MURDER VICTIM ‘A MEMBER OF MAFIA’
Christine Cunningham

Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, UK
Oct 13 2005

A man who was shot and stabbed at a Norfolk factory before his body
was doused with petrol and set alight was said to belong to the
mafia and was wanted for questioning about a murder in Belgium,
a jury heard yesterday.

Detectives spent almost a year trying to identify the body of
42-year-old Armenian Hovanhannes Amirian, whose burning body was
found dumped in a field at Upton, near Peterborough in December 2002.

Armenians Nishan Bakunts, 28, and his father-in-law Misha Chatsjatrjan,
44, allegedly killed their countryman Amirian over a ‘family quarrel’,
then sought to destroy evidence linking them to the crime, Norwich
Crown Court heard.

Bakunts of Lichfield Road, Yarmouth, and Chatsjatrjan, who was living
in Holland, have both denied murdering Mr Amiran, also known as Sako,
who was the godfather of Bakunts and his wife Arpine Karapetian, 24.

A statement read to the jury yesterday revealed that Mr Amirian was
wanted for questioning about the murder of Pogosian Ernait, who was
killed on November 30, 2000 at Ostend, in Belgium.

Belgian police suspected Mr Amirian was the culprit and he was
described as a “self-confessed mafia man”.

Clare Matthews, junior barrister for the prosecution, said: “It was
known that he was involved in organised crime.

“He had a number of known associates and used a number of different
aliases.”

The jury also heard from Bakunts’s sister, Irina Aroustamian, who
said she had spoken to Chatsjatrjan and that he had confessed to
putting eight bullets into Mr Amirian’s head.

Speaking through an interpreter, she said that Chatsjatrjan told
her Mr Amirian had gone on his knees and said “don’t kill me, I
have children”.

The trial continues.

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