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ARMENIA: FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GETS 14 YEARS FOR ALLEGED MURDER CONSPIRACY
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 24 2013
September 24, 2013 - 3:42am, by Elizabeth Owen
One of Armenia's stranger political dramas reached a concluding
chapter on September 23 with the sentencing of former presidential
candidate Vartan Sedrakian to 14 years in prison for the attempted
murder of fellow former candidate Paruyr Hayrikian.
The storyline might almost fit one of the Armenian epic poems in
which Sedrakian is a self-described expert. Hayrikian, a Soviet-era
dissident, was shot and wounded on a Yerevan street on January 31,
a few weeks before the February 18 presidential election. After
considerable vacillation by Hayrikian, the election was not delayed,
but speculation over the shooting simmered on.
Sedrakian, who, like Hayrikian, was never considered a prime contender
for presidential office, was arrested in March for allegedly arranging
the shooting. He maintains his innocence and, according to his
lawyer, plans to appeal the ruling against him to the Strasbourg,
France-based European Court of Human Rights, a body which many South
Caucasus residents tend to look on as a sort of US-style Supreme Court.
He charges that prosecutors never identified his motive and that
the two men who allegedly attacked Hayrikian later withdrew their
confessions, RFE/RL reported.
The duo, Khachatur Poghosian, the alleged gunman, and Samvel
Harutiunian, received 14 and 12-year prison sentences, respectively.
Sedrakian, an occultist who predicted his own arrest, earlier had
conceded that both men had worked for him as house painters. Reasons
for his admitting such a detail if he had commissioned them to kill
Hayrikian have not been made clear. He initially lay blame for the
shooting on the Freemasons.
Hayrikian, who claims that he has survived six previous assassination
attempts, said, of course, that he doesn't believe Sedrakian is the
brains of the operation, but that, at this point, "I care very little
about" the court ruling, Aysor reported.
Some critics may say the reason for that indifference is all too
clear. In April, in what many claimed was an attempt to hush up the
outcry over the affair, the government handed over 20.5-million drams
(about $50,000) to Hayrikian in recognition of his "contribution to
[Armenia's] independence." Officials maintained that the money was
for treatment of his wounds. With the case against Sedrakian closed,
the government now may well be heaving a sigh of relief. The attempt on
Hayrikian did little to reverse Armenia's reputation for election-time
violence. In 2008, ten people died during clashes between police
and a crowd protesting election results that named Serzh Sargsyan
as president.
Sargsyan again swept the polls this year. Hayrikian finished with
just over one percent of the vote, while Sedrakian did not make it
to one percent.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67539
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 24 2013
September 24, 2013 - 3:42am, by Elizabeth Owen
One of Armenia's stranger political dramas reached a concluding
chapter on September 23 with the sentencing of former presidential
candidate Vartan Sedrakian to 14 years in prison for the attempted
murder of fellow former candidate Paruyr Hayrikian.
The storyline might almost fit one of the Armenian epic poems in
which Sedrakian is a self-described expert. Hayrikian, a Soviet-era
dissident, was shot and wounded on a Yerevan street on January 31,
a few weeks before the February 18 presidential election. After
considerable vacillation by Hayrikian, the election was not delayed,
but speculation over the shooting simmered on.
Sedrakian, who, like Hayrikian, was never considered a prime contender
for presidential office, was arrested in March for allegedly arranging
the shooting. He maintains his innocence and, according to his
lawyer, plans to appeal the ruling against him to the Strasbourg,
France-based European Court of Human Rights, a body which many South
Caucasus residents tend to look on as a sort of US-style Supreme Court.
He charges that prosecutors never identified his motive and that
the two men who allegedly attacked Hayrikian later withdrew their
confessions, RFE/RL reported.
The duo, Khachatur Poghosian, the alleged gunman, and Samvel
Harutiunian, received 14 and 12-year prison sentences, respectively.
Sedrakian, an occultist who predicted his own arrest, earlier had
conceded that both men had worked for him as house painters. Reasons
for his admitting such a detail if he had commissioned them to kill
Hayrikian have not been made clear. He initially lay blame for the
shooting on the Freemasons.
Hayrikian, who claims that he has survived six previous assassination
attempts, said, of course, that he doesn't believe Sedrakian is the
brains of the operation, but that, at this point, "I care very little
about" the court ruling, Aysor reported.
Some critics may say the reason for that indifference is all too
clear. In April, in what many claimed was an attempt to hush up the
outcry over the affair, the government handed over 20.5-million drams
(about $50,000) to Hayrikian in recognition of his "contribution to
[Armenia's] independence." Officials maintained that the money was
for treatment of his wounds. With the case against Sedrakian closed,
the government now may well be heaving a sigh of relief. The attempt on
Hayrikian did little to reverse Armenia's reputation for election-time
violence. In 2008, ten people died during clashes between police
and a crowd protesting election results that named Serzh Sargsyan
as president.
Sargsyan again swept the polls this year. Hayrikian finished with
just over one percent of the vote, while Sedrakian did not make it
to one percent.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67539