After
having his surgery, in the evening of 1 February Paruyr Hayrikyan
told at the exclusive interview to the Radio “Liberty” that he
would benefit from his constitutional rights and request to postpone
the elections for 15 days.

The
candidate for the President’s office stated that he felt well and
would go back to normal life in a week.

«It
was a miracle yesterday: if it were 1 mm difference, there would not
be any chance for me to survive: Due to the God’s will, they did
not manage to do what they had planned to. It was not aimed against
me, not even against the authorities, but against our country»,-
he stated.

To
the question whom he suspects of committing attempted murder against
him, Paruyr Hayrikyan replied that he suspects agents of a foreign
state’s secret service who had been following him for many years.
«When I told very firmly that we have to go towards Europe,
when I emphasized it, some people got concerned, so I assume it is
linked to that. I do not have personal enemies: I never replied
negatively even to those people who committed something mean to me,
said Hayrikyan, and excluded a possibility that any of the candidates
for the President’s office were involved in the attack against him.

He
saw the perpetrator and told the details of the incident. I saw the
face of the shooter, so I’ll recognize him when I see again. I had
to make my decision within a second, saw how he points his hand
towards my breast; I tried to make it hard for him, hinder his
actions with my hand, then he shot, I was like in a knockout, but at
the same I realized that I should not stop, he tried to shoot again
at my head. When I was shot for the first time, I yield very loudly,
my neighbors went out of their apartment. I was crying “Help,
help”. He shot again, the bullet went under my skin, nothing
serious. My neighbors went out, I have good neighbors, apart from
one, who started provocations, they went out and he ran away. I went
towards the entrance of the building, entered it, then I do not
remember”, - told Hayrikyan.

To
the question who was interested in his death, he told: “there could
be different versions, but it is obvious for me that it was done out
of political motives, but if it should be harmful for anyone, then
first of all, for the authorities, so when some people say it was
done by the authorities, then no, it was not… Whoever did this, it
was aimed against our country. I always spoke about a network of
secret service agents from other countries whose aim is to make
Armenia weak, so that they feel good themselves over here, so I do
not exclude this version” – the candidate for the President’s
office stated.

By
the way, the incumbent President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan visited
him at the end of the working day. In a short interview he called it
an evil crime which was aimed against not only the candidate for the
President’s office, but against the country. “It is obvious that
those people who stand behind this attack, had the aim to impact the
elections’ normal process”, - Serge Sargsyan stated and assured
that the law enforcement agencies will do everything to investigate
the case successfully.

To remind, on 31
January at around 11.30 p.m. in the courtyard of Tpagrichneri str. 9,
a leader of “National Identification Union” party, a candidate
for the President’s Office Paruyr Hayrikyan was shot. He underwent
a surgery on 1 February at Grigor Illuminator Medical Center. The
surgery went well; there is no threat for the politician’s life.