By empty (6/14/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Vagharshak Harutiunian was released late on 11 June following a plea on his behalf by Vladimir Pryakhin, the head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, but the criminal charges against him have not been dropped, RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported. Harutiunian, a senior member of the Artarutiun opposition alliance, was one of a dozen oppositionists arrested in mid-April following the violent dispersal by police in Yerevan of participants in a peaceful demonstration calling for the resignation of President Robert Kocharian. Harutiunian was charged with seeking to overthrow the country\'s leadership, but Pryakhin said on 11 June the criminal case against him is \"weak.

By empty (6/14/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Valery Arshba, vice president of the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia, said he hopes for Abkhazia to be under the Russian protectorate. \"As in 1810, we again want to be under the Russian protectorate so that Russia can help preserve the Abkhaz people and avoid war,\" Arshba told Interfax on Monday. Abkhazia\'s authorities met with a Russian State Duma delegation led by Rodina faction leader Dmitry Rogozin earlier today.

By empty (6/14/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Police in Batumi detained four former senior Adjar officials on 11 June and two more on 13 June. Former parliament speaker Giorgi Tsintskhladze, former Customs Department Chairman Djumber Gogitidze, Batumi Customs Department head Amiran Makharadze, and Industry Minister Revaz Rusia were charged with abuse of office and large-scale embezzlement. Former Election Commission Chairman Ednar Shamilishvili was likewise charged with abuse of office, while former Tax Police head Tamaz Bladadze is accused of creating illegal armed units and using force to disperse demonstrators.