While photographing and interviewing participants at a rally held outside the Presidential Palace by citizens evicted from their homes to make way for new construction in central Yerevan, shocking news started to circulate that a man had set himself on fire in Yerevan's Republic Square.
An hour later that news was confirmed with RFE/RL's Emil Danielyan informing CRD/TI Armenia that the man was not expected to survive. Although there was speculation that the man had also been evicted from his home, this theory has now been ruled out.
RFE/RL's Irina Hovannisyan now reports that the man has since died from burns that covered 80 percent of his body at a Yerevan hospital.
The full post is at:
http://blog.transparency.am/2007/02/27/man-dies-after-self-immolation
Please also see:
Protest Outside Presidential Palace
Although the Constitutional Court ruled last April that the eviction of tenants from their homes in central Yerevan to make way for arguably the largest land grab in Yerevan's history was unconstitutional, nothing much has changed. Indeed, while ruling in their favor, the Constitutional Court was careful enough to word their decision so vaguely enough as to allow for further evictions and to prevent the true worth of the land their homes once stood on from being paid out.
The full post is at:
http://blog.transparency.am/2007/02/27/protest-outside-presidential-palace
Parliamentary Election Monitor
Following on from various private television stations denying that high costs for political advertising were introduced to prevent opposition parties from taking out slots in the broadcast media, RFE/RL reports that the Chairperson of the managing board of Armenian Public Television and Radio, Alexsan Harutyunyan, has defended his station's policy on pricing. He also took the opportunity to promise that his journalists will remain impartial during the election.
The full post is at:
http://blog.transparency.am/2007/02/26/parliamentary-election-monitor-7
Oneworld Multimedia
http://www.oneworld.am
http://oneworld.blogsome.com
Center for Regional Development/
Transparency International Armenia Election Monitor 2007
http://blog.transparency.am
An hour later that news was confirmed with RFE/RL's Emil Danielyan informing CRD/TI Armenia that the man was not expected to survive. Although there was speculation that the man had also been evicted from his home, this theory has now been ruled out.
RFE/RL's Irina Hovannisyan now reports that the man has since died from burns that covered 80 percent of his body at a Yerevan hospital.
The full post is at:
http://blog.transparency.am/2007/02/27/man-dies-after-self-immolation
Please also see:
Protest Outside Presidential Palace
Although the Constitutional Court ruled last April that the eviction of tenants from their homes in central Yerevan to make way for arguably the largest land grab in Yerevan's history was unconstitutional, nothing much has changed. Indeed, while ruling in their favor, the Constitutional Court was careful enough to word their decision so vaguely enough as to allow for further evictions and to prevent the true worth of the land their homes once stood on from being paid out.
The full post is at:
http://blog.transparency.am/2007/02/27/protest-outside-presidential-palace
Parliamentary Election Monitor
Following on from various private television stations denying that high costs for political advertising were introduced to prevent opposition parties from taking out slots in the broadcast media, RFE/RL reports that the Chairperson of the managing board of Armenian Public Television and Radio, Alexsan Harutyunyan, has defended his station's policy on pricing. He also took the opportunity to promise that his journalists will remain impartial during the election.
The full post is at:
http://blog.transparency.am/2007/02/26/parliamentary-election-monitor-7
Oneworld Multimedia
http://www.oneworld.am
http://oneworld.blogsome.com
Center for Regional Development/
Transparency International Armenia Election Monitor 2007
http://blog.transparency.am