BUSINESS OR CRIME: VERSIONS OF ATTACK ON ARMENIAN MP ARE DISCUSSED IN YEREVAN

Regnum, Russia
Sept 27 2007

Condition of Armenian MP, Member of the Republican Party and owner
of Great Valley Brandy Distillery Tigran Arzankantsyan is considered
to be stably poor, secretary of the Republican Party parliamentary
faction Samvel Nikoyan announced at a news conference today. A REGNUM
correspondent quotes him as saying that Tigran Arzankantsyan is in
the intensive care unit of Sklifosovsky Medical Institute in Moscow
after a surgery that lasted for about four hours.

Speaking about the men, who attacked the MP in the lobby of Metropol
Hotel casino in Moscow, Samvel Nikoyan noted that "this were people
of Caucasian origin." "There are rumors they could be Armenians,"
he said. Nikoyan failed to answer whether the attack was caused
by business or criminal reasons, but he did not rule out that
Arzankantsyan’s mandate of a deputy could be the reason too.

He also stressed that Tigran Arzankantsyan was not a member of the
governmental delegation headed by Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, who
is in Moscow on an official visit now. "Such incidents with party
members are unwelcome for the Republican Party of Armenia, as many
oppositional forces and politicians can profiteer on the subject,"
Samvel Nikoyan concluded.

On September 26, when Arzankantsyan was in the lobby of the casino
at Metropol Hotel, two men attacked him, one of them hit him with a
knife, the other one injured him from a gun.

The two suspects were put on wanted list by police; the site is being
examined by police, CCTV records are being examined too.

Arzankantsyan arrived in Moscow on private business. He is owner of
Great Valley brandy distillery.

Last March, the media reported that the Great Valley owner was beaten
at Kutuzov Hall casino in Moscow. The man was delivered to hospital
with craniocerebral injury and numerous bruises. There were reports
that Tigran Arzankantsyan staged the attack not to pay his debt of the
sum about $1mn. Press office of Great Valley announced that he had to
visit the casino in order to talk off a close relative from gambling.

Tigran Arzankantsyan ran for parliament during majority voting and
won the elections on May 12, 2007.