The illegalities of the mayor of Gyumri and his close friends have gone over the limit. The mayor’s son Spartak Ghukasyan has once again found himself in a scandal and the police are currently keeping an eye on him. However, judging from the intolerance in Gyumri, everyone is almost certain that Spartak will be able to get himself out of this one too.
Way back during last year’s local authorities’ election campaign, Vartan Ghukasyan had warned his opponents and their campaigners to think before going against him, because they would still see each other even after the elections and they would be held responsible for their actions. Right after the elections, Vartan Ghukasyan and his son Spartak went on to fulfill the promise that he had made during the pre-election campaign.
First, Vartan Ghukasyan’s close friends kidnapped and beat one of Vartan’s main opponents-Republican Martin Sukiasyan’s groom based on the fact that he had dared to be on Sukiasyan’s side during the elections rather than Ghukasyan’s.
About two months ago, V. Ghukasyan’s son Spartak Ghukasyan had cruelly beat deputy head of the Shirak Marz, head of the regional branch of the Land Defenders’ Union Michael Vartanyan. But Michael Vartanyan is doing his best to cover this up and denies the fact that he was beaten. According to some rumors, Mr. Vartanyan had announced to his friends that he’s not sure what kind of punishment he will get if he causes a scandal by telling the truth and it’s better not to say anything at all.
Recently, Spartak’s next victim was former head of the cultural department of the Gyumri municipality Ashot Mkrtchyan. But what happened to him is just incredible.
On March 25, around 4 p.m. A. Mkrtchyan was going home from work (he is a law professor at the Gyumri branch of the Moscow humanitarian university). Suddenly, Spartak Ghukasyan cut him off on Garegin Nzhdeh Street and stopped the car right in front of him. When Ashot Mkrtchyan stopped the car, Spartak approached him and told him that “he had to talk to him about something for five minutes”.
In the car, Vartanyan asked Mkrtchyan.
“Why did you go against my father? Didn’t you know that we could take your life for that?”
After that, Spartak and his friend Norik started beating Ashot Mkrtchyan to death with their hands and feet and caused a number of physical injuries.
“Then Norik asked his friend Spartak ‘should I shoot him’, but Spartak was “generous” enough and said ‘no, not yet’,” said A. Mkrtchyan during an interview with us.
With a bloody face, Ashot Mkrtchyan was trying to cross the street and suddenly met deputy head of the regional police department of Shirak Ashot Gorginyan. Gorginyan found about what had happened and took him to the police department to write a declaration about the event.
Nobody in Gyumri is surprised to see the mayor of Gyumri and his son showing their bravery like this, especially since it has turned into some kind of ritual for them to cause scandals, kidnap someone and beat him during the spring every year.
From criminal to suspect
The amazing thing is what happened to Ashot Mkrtchyan afterwards.
Five days later, on March 30 at 9:00 p.m., crime investigators of the Gyumri police department came to Ashot Mkrtchyan’s house. They informed Mkrtchyan that someone who goes by the middle name of “Frik” had appealed to the police department, claiming that Mkrtchyan had beaten him on the same day around 7:00 p.m. After that, the investigators showed the court’s verdict and started searching the house.
First of all, the most interesting thing is that Mkrtchyan was home at the time that “Frik” has mentioned because he had guests. Besides that, Mr. Mkrtchyan assures that he doesn’t even know anyone by the name of “Frik” and has never met him. Meanwhile, “Frik” has told the police that Mkrtchyan not only beat him with his hands and feet, but even hit his head with a pistol.
“I keep myself away from those kinds of people. How could I have gone and beat him when I don’t even know him and haven’t seen him my whole life?” asks Mkrtchyan surprisingly.
The Gyumri police brought up a case against A. Mkrtchyan on the same day, based on the 118th article of the Criminal Code of Armenia and the declaration made by “Frik”. It has already been a long time since the police have actually led the proceedings based on A. Mkrtchyan’s announcement and not only have they not brought up a case, but they also haven’t called Spartak Ghukasyan and his friend Norik to an investigation. Only after A. Mkrtchyan sent a letter-protest to the President of Armenia, the Prime Minister, the Chief Prosecutor, and the Chief Police of Armenia did the police of Gyumri bring up the case based on the points listed in the 117th article. After that, the police actually dared to include the mayor’s son Spartak Ghukasyan in the case as a suspect. The police have even been able to get a signature from him so he won’t leave town. In fact, A. Mkrtchyan has also been asked to sign and is also considered a suspect for the crime brought up against him.
But according to A. Mkrtchyan, the crime investigators of the Shirak police department are currently under some pressure and that’s why the two cases are being tried subjectively. He says that the police are doing their best to cover up for the crime committed by the mayor’s son soon, especially since Spartak Ghukasyan denies the fact that he has beaten Mkrtchyan. The police aren’t even going after Spartak’s friend Norik. But amazingly, they are investigating A. Mkrtchyan’s case and are doing their best to end it the way they want it to. These past couple of days, they have been coming up with new witnesses, prosecuting them, and during the prosecution, the investigator even dictates their testimonies however he sees fit. In the meantime, they are not even thinking about calling Mkrtchyan’s witnesses.
“They have found some women who are known as “evil” in their neighborhoods and they are testifying against me. Everyone knows that those kinds of people are trying to hurt decent people. At first, investigator Matosyan took the case with disgust and I could tell that he was being pressured,” says Mkrtchyan.
Strange coincidence
Ashot Mkrtchyan says that even a criminal who commits a crime after a 20 year imprisonment will never go to the police and complain about getting beaten because that is considered “giving a case”. Mr. Mkrtchyan is amazed to see how that “Frik” decided to do something like that with him. But he is certain that the crime against him was set up. They did that in order to shut him up.
“They are trying to counterbalance the other case with mine,” says A. Mkrtchyan.
In fact, despite the current criminal cases, the press department of the Gyumri municipality denied what had happened to the mayor’s son.
“It’s a lie, nothing like that happened,” said workers at the municipality’s press department.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see policemen make the same announcement. As for the residents of Gyumri, they are so afraid of the mayor and his son that they are even planning on applying to NATO to allocate peacekeeping forces in Gyumri if it goes on like this.