA WATCHDOG OFFICIALS DISCUSS REFORMS

Arminfo
2 May 06

Yerevan, 2 May: Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Artur
Bagdasaryan met the deputy executive director of Freedom House, Thomas
Melia, the head of the organization’s European office, (?Christi
Eventon), and the editor-in-chief of the Economist Intelligence Unit
publication, Anne Walker, today.

At the meeting, Melia briefed Bagdasaryan on the organization’s
annual report for 2006, noting that the report contained assessment
methodology and standards, the press service of the Armenian parliament
told Arminfo.

The sides discussed the pace of reforms in Armenia and stressed the
importance of expanding democracy, developing economy, holding free
elections and ensuring freedom of speech in holding these reforms
successfully in countries that are going through a transitional
period. The parties also noted the importance of reliable information.

The sides also discussed a number of other issues of mutual interest.

PRESS RELEASE

April 29, 2006

American University of Armenia
40 Marshal Baghramian
Yerevan 375019 ARMENIA
Tel: (37410) 512-522
Fax: (37410) 512-523
Contact: Diana Manukyan
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Public Lecture at AUA Law Department

YEREVAN — The American University of Armenia (AUA) Department of Law,
in partnership with the NGO “Internews” Media Support, hosted a public
lecture by David Sandukhchyan (attorney, head of the legal service
of the “Internews” Media Support NGO), entitled “Current issues of
legal regulation of mass media” on Saturday, April 29, 2006.

Mr. Sandukhchyan discussed the impact of current media legislation on
freedom of speech in Armenia. He commented that, “According to PACE
resolutions and reports of international media freedom organizations,
the basic problem is the lack of the full independence of the
broadcasting regulatory body. The television and radio regulatory
body is formed of top political officials of the country through
non-transparent procedures and, therefore, cannot be fully independent
and neutral. Parallel with other deficiencies of the broadcasting
legislation, the absence of political neutrality of the regulatory
authority negatively affects the freedom of the broadcasting media
in Armenia.”

The aim of the lecture was to raise media awareness about current legal
protections for Armenian journalists and the regulation of mass media
activities in general. Topics included the independence of TV and radio
companies; legislative guarantees of the Mass Media independence from
state authorities; protection of media professionals against imperfect
legislation; and the inadequate application of current legislation.

Mr. Sandukhchyan concluded with his view of the primary issue of
Armenian media legislation and enforcement; i.e., the lack of a
provision in the ROA Law on TV and Radio that guarantees broadcasting
media independence from political authorities. He noted, however, that
there is room in the criminal, civil and administrative legislation to
develop efficient protection of journalists’ professional rights. “The
main problem…is the lack of enforcement of the legislation protecting
the media professionals. Despite a number of violent acts against
journalists that took place during the last three years, the relevant
article of the Criminal Code was applied by the Armenian courts only
once. None of the cases of violence against journalists by the police
[were] disclosed and no…law enforcement authority was panelized,”
Sandukhchyan stated.

The event was free and open to the public. Students, representatives
from international and local NGOs, and the representatives of media
attended the lecture.

Photos attached: David Sandukhchyan, Head of the legal service of the
“Internews” Media Support NGO.