Gyumri Mayor’s Son Charged In High-Profile Shootout

Friday 25, May 2007
Armenialiberty.org, Armenia
By Satenik Vantsian in Gyumri

Prosecutors announced on Friday a nationwide hunt for a son of Gyumri Mayor Vartan Ghukasian after identifying him as a key participant of the weekend shootout in Armenia’s second largest city that left at least one person wounded.

Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General officially confirmed reports that the gunfight involved two groups of young men led by Spartak Ghukasian and Rustam Sargsian, son of a prominent local businessman. It said police have been instructed to take “all necessary measures” to find and arrest both men already charged under relevant articles of the Armenian Criminal Code.

“Nobody has been arrested in connection with this case so far,” the spokeswoman for the law-enforcement agency, Sona Truzian, told RFE/RL, denying rumors about dozens of arrests circulating in Gyumri. But she said the investigators have already found two expensive cars, two assault rifles, and two pistols used in the shootout.

The investigators also questioned on Thursday Mayor Ghukasian in connection with the incident. In a televised interview broadcast earlier this week, he vehemently denied his son’s involvement. He also accused the media and his rivals of discrediting his family which was widely linked with other instances of violence reported in Gyumri in recent years.

The flamboyant mayor, who is a senior member of the governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), was seriously wounded in a mysterious drive-by shooting that killed three of his bodyguards about two months ago. Ghukasian has linked the apparent assassination attempt to his membership in the HHK.

There were suggestions that the latest shootout may have also been politically motivated as the fugitive Sargsian’s father is a local leader of the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), one of the HHK’s main rivals in the May 12 parliamentary elections. But according to the prosecutors, the shootout was sparked by a violent dispute between Sargsian and a friend of Spartak Ghukasian’s that broke out in a Gyumri restaurant earlier on Sunday. Truzian said the man, Norayr Soloyan, picked a fight with Sargsian before being shot and wounded in the leg.

Soloyan was taken to a Gyumri hospital and is being treated there under police guard. A statement by the prosecutors said he will be arrested and prosecuted after recovering from the wound.

Truzian insisted that only one person, an elderly woman, suffered a minor injury in the shootout itself when a stray bullet hit her in the arm. She also said the investigators see no link between the incident and the disappearance of a 12-year-boy in Gyumri on Sunday. The boy, identified as Robert Simonian, reportedly went missing at around the same time.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Two Wounded In Gyumri Shootout

Monday 21, May 2007
Armenia Liberty
By Satenik Vantsian in Gyumri

The article below is a typical case of imbalance in the distribution of wealth in Armenia. An interesting quote from the article below is: “If they earned a living like ordinary people do, there would never be such shootings. They’ve got everything and, unlike us, have time to shoot each other”

At least two people were wounded in a weekend gunfight in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri that allegedly involved a son of its controversial Mayor Vartan Ghukasian.

Law-enforcement authorities promptly launched a criminal investigation into the shootout that broke out on a street intersection in the city center on Sunday evening. Prosecutors said two groups of “unknown individuals” exchanged fire in still uncertain circumstances. “All necessary measures are being taken to clarify circumstances of the incident and identify individuals who committed the crime,” the spokeswoman for the Prosecutor-General’s Office, Sona Truzian, told RFE/RL on Monday.

According to unconfirmed reports, they were led by Ghukasian’s son Spartak and Rustam Sargsian, the son of a local businessman and a local leader of the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).

Later on Sunday, police found an expensive SUV which is known to have been used by Spartak Ghukasian and was apparently involved in the high-profile incident. The black Hummer was riddled with bullet holes.

Truzian said the car is formally owned by a certain Artyom Ghukasian but would not specify whether the man is related to the mayor. She also said that an innocent passerby as well as a 28-year-old man were wounded in the shootout.

The man, identified as Norayr Aloyan, underwent surgery in a local hospital and remained in intensive care there on Monday. Members of the Ghukasian clan could be seen waiting outside the hospital on Sunday night, suggesting that he might be connected to them.

There were rumors that Sargsian was also injured in the gunfight. However, the hospital administration insisted that he was not treated there.

The two families have business interests in Gyumri but have no history of commercial disputes. Spartak Ghukasian, whose father heads the regional branch of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK), is said to have quarreled with Sargsian in a Gyumri restaurant earlier this week, allegedly blasting the latter for his family’s ties with the rival BHK.

Ghukasian is no stranger to controversy, having been repeatedly implicated in violent incidents periodically reported from Gyumri. A newspaper last year accused him of bullying and beating a well-known critic of his equally controversial father. The latter has earned notoriety for his flamboyant behavior that has occasionally turned violent.

Less than two months ago Mayor Ghukasian survived an apparent attempt on his life when unknown gunmen opened fire on his motorcade, killing three of his bodyguards. Ghukasian is still recovering from a serious wound sustained in the attack. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the brazen shooting so far.

The latest incident only added to a widespread sense of insecurity among residents of Gyumri. One middle-aged woman was at the scene of the gunfight when it broke out but was too scared to divulge any details to RFE/RL. “I have a son and don’t want to get him in trouble,” she explained.

“Law is not enforced here,” said another, male resident. “I’m now scared of going out.”

“If they earned a living like ordinary people do, there would never be such shootings. They’ve got everything and, unlike us, have time to shoot each other,” he added with sarcasm.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.