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GANG CRIME: SUSPECT SAYS HE'S BEING SET UP
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow
29.09.11 | 13:31
Surik Hakobyan, the owner of the Suriki Lavash flatbread producing
company, insists his two sons being prosecuted in connection with
their suspected gang links are innocent, while the cases against them
are an attempt to deprive him of his business.
Late last week police in Yerevan busted an armed gang suspected
of committing a series of high-profile robberies at luxury homes
belonging to five wealthy government-linked individuals, including
former and current officials.
(During the attacks in question masked people would burst into homes
in the small hours of the morning and threatening with guns would steal
money, gold, paintings and other valuables and escape, often using the
cars of the house owners. Victims have not yet been able to identify
the attackers either by looks or voice, saying they always wore masks).
According to the preliminary investigation body, Hakobyan's son
Artyusha is the ringleader of the gang that allegedly involves more
than a dozen members. His other son, Andranik, has been a subject of
"investigatory operations" since Wednesday after narcotics and weapons
were found at his house during a police search. Artyusha Hakobyan is
charged with theft and robbery.
"They want to disrupt my business," said Surik Hakobyan, stressing
that he employs about a hundred people at his bakery in his village of
Garni. "They cannot do otherwise, because today I have no competitor
that would offer bread of the same quality. Now they want my factory
shut, they want to lock my sons and me up to kill our business."
Surik Hakobyan is a member of the pro-establishment Prosperous Armenia
Party (PAP) and once was the head of the PAP's local chapter in Garni,
an area some 25 kilometers to the east of Yerevan.
Artyusha Hakobyan's wife, ethnic Georgian Marina Georgadze, is also
under arrest. Her detention, however, was not connected with the
robbery charges brought against her husband. Prosecutor-General's
Office spokesperson Sona Truzyan said Georgadze is wanted by Georgian
law-enforcement bodies as a convicted criminal.
Artyusha Hakobyan has been remanded in prison as have seven other
suspects linked to the gang.
Among the victims of the criminal group that the police allege Artyusha
Hakobyan led were also a former Lincy Foundation official, a former
parliamentarian and former prefect of Yerevan's Malatia-Sebastia
district.
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow
29.09.11 | 13:31
Surik Hakobyan, the owner of the Suriki Lavash flatbread producing
company, insists his two sons being prosecuted in connection with
their suspected gang links are innocent, while the cases against them
are an attempt to deprive him of his business.
Late last week police in Yerevan busted an armed gang suspected
of committing a series of high-profile robberies at luxury homes
belonging to five wealthy government-linked individuals, including
former and current officials.
(During the attacks in question masked people would burst into homes
in the small hours of the morning and threatening with guns would steal
money, gold, paintings and other valuables and escape, often using the
cars of the house owners. Victims have not yet been able to identify
the attackers either by looks or voice, saying they always wore masks).
According to the preliminary investigation body, Hakobyan's son
Artyusha is the ringleader of the gang that allegedly involves more
than a dozen members. His other son, Andranik, has been a subject of
"investigatory operations" since Wednesday after narcotics and weapons
were found at his house during a police search. Artyusha Hakobyan is
charged with theft and robbery.
"They want to disrupt my business," said Surik Hakobyan, stressing
that he employs about a hundred people at his bakery in his village of
Garni. "They cannot do otherwise, because today I have no competitor
that would offer bread of the same quality. Now they want my factory
shut, they want to lock my sons and me up to kill our business."
Surik Hakobyan is a member of the pro-establishment Prosperous Armenia
Party (PAP) and once was the head of the PAP's local chapter in Garni,
an area some 25 kilometers to the east of Yerevan.
Artyusha Hakobyan's wife, ethnic Georgian Marina Georgadze, is also
under arrest. Her detention, however, was not connected with the
robbery charges brought against her husband. Prosecutor-General's
Office spokesperson Sona Truzyan said Georgadze is wanted by Georgian
law-enforcement bodies as a convicted criminal.
Artyusha Hakobyan has been remanded in prison as have seven other
suspects linked to the gang.
Among the victims of the criminal group that the police allege Artyusha
Hakobyan led were also a former Lincy Foundation official, a former
parliamentarian and former prefect of Yerevan's Malatia-Sebastia
district.