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Hayrapetyan To Critics: "They Will Be Scared To Death Of Me."

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  • Hayrapetyan To Critics: "They Will Be Scared To Death Of Me."

    HAYRAPETYAN TO CRITICS: "THEY WILL BE SCARED TO DEATH OF ME."
    By Gayane Abrahamyan

    ArmeniaNow
    10.09.12 | 15:58

    Ruben Hayrapetyan's extensive interview to France-based Les Nouvelles
    d'Armenie periodical has raised another wave of anger among Armenian
    society. Hayrapetyan, in effect, threatened to retaliate against
    civil society activists who blamed him for circumstances that lead
    to a young doctor's death.

    Actions of protest against the Parliament deputy started on June 17,
    when at his family-run restaurant, Harsnakar, three military doctors
    were brutally beaten; one of them, 33-year-old Vahe Avetyan, died in
    hospital of head injuries.

    Expressing his anger over the fact that protests were held in front
    of his house, he said it was "encroachment upon my family".

    "They'll see now what terrorizing and threatening can be. I'll make
    sure that their families suffer," Hayrapetyan told the magazine,
    apparently in reference to those who called for him t be held
    responsible. "They will be scared to death of me. I am saying that
    openly. If they are encroaching on mine, I am capable of keeping
    and protecting my family and the families of my people. This has
    become an issue of instincts [of protecting what's mine]... So am
    I supposed to let them come against my children or let my sick wife
    cry her eyes out? Am I supposed to sit by and do nothing? I will do,
    they'll see, openly."

    In reference to Hayrapetyan's threats, which activists have mostly not
    taken seriously, ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan - who was among those
    calling for Hayrapetyan's resignation from the National Assembly --
    says they are "usually accompanied with actions".

    "I am, of course, concerned with my family's safety, as now knowing
    what that person is capable of, I understand that if he has said it,
    he will resort to certain measures, but it will not stop us. It only
    proves once again that it has to be fought against," Kharatyan told
    ArmeniaNow.

    Another outspoken critic, Garegin Chugaszyan, president of Information
    Technologies Foundation, who has called Hayrapetyan "Kocharyan's
    puppy", says he is not going to turn to the police.

    "Of course, we are not afraid. And his words should be registered
    by the Prosecutor General's office, those are explicit threats,"
    he told ArmeniaNow.

    The interview also reveals a conflict between Republican Hayrapetyan
    and Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan.

    Claiming that the protests against him were not a true civil society
    movement, but a guided one with a purpose of driving him to bankruptcy,
    Hayrapetyan said:

    "What is this? Bankruptcy drive?.... What is it called?... They have
    created something, collecting signatures to do everything to drive me
    to bankruptcy. They think that I, like them, have stolen [become rich
    by stealing], like Grzos [reference to another oligarch businessman
    Khachatur Sukiasyan] bought property for a penny. Who is financing
    them? Dodi Gago [Tsarukyan's insulting nickname]."

    Tsarukyan's press secretary Iveta Tonoyan told RFE/RL, that Hayrapetyan
    later denied mentioning Tsarukyan's name in his interview.

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