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ARMENIAN GOVERNOR AGAIN ACCUSED OF VIOLENCE
Irina Hovhannisyan, Astghik Bedevian
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24392038.html
15.11.2011
Armenia - Surik Khachatrian, governor of Syunik province.
An Armenian businesswoman claimed on Tuesday to have been assaulted
by a regional governor notorious for reportedly violent conduct just
days after accusing him of corruption and business-related fraud.
Silva Hambardzumian alleged that Surik Khachatrian of the southeastern
Syunik province punched her in the head in a Yerevan hotel late on
Monday, lodging a formal complaint with state prosecutors. Khachatrian
denied that.
The prosecutors' investigating arm, the Special Investigative
Service (SIS), opened a criminal case on the allegations on Tuesday
evening. The SIS did that after questioning Hambardzumian in connection
with her corruption allegations made against Khachatrian.
Speaking at a news conference last week, Hambardzumian, who has
business interests in Syunik, charged that a mining company owned
by the governor misappropriated mining equipment worth more than
100 million drams ($263,000) from another firm belonging to her. She
also accused him of bullying an Australian firm to sell a gold mine
located in the mountainous region bordering Iran.
Armenia - Businesswoman Silva Hambardzumian, undated
â~@~Kâ~@~KHambardzumian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am)
that Khachatrian assaulted her as she was about to leave the lobby of
the Armenia Marriott Hotel after a meeting with a foreign business
partner. She said he hit her before being pulled away by other men
who accompanied him.
"I was shocked," she said. "Not because of the beating itself but
the fact that a man, a state official can beat a woman."
According to Hambardzumian, the incident was witnessed by Khachik
Manukian, a businessman and parliament deputy. But Manukian denied
that. "When I arrived there everything was over," he said.
"I saw her sitting and crying."
In Manukian words, Khachatrian and several other men sat nearby in
the meantime. "People said that some incident occurred, that there
were some cries," the pro-government lawmaker said.
The press office of Syunik's regional administration denied the assault
allegations in a statement issued later on Tuesday. It accused the
female entrepreneur of "slander."
For its part, Marriott's security service claimed that no violent
incidents were witnessed by hotel staff or caught on surveillance
cameras. "We have no cameras in that section," a security guard,
who identified himself as Armen, told RFE/RL's Armenian service.
Hambardzumian insisted, however, that the hotel has video evidence
of the alleged assault and warned the Marriott management against
withholding it.
Khachatrian, better known in Armenia with his "Liska" nickname, and
his extended family have held sway in the regional town of Goris
and nearby villages ever since the early 1990s. Independent media
outlets in Yerevan have for years implicated them in violent attacks
on local business rivals as well as government critics, including a
Syunik newspaper editor whose car was set on fire in 2005.
The controversial governor has always denied involvement in such
incidents and denounced opposition politicians and pro-opposition
media for branding him a crime figure. Vazgen Manukian, a former
opposition leader who now heads President Sarkisian's Public Council,
referred to him in as an "uneducated criminal" in 2007.
In 2008, Khachatrian faced an embarrassing government inquiry into
a newspaper report that accused him of beating up a teenage boy. He
was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and Surik Khachatrian,
governor of Syunik province, attend an official ceremony.
Khachatrian, who was appointed as Syunik governor by former President
Robert Kocharian, managed to retain his post even after the Armenian
parliament's Audit Chamber accused Syunik officials of embezzling
575 million drams ($1.5 million) worth of public funds and property
later in 2008.
A member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Khachatrian
was reputed to be Sarkisian's protégé even before the current
president succeeded Kocharian in 2008. He personally managed the
parliamentary election campaign of Sarkisian's controversial brother
Aleksandr in 2007. The latter ran for parliament unopposed in a
Goris constituency.
Also noteworthy is fact that official results of the February 2008
disputed presidential election showed Sarkisian receiving the highest
percentage of votes in Syunik.
Meanwhile, the HHK on Tuesday declined to directly comment on the
latest scandal involving Khachatrian. "I am not inclined to make
immediate evaluations," the party's deputy chairman, Galust Sahakian,
told RFE/RL's Armenian service. "I would just say that the HHK believes
that state officials must live more restrained lives."
