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Agence France Presse -- English
April 12, 2007 Thursday 4:27 PM GMT
Bomb blasts damage offices of leading Armenian party
Powerful bomb blasts early Thursday badly damaged two Yerevan
campaign offices of one of Armenia's leading parties in next month's
parliamentary elections, police said.
No one was injured in the explosions which took place at about 3:00
am (2200 GMT Wednesday) when explosive devices were detonated in
separate districts of the capital, a police statement said.
"Serious damage was caused to our offices as a result of the
explosions. The buildings were almost entirely destroyed," a
spokesman for the Prosperous Armenia party, Bagdasar Mherian, told
AFP.
President Robert Kocharian ordered an investigation and decried the
bombings as an attack on democracy.
"We regard this as an attempt to destabilize the situation, to create
an atmosphere of intolerance before parliamentary elections. Radical
displays cannot interfere with Armenia's determination to hold
democratic elections," presidential spokesman Victor Sogomonian said
in a statement.
Prosperous Armenia, a populist pro-presidential party, was formed
last year by Gatik Tsarukian, one of Armenia's richest men. Along
with the ruling Republican Party, it is considered one of the top
contenders in the May 12 vote.
Previous elections in Armenia, an ex-Soviet state in the strategic
Caucasus region, have been marred by allegations of vote-rigging and
intimidation.
On April 2, Vardan Gukasian, the mayor of Armenia's second-largest
city Gyumri and a prominent member of the Republican Party, survived
an assassination attempt by gunmen that left three people dead.
April 12, 2007 Thursday 4:27 PM GMT
Bomb blasts damage offices of leading Armenian party
Powerful bomb blasts early Thursday badly damaged two Yerevan
campaign offices of one of Armenia's leading parties in next month's
parliamentary elections, police said.
No one was injured in the explosions which took place at about 3:00
am (2200 GMT Wednesday) when explosive devices were detonated in
separate districts of the capital, a police statement said.
"Serious damage was caused to our offices as a result of the
explosions. The buildings were almost entirely destroyed," a
spokesman for the Prosperous Armenia party, Bagdasar Mherian, told
AFP.
President Robert Kocharian ordered an investigation and decried the
bombings as an attack on democracy.
"We regard this as an attempt to destabilize the situation, to create
an atmosphere of intolerance before parliamentary elections. Radical
displays cannot interfere with Armenia's determination to hold
democratic elections," presidential spokesman Victor Sogomonian said
in a statement.
Prosperous Armenia, a populist pro-presidential party, was formed
last year by Gatik Tsarukian, one of Armenia's richest men. Along
with the ruling Republican Party, it is considered one of the top
contenders in the May 12 vote.
Previous elections in Armenia, an ex-Soviet state in the strategic
Caucasus region, have been marred by allegations of vote-rigging and
intimidation.
On April 2, Vardan Gukasian, the mayor of Armenia's second-largest
city Gyumri and a prominent member of the Republican Party, survived
an assassination attempt by gunmen that left three people dead.