The investigation launched into the assassination attempt on the Proshyan village chief, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) makes Artyusha Shahbazyan, a member the ARF, think, that the assassination has political overtones. “Regardless of the principals, there is an atmosphere of intolerance, which we think is the motive for this murder. Regardless of who the principals are, what has happened has political overtones. By the way, one of the charges laid with regard to this crime is a murder of a person or his relative related to the given person’s official activities or performing his social duty. Doesn’t this confirm the same thing?” Mr. Shahbazyan said during a conversation with www.aravot.am. Talking about the descriptions of the governor of Kotayk that “H. Muradyan was a chief of an under mediocre community,” Mr. Shahbazyan said: “The governor gave, to put it mildly, a bad interview. The head of the region doesn’t have a right to give such an interview, particularly when the incident has just happened. At the end of the day, we know about the requirements for officials. We know whom high-ranking officials make administrators, and what they are like. To the officials representing the government, the requirements for a good administrator are different. The whole staff policy existing in our country these days testifies to that too.” In response to our question how they had drawn the attention of the authorities to the terrorist acts against the village chief, when the police hadn’t received even one alert, Mr. Shahbazyan said: “I don’t know the details. Our bodies always follow the activities of at least our officials, because it is important for us how they will administer. Also, if they have certain problems, the party tries to support them, alert, settle issues. And Hrach Muradyan was an outstanding friend who has been famous for his work and devotion since 1990. There was tension. Every one of us has heard that problems arose every time there was an election in Proshyan. Regardless of whether they will inform or not, the government must take measures, pay attention, when issues arise. Here we have a fact of what consequences negligence toward some internal phenomena can cause. I don’t want to go into detail, but there surely were certain grounds for the events that have taken place. It should be clear to everyone that one should not solve issues pressuring, terrorizing, and killing people. However, if people still try to do such
things, there are at least psychological grounds for that, there is a mentality that yes, in our country, such methods are permissible and justify themselves. Now I can give you various examples, but let me recall only one. There was one opposition mayor in Armenia, the ARF mayor of Kapan. They didn’t tolerate him, did they? They did all they could to make him resign. This is our country, regardless of what elevated speeches they will make about democracy. The president of the republic always makes good speeches, but, unfortunately, his words not always correspond to real life. … I cannot say that the authorities must have been interested in the assassination of the village chief or they gained certain benefits from that. One should have proof to say things like that. Let us hope that this time everything will be solved, and the truth will be uncovered.”
Arpine SIMONYAN