From: Baghdasarian
Irina Hovhannisyan, Astghik Bedevian
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24392038.html
15.11.2011
Armenia - Surik Khachatrian, governor of Syunik province.
An Armenian businesswoman claimed on Tuesday to have been assaulted
by a regional governor notorious for reportedly violent conduct just
days after accusing him of corruption and business-related fraud.
Silva Hambardzumian alleged that Surik Khachatrian of the southeastern
Syunik province punched her in the head in a Yerevan hotel late on
Monday, lodging a formal complaint with state prosecutors. Khachatrian
denied that.
The prosecutors' investigating arm, the Special Investigative
Service (SIS), opened a criminal case on the allegations on Tuesday
evening. The SIS did that after questioning Hambardzumian in connection
with her corruption allegations made against Khachatrian.
Speaking at a news conference last week, Hambardzumian, who has
business interests in Syunik, charged that a mining company owned
by the governor misappropriated mining equipment worth more than
100 million drams ($263,000) from another firm belonging to her. She
also accused him of bullying an Australian firm to sell a gold mine
located in the mountainous region bordering Iran.
Armenia - Businesswoman Silva Hambardzumian, undated
â~@~Kâ~@~KHambardzumian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am)
that Khachatrian assaulted her as she was about to leave the lobby of
the Armenia Marriott Hotel after a meeting with a foreign business
partner. She said he hit her before being pulled away by other men
who accompanied him.
"I was shocked," she said. "Not because of the beating itself but
the fact that a man, a state official can beat a woman."
According to Hambardzumian, the incident was witnessed by Khachik
Manukian, a businessman and parliament deputy. But Manukian denied
that. "When I arrived there everything was over," he said.
"I saw her sitting and crying."
In Manukian words, Khachatrian and several other men sat nearby in
the meantime. "People said that some incident occurred, that there
were some cries," the pro-government lawmaker said.
The press office of Syunik's regional administration denied the assault
allegations in a statement issued later on Tuesday. It accused the
female entrepreneur of "slander."
For its part, Marriott's security service claimed that no violent
incidents were witnessed by hotel staff or caught on surveillance
cameras. "We have no cameras in that section," a security guard,
who identified himself as Armen, told RFE/RL's Armenian service.
Hambardzumian insisted, however, that the hotel has video evidence
of the alleged assault and warned the Marriott management against
withholding it.
Khachatrian, better known in Armenia with his "Liska" nickname, and
his extended family have held sway in the regional town of Goris
and nearby villages ever since the early 1990s. Independent media
outlets in Yerevan have for years implicated them in violent attacks
on local business rivals as well as government critics, including a
Syunik newspaper editor whose car was set on fire in 2005.
The controversial governor has always denied involvement in such
incidents and denounced opposition politicians and pro-opposition
media for branding him a crime figure. Vazgen Manukian, a former
opposition leader who now heads President Sarkisian's Public Council,
referred to him in as an "uneducated criminal" in 2007.
In 2008, Khachatrian faced an embarrassing government inquiry into
a newspaper report that accused him of beating up a teenage boy. He
was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and Surik Khachatrian,
governor of Syunik province, attend an official ceremony.
Khachatrian, who was appointed as Syunik governor by former President
Robert Kocharian, managed to retain his post even after the Armenian
parliament's Audit Chamber accused Syunik officials of embezzling
575 million drams ($1.5 million) worth of public funds and property
later in 2008.
A member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Khachatrian
was reputed to be Sarkisian's protégé even before the current
president succeeded Kocharian in 2008. He personally managed the
parliamentary election campaign of Sarkisian's controversial brother
Aleksandr in 2007. The latter ran for parliament unopposed in a
Goris constituency.
Also noteworthy is fact that official results of the February 2008
disputed presidential election showed Sarkisian receiving the highest
percentage of votes in Syunik.
Meanwhile, the HHK on Tuesday declined to directly comment on the
latest scandal involving Khachatrian. "I am not inclined to make
immediate evaluations," the party's deputy chairman, Galust Sahakian,
told RFE/RL's Armenian service. "I would just say that the HHK believes
that state officials must live more restrained lives."
From: Baghdasarian