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Sardarapat Brawl: Who Beat Up MP Candidate Meruzhan Mkhoyan?
Grisha Balasanyan
hetq
20:09, April 6, 2012
Earlier today, Hetq reported that Meruzhan Mkhoyan, an independent
candidate for MP in Election District 21, was beaten up during a brawl
in the Sardarapat village of Armavir Marz.
Hours later, in an attempt to talk directly to Mkhoyan, this reporter
went to his house but was blocked from entering by a group of young
men outside.
They told me and other reporters that the news of a fight was
incorrect and that Mkhoyan hadn't been beaten. His wife had earlier
claimed the opposite.
As we were negotiating with the men, an elderly woman came out from
the house and screamed, `Let them come in.'
The men whisked the woman back inside the house, not letting her talk to us.
They told us the woman was sick. When we demanded to be permitted to
enter the house, one of the men exclaimed, `She's a sick woman. Do you
want her to die?'
As we were leaving, a car stopped alongside. A woman got out, claiming
to be the daughter of Meruzhan Mkhoyan's brother.
She told us that her pregnant daughter had been in the house that
morning when a group of men entered and dragged him away. The woman
later learnt that they had taken Mkhoyan to the Sardarapat cemetery
and beat him.
She also claimed that by the time Mkhoyan's sons got to the cemetery,
they found their father on his knees, ready to be executed.
The woman named the son of Republican Party MP Nahapet Gevorgyan as
one of the ringleaders.
`They want Meruzhan to withdraw from the race because he's a respected
man in Hoktemberyan and they know he will win,' she said. `Everyone
knows what these guys have done. This is the second or third such
incident.'
The local police are now conducting a criminal investigation
Levon Khorozyan, who heads the campaign headquarters of Aleksan
Petrosyan, the Republican Party candidate for the same district, told
me they had no connection to the incident.
Given the fact that no one wants to press charges, it seems that the
matter will be conveniently closed.
Grisha Balasanyan
hetq
20:09, April 6, 2012
Earlier today, Hetq reported that Meruzhan Mkhoyan, an independent
candidate for MP in Election District 21, was beaten up during a brawl
in the Sardarapat village of Armavir Marz.
Hours later, in an attempt to talk directly to Mkhoyan, this reporter
went to his house but was blocked from entering by a group of young
men outside.
They told me and other reporters that the news of a fight was
incorrect and that Mkhoyan hadn't been beaten. His wife had earlier
claimed the opposite.
As we were negotiating with the men, an elderly woman came out from
the house and screamed, `Let them come in.'
The men whisked the woman back inside the house, not letting her talk to us.
They told us the woman was sick. When we demanded to be permitted to
enter the house, one of the men exclaimed, `She's a sick woman. Do you
want her to die?'
As we were leaving, a car stopped alongside. A woman got out, claiming
to be the daughter of Meruzhan Mkhoyan's brother.
She told us that her pregnant daughter had been in the house that
morning when a group of men entered and dragged him away. The woman
later learnt that they had taken Mkhoyan to the Sardarapat cemetery
and beat him.
She also claimed that by the time Mkhoyan's sons got to the cemetery,
they found their father on his knees, ready to be executed.
The woman named the son of Republican Party MP Nahapet Gevorgyan as
one of the ringleaders.
`They want Meruzhan to withdraw from the race because he's a respected
man in Hoktemberyan and they know he will win,' she said. `Everyone
knows what these guys have done. This is the second or third such
incident.'
The local police are now conducting a criminal investigation
Levon Khorozyan, who heads the campaign headquarters of Aleksan
Petrosyan, the Republican Party candidate for the same district, told
me they had no connection to the incident.
Given the fact that no one wants to press charges, it seems that the
matter will be conveniently closed.