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Yerevan Mayor [Aka "Chorni Gago"] Resigns Over Assault

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  • Yerevan Mayor [Aka "Chorni Gago"] Resigns Over Assault

    YEREVAN MAYOR [AKA "CHORNI GAGO"] RESIGNS OVER ASSAULT
    Ruzanna Stepanian

    http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/2242752.html
    08.12.2010

    ARMENIA -- YEREVAN MAYOR GAGIK BEGLARIAN.

    Yerevan's controversial Mayor Gagik Beglarian was forced to step down
    on Wednesday after reportedly beating up a member of President Serzh
    Sarkisian's staff. (UPDATED)

    The resignation was announced by the Mayor's Office just hours after
    Sarkisian effectively confirmed and condemned through a spokesman
    Beglarian's involvement in the assault on Aram Kandayan, an official
    at the presidential administration's protocol unit.

    According to media reports, Kandayan incurred the ire of Beglarian
    after asking the latter's wife not to sit next to Sarkisian during the
    November 3 concert in Yerevan of Placido Domingo, the world-famous
    Spanish tenor. Such seats have traditionally been reserved for
    Armenia's prime minister, parliament speaker and the supreme head of
    the Armenian Apostolic Church.

    Armenia -- The wife of Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglarian (L) at a concert
    of Spanish tenor Placido Domingo, 3Dec2010.

    Beglarian, who did not attend the concert, allegedly drove Kandayan
    to one of his properties in Yerevan and beat up the young official
    there the next day. Reports claimed that Sarkisian was infuriated by
    the incident and demanded an official apology from the mayor.

    "Unfortunately, an incident did take place," the presidential press
    secretary, Armen Arzumanian, told RFE/RL's Armenian service. "But the
    media have exaggerated it. In particular, there was no kidnapping or
    brutal beating."

    "The president has repeatedly made clear his position on such
    deeds," said Arzumanian. "Namely, such a conduct is unacceptable and
    intolerable. The more so in the case of a state official."

    Neither Beglarian, nor his alleged victim could be reached for comment
    throughout the day. The press office of the Yerevan municipality also
    did not respond to phone calls.

    It was not immediately clear who will perform the mayor's duties until
    the election of Beglarian's successor by the city's Council of Elders.

    Most of the council seats are controlled by President Serzh Sarkisian's
    Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).

    Beglarian became Yerevan's first elected mayor in more than a decade
    after leading the HHK to a landslide victory in disputed municipal
    elections held in May 2009. The 46-year-old businessman, who is also
    known to many Armenians as "Black Gago," had previously governed the
    Armenian capital's central administrative district.

    Beglarian has long held sway in a largely blue-collar section of the
    district notorious for election-related violence against opposition
    activists. Armenian opposition groups have for years accused him of
    heading a local clan that rigs elections and bullies the government's
    political opponents. In particular, they implicated him in a December
    2009 assault on more than a dozen young activists of the opposition
    Armenian National Congress.

    Both Beglarian and the HHK have denied these allegations. The ruling
    party highlighted the mayor's status as a key presidential ally when
    it elected him to its decision-making Executive Body late last year.




    From: A. Papazian
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