A set of versions are put forward as to who could organize the assassination attempt, from acting alone to external forces. We asked Victor Dallakyan, the president’s deputy chief of staff, to tell us which version he was inclined to believe. “I think acting alone is just ridiculous. A serious crime has been committed. It was a shot at the Republic of Armenia, because it is unprecedented when there is an assassination attempt on one of the candidates for president. The purpose of it was to disrupt the normal course of the election. Such cases cannot happen without external and internal trails. It is hard for me to say exactly which external and internal forces were interested in this attempt. But I am sure that such cases cannot be a coincidence. It was in the interest of those internal and internal forces that could exploit the fact that such a thing happened in the presidential election.”
Victor Dallakyan has his own explanation of the assassination attempt on Harikyan. “Because he is a candidate who has a unique biography, a very interesting past. I can say that there would have been a much greater uproar, if something worse had happened to Hayrikyan. The target was not randomly-selected. This is a shot at Serzh Sargsyan himself too, because only a madman could presume that Serzh Sargsyan would have benefitted from it. It, as well as the events of March 1, 2008, was absolutely disadvantageous to Serzh Sargsyan aspiring to presidency, because, at the end of the day, they would place the responsibility on Serzh Sargsyan. I want to make comparisons. That shooting was absolutely disadvantageous to Serzh Sargsyan too. According to my assessment, at the end of the day they shot at Serzh Sargsyan too.”
In response to our question whether they had wanted to kill Paruyr Hayrikyan and had missed or they had tried to frighten him, in his opinion, Mr. Dallakyan said that listening to Paruyr Hayrikyan’s story, he thought that they had tried to kill him. “The assassin aimed at killing Paruyr Hayrikyan, because there was a double tap, but the assassin missed the second shot; it could happen to an assassin. In this case, I would say, ‘Fortunately, he missed.’
Hayrikyan moved, he missed, because one cannot miss at a short distance; perhaps, God grabbed the assassin by the hand and saved Hayrikyan.”
Hrant Bagratyan demands to respect the Constitution and postpone the election for two weeks. Victor Dallakyan assured that being an author of the Election Code, he knew that there was a principle of equality between candidates, and the Constitution provided for a certain procedure, if there was an insurmountable obstacle to one of the candidates. “It stipulates, ‘Based on the candidate’s request.’ If Paruyr Hayrikyan files a petition in the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court will postpone. Otherwise, no one, except for Hayrikyan, can do that. There should be his request.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
