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BAGHDASARIAN BRIEFS POLICE ON 'DEATH THREATS'
By Ruzanna Khachatrian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Feb 7 2008
Opposition presidential candidate Artur Baghdasarian met an Armenian
police general on Thursday to discuss election-related murder threats
which he claims to have received late last week.
Baghdasarian has so far not publicized details of the alleged threats,
indicating only that they emanated from the authorities.
Although Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian dismissed the claims as a
"pre-election trick" earlier this week, law-enforcement authorities
expressed their readiness to investigate them. The Office of the
Prosecutor-General formally summoned the leader of the opposition
Orinats Yerkir Party for questioning on Tuesday after a similar
invitation extended by the Armenian police.
According to Baghdasarian's campaign manager, Heghine Bisharian,
the candidate received Major-General Hayk Militonian, head of the
criminal investigations directorate of the Police Service, in the
Orinats Yerkir headquarters in Yerevan. "Artur Baghdasarian presented
some information about and details of death threats addressed to him,"
she told RFE/RL without elaborating.
Bisharian said the two men also discussed "the need for a state
protection of Artur Baghdasarian."
The former parliament speaker told RFE/RL on Wednesday that another
law-enforcement agency, the National Security Service (NSS), offered
to provide him with bodyguards and that he accepted the offer.
Baghdasarian claimed to have been threatened with death amid growing
speculation that he might drop out of the presidential race in
favor of another opposition candidate, former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian. Baghdasarian has not ruled out such possibility,
saying that he is "actively" negotiating with Ter-Petrosian.
"Negotiations continue," he told RFE/RL as he campaigned in the
central town of Aparan earlier on Thursday.
By Ruzanna Khachatrian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Feb 7 2008
Opposition presidential candidate Artur Baghdasarian met an Armenian
police general on Thursday to discuss election-related murder threats
which he claims to have received late last week.
Baghdasarian has so far not publicized details of the alleged threats,
indicating only that they emanated from the authorities.
Although Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian dismissed the claims as a
"pre-election trick" earlier this week, law-enforcement authorities
expressed their readiness to investigate them. The Office of the
Prosecutor-General formally summoned the leader of the opposition
Orinats Yerkir Party for questioning on Tuesday after a similar
invitation extended by the Armenian police.
According to Baghdasarian's campaign manager, Heghine Bisharian,
the candidate received Major-General Hayk Militonian, head of the
criminal investigations directorate of the Police Service, in the
Orinats Yerkir headquarters in Yerevan. "Artur Baghdasarian presented
some information about and details of death threats addressed to him,"
she told RFE/RL without elaborating.
Bisharian said the two men also discussed "the need for a state
protection of Artur Baghdasarian."
The former parliament speaker told RFE/RL on Wednesday that another
law-enforcement agency, the National Security Service (NSS), offered
to provide him with bodyguards and that he accepted the offer.
Baghdasarian claimed to have been threatened with death amid growing
speculation that he might drop out of the presidential race in
favor of another opposition candidate, former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian. Baghdasarian has not ruled out such possibility,
saying that he is "actively" negotiating with Ter-Petrosian.
"Negotiations continue," he told RFE/RL as he campaigned in the
central town of Aparan earlier on Thursday.