FRENCH POLICE MYSTIFIED AFTER THEFT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MONUMENT
Agence France Presse — English
October 15, 2006 Sunday
Police said on Sunday that they had no leads following the theft
of an Armenian genocide monument in a southwestern Paris suburb the
previous night.
The 300 kilogram (660 pound) bronze statue was stolen two days after
the French national assembly voted to make denial of the Armenian
genocide illegal, but a connection between the two events has not
been established.
"We have no idea if this is a political statement or simply crooks
wanting to resell the metal. Either way, it is a despicable act,"
Jean Levain, Mayor of Chaville, told AFP on Sunday.
Police in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, were expected to view on Monday
tapes from security cameras at the location where the crime occurred.
There was no vandalism or message at the scene, the municipality said.
The Armenian community in Chaville was "shocked and outraged", said
Hirant Norcen, vice-president of the Cultural Association of the
Armenian Church in Chaville.
"Whatever the reason for the theft, it is still unacceptable,"
Norcen said.
A silent march lasting several minutes after a mass and the laying
of a wreath were organised for Sunday midday.
Jean-Jacques Guillet, a regional assembly member, expressed his
"indignation" and declared that "the irresponsible barbarism which
violated this symbol of remembrance should be punished ruthlessly."
The Armenian community gave the monument, valued by the municipality
at 50,000 euros (60,000 dollars), to the city in 2002 in memory of
the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
