According to the former prisoner of conscious, if the author of the assassination attempt on Hayrikyan is not found, the Chief of Police Should Resign
“I think that it is fortunate for a politician that he spilt blood for his fatherland’s democratization, good ideas. If they specifically targeted Hayrikyan, i.e. wanted to kill him, and he hasn’t died, it is a big luck,” Azat Arshakyan, a former prisoner of conscious and an old friend of Paruyr Hayrikyan’s, the leader of the Union for National Self-Determination (UNSD), said during a conversation with www.aravot.am about what had happened to Paruyr Hayrikyan the previous day, being convinced that a person who had gone through fire and water in his life would endure this challenge too.
Azat Arshakyan thinks that regardless of who is behind all this, a madman or someone who is organized and has clearly defined principles, shooting at a candidate for president is a shot at the Republic of Armenia, the Armenian state. “We all are the Armenian state. They shot at us; fortunately, it is not lethal.”
Our interlocutor recalls the statement made by Hayrikyan in the town of Ejmiadzin during the campaign last week, in which he said that he would light the last but one candle in Ejmiadzin, and adds: “In this case, I think Hayrikyan serves his ideas, democracy, and freedom to the last but one drop of his blood.”
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Azat Arshakyan thinks that Paruyr Hayrikyan’s campaign is beneficial for the state, and thinks that it is a service to the Fatherland. In response to a question of www.aravot.am whether he didn’t think that whoever was behind all that, it was also a shot at the government of the Republic of Armenia and the ruling party’s candidate Serzh Sargsyan, because this situation was least beneficial for the very government and Serzh Sargsyan, Azat Arshakyan said: “Yes, not only Paruyr Harikyan’s person but also the government received a blow. I agree with that thought.”
Azat Arshakyan draws attention to the fact that as a result of all this, one should seriously think of the security of candidates for president regardless of whether they like it or not. And in this sense, our interlocutor thinks that this incident was a result of a failure.
Let us remind that Chief of Police Vladimir Gasparyan had offered to provide security officers for candidates for president, but many of them had refused. In response to the next question of www.aravot.am whether he didn’t think that Serzh Sargsyan should personally supervise the investigation of this case, since besides everything else, it is a matter of his honor, Azat Arshakyan said: “Surely. It is a matter of honor and competent bodies must do everything they can to prevent such things or if we are presented with a fait accompli, to solve it. I think that Serzh Sargsyan’s government will have a task to ensure that no candidate for president is shot outside his home. The doctor, the police officer, and the security officer should be good; it is their job. You may say Kennedy was assassinated. Yes, but no one should be assassinated in Armenia.”
Azat Arshakyan thinks that if this case suffers the same fate as other similar cases, i.e. is not solved, this should be a lesson at least for the near future that no one has the right to shoot, kill a person in Armenia. It should become a motto, a system of values for us.
He also reminds: “Capital punishment is banned in the Republic of Armenia. Our courts don’t sentence to death, even in the event of the most serious crime. The most severe punishment is life imprisonment.”
Nelly GRIGORYAN
