ARMENIAN INTELLIGENCE INVESTIGATE PRESIDENT ASSASSINATION PLOT

Interfax
Nov 5 2008
Russia

The Armenian National Security Service (NSS) has opened a criminal
case after the Aikanan Zhamanak opposition newspaper wrote about a
plot to assassinate the country’s president Serzh Sargsyan.

"Following the Aikanan Zhamanak publication about the plot to
assassinate Serzh Sargsyan a criminal case has been opened on charges
of "plotting the assassination of a statesman," spokesman for the
Armenian NSS Artsvin Bagramian told Interfax on Tuesday.

In particular, Sargis Atspanian, an Armenian-born French national,
who participated in the Karabakh war, told the Aikanan Zhamanak
newspaper that there is a plot to assassinate the president, and
"evidence of it has been distributed on several hard copies among
several individuals in France, Georgia’s Armenian-populated region
of Samtskhe-Javakheti, in Armenia and Karabakh."

"These people have my total trust and can only be disclosed after my
death," Atspanian said.

The information about the plot was provided by an acquaintance
who currently teaches at a military academy in one of the European
countries, Atspanian said.

Two forces would be interested in the assassination – ex-president
Robert Kocharian, several representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation Dashnaktsutiun and the Sivilitas Foundation set up by the
Armenian ex-foreign minister, on the one side, and supporters of the
"not one inch of land to the enemy" ideology, on the other side,
Atspanian said.