In Armenian

Scandalous relationship established among political forces before the
parliamentary elections, continue between the criminal elements which came to
power as a result of elections. The issue solving process takes various forms,
including fighting and shooting during daytime. As usual, innocent people
appearing at this time on the streets become victims of the fights.

In Gyumri, one of participants of the shooting on May 20th was the son of the
Mayor of Gyumri, a board member of the Republican party. Aravot daily reports
that on Sunday the son of Vardan Ghukasyan, the mayor of Gyumri and the son of
Artashes Sargsyan, the former Head of the Construction Department of the Shirak
administration, in the downtown of Gyumri, in front of many people, started
shooting each other. As a result of the shooting, a 74- year old inhabitant of
Gyumri, Hamaspyur Mnatsakanyan, was wounded.

“Our sources in Gyumri informed us that, shortly after the fighting, the special
division of the RA Police and personally Ashot Grigoryan, the Head of General
Department of Fighting against Organized Crime of the RA Police, arrived to
Gyumri. The police visited homes of those involved in the shooting in order to
find them. We were informed that two days later Gagik Tsarukyan, the Chairman of
the Bargavatch Hayastan party, also visited Gyumri, and his visit was also
connected to this event”, reports Haykakan Zhamanak daily.

Aravot daily says that in Gyumri people talk about the incident, and one of the
versions, which was provided by the sources close to the Police is that
“Spartak, Vardan Ghukasyan’s son, accidentally met Rustam, Artashes Sargsyan’s
son, a few days prior the shooting and recalled that during elections the latter
supported not his father’s candidacy, but Bargavatch Hayastan party. In two
days, they met again to discuss the matter in the café Ravenna. According to
witnesses, their conversation ended by spitting vodka and juice at each other.
Then, as people say, the mayor’s son decided to visit the restaurant belonging
to Sargsyan’s family. The staff of the restaurant, seeing him, did not open the
door, and after that the mayor’s son got very angry and shouted that there are
no closed doors for him in this town. Thus, this led to the fighting on the
crossroad of Teryan-Ghukasyan streets, not far from the house of the former
Construction Department Head. According to witnesses, the mayor’s son started to
shoot the house, and in response to that, Artashes Sargsyan, the former
Department Head opened shooting from the opposite site”.

The Prosecutor’s office of the Shirak marz filed a criminal case on “attempt of
killing and illegal carry of a gun” under Article 104, 6th par and Article
235,part 1 of the Criminal Code of RA. At the place of the incident the
investigation group of the Prosecutor’s office found 26 guns, two revolvers,
bullets, etc. On May 22, the Prosecutor’s office announced that the car Toyota
Land Cruiser, belonging to the son of Artashes Sargsyan and used during the
fighting, was found with traces of bullets on it. Also, from the opposite
fighting group, the grandson of Vardan Ghukasyan’s uncle, Artyom Ghukasyan, who
was on the 57th place in the Republican party election list, was brought to the
police, for it was his Hammer, which was used by Spartak Ghukasyan, the mayor’s
son, during the shooting.

It is obvious that there were attempts to present this event as simple
hooliganism. The mayor in a television interview announced that his son strongly
believes in friendship and protects his friends’ honor. The motive of friendship
was repeated in the press release of the General Prosecutor’s office of May 25th
: “According to data available to the Prosecutor’s office, on May 20th, 2007,
around 18.00-18:30, Rustam Sargsyan in his own restaurant “Metelitsa” disturbed
public order and demonstrated an extreme disrespect towards the public, by rude
and brutal dispute with Norayr Soloyan. After 10 minutes of dispute, they went
out of the restaurant and Rustam Sargsyan took a gun “Kalashnikov”, for which he
had no legal permit, and shot twice at Norayr Soloyan’s legs. Soloyan’s,
wounded, left the place. Later on this day, at 19:30, in a crowded spot near the
crossroad of Teryan and Ghukasyan streets of Gyumri, a shooting took place
between R. Sargsyan, who drove Toyota-Land-Cruiser, belonging to him, and Telman
Karapetyan, who was in the car, and Spartak Ghukasyan, who drove Hammer H-2 and
other yet unknown people. Some external circumstances prevented them from
fulfilling their intention to kill each other and they fled the place”.

Thus, the Prosecutor’s office connects these two events, in the first of which a
friend of Spartak Ghukasyan was offended and wounded, and in the second
incident, continuing the logic of the public speech of his father, Spartak was
protecting the dignity and honor of his friend.

The Prosecutor’s office of the Shirak marz of RA decided to open a case against
the mayor’s son Spartak Ghukasyan, as well as against Rustam Sargsyan and Telman
Karapetyan based on the RA Criminal Code, Articles 34-104 (part 2, par. 1, 6 and
7), Art.235, part1 and Art.258, part 4. The same day, an order to arrest was
issued and a search of these people (who fled and yet are not found) was
announced.

Notwithstanding the mayor’s son “high moral character and devotion to
friendship”, he needs to be found, as God knows how many friends he has, and how
many of them he will decide to protect. Especially, as these friendship acts
cost a lot to the society. Several people were injured during the incident in
Gyumri. The Prosecutor’s office reports on injuries of Gyumri’s inhabitant
Hamazasp Mnatsakanyan, who happened to be in the street, the damaged walls and
windows of buildings. The Gyumri inhabitants mention that there were more people
who were injured during the shooting. There is also a suspicious talk about
disappearance of a boy, Robert Simonyan, inhabitant of Gyumri, who disappeared
the same day. As people have seen a boy of 10-12 year old at the place of the
shooting, there are rumors that it might be the same boy, who might be injured
or dead during the shooting, and kept hidden somewhere.

www.hra.am

www.lragir.am