STILL NO ARRESTS IN PROBE OF ATTACK ON GYUMRI MAYOR
By Ruzanna Khachatrian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 11 2007
Armenian law-enforcement authorities are continuing their "large-scale"
investigation into last week’s armed attack on the mayor of Gyumri
but have made no arrests so far, Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian
said on Wednesday.
Mayor Vartan Ghukasian was seriously wounded and three of his
bodyguards killed when their motorcade came under fire about 30
kilometers west of Yerevan on April 2. Ghukasian was returning to
Armenia’s second largest city after attending a high-level meeting
of the governing Republican Party (HHK), of which he is a member.
The Armenia police, the National Security Service and the Office of
the Prosecutor-General launched a joint criminal investigation into
the deadly shooting. "Serious and large-scale work is being done
every day and every hour," Hovsepian told RFE/RL.
But he admitted that they have so far made little progress. "The
investigation has still a lot to clear up, including motives of the
murder attempt," he said.
"We are examining all possible theories," added Hovsepian. "Given
the secrecy of the investigation, I cannot list any of them right now."
The national police chief, Hayk Harutiunian, described the brazen
attack last week as a "gauntlet thrown down at the law-enforcement
bodies," saying that they "will do everything to identify and punish
the criminals."