Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General informed that Spartak Ghukasyan, son of the mayor of Gyumri, Vardan Ghukasyan, surrendered to the police and was immediately taken to a prison in Artik, a small town near Gyumri. Spartak Ghukasyan has been under investigation since May 24. He participated in the May 20 shooting in Gyumri. Rustam Sargsyan and Tigran Gasparyan are still being looked for. Ghukasyan is charged under Articles 34-104 /attempted murder/, Article 235 /illegal weapon acquisition/ and Article 258. Spartak Ghukasyan was taken into custody.
Yesterday when talking to us, the mayor of Gyumri, Vardan Ghukasyan, unlike past interviews, was less talkative, and he was constantly saying that he had learned a new thing: “no, no, no”. According to him, he hadn’t seen his son before he was turned in to the police. “It’s normal. Whatever he has done, he will pay for it, or God knows what will happen. Whatever he has done, only he knows, and the police will find out. That’s about all there is to it,” said Ghukasyan. According to him he didn’t know who convinced his son to give up, because he hasn’t talked to his son since the incident happened.
Yesterday, when talking to us, Ghukasyan once again denied that he was called to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia and demanded to give his son up. “No, it didn’t happen. I wasn’t told anything like that,” said Ghukasyan. To the question of whether he was going to meet his son, Ghukasyan said, “If the occasion arises, I will see him.” He said that he hadn’t applied to the authorized bodies to receive permission to meet with his son.
As Vardan Ghukasyan, in our past conversations, was assuring us that his son is extremely “beloved” in Gyumri, we decided to ask how the residents of Gyumri were feeling, finding out about the arrest of his son, and what the general environment was like in Gyumri. “Very well. Normal attitude,” he said. To our question asking how the residents cannot be sad about someone they like so much, he said, “Yes, they like him very much; more than anybody else. This you should ask them (Gyumri residents – L.S.). You should find out how they feel.” Let’s remind that Kolia Ghukasyan, a Gyumri Alderman member and a nephew of Vardan Ghukasyan, Telman Karapetyan, and Norayr Soloyan, all of whom are also charged in the case, have been arrested earlier.