IN FACT ARGISHTI KIVIRYAN ACCUSES THE INVESTIGATION BODY FOR STRIVING ‘TO SOFTPEDAL’ THE CASE OF AN ATTEMPT AGAINST HIM

ArmInfo
2010-04-30 13:26:00

Arminfo. In fact the editor of ‘Armenia today’ Argishti Kiviryan has
blamed the investigation body for striving ‘to softpedal’ the case
of an attempt against him, as he said at today’s press-conference and
added that in some period of time the investigation body will simply
stop investigation and delay the case.

To recall, as it was reported earlier, three unknown attacked Kiviryan
in the entrance of his house in Nalbandyan Street approximately at
5:00 a.m. local time on April 30 2009.

Armenian Police initiated a criminal case under Article 117 of Armenian
Criminal Code (intentional infliction of light bodily injuries). On
May 7 the case was transferred to the NSS where it was changed
into Article 34-106 part 2 point 7 of the Criminal Code of Armenia
(attempted murder by a group of people).

Speaking about the course of investigation, Kiviryan said that two
persons were arrested within the frames of the case – Vladik Serobyan
and Gurgen Kilikyan. But there were set free on 8 March of the current
year, as the investigative body recalled its motion about prolongation
of the term of arrest. He also added that Serobyan is a relative
of Samvel Petrosyan, the head of police department of Akhalkalaki
(Armenian populated region of Georgia). Kilikyan is also connected
with Georgia in some way – his father was arrested by law-enforcement
agencies of Georgia for bribery and falsification of documents.

Moreover, Kiviryan said that he attacked not once but two times. The
first one happened on 20 April 2009, when at about 6:00 AM when
leaving the office he noticed a group of young men in sports clothes
and managed to come back to the office. In both cases, several days
before the attempt Seropyan and Kilikyan went to Akhalkalaki to meet
S.Petrosyan. This fact points at connection between the trips and
further attempts upon Kiviryan’s life. The reason of Petrosyan’s
such interest to Argishti Kiviryan may be the fact that being a
coordinator of ‘Bagin’ agency Kiviryan used to publish articles
which were not pleasant to Petrosyan. ‘Petrosyan did not directly
threaten me, nevertheless I head from time to time that he voiced
threats regarding me’, – Kiviryan said. He also added that Georgian
authorities are conducting the policy of removal of Armenians from
Akhalkalaki with a help of Samvel Petrosyan.

As Kiviryan said, from the very beginning the Police made all
the efforts to hide the details of the crime. He also added that
over tenure of the present authorities no crime about attacking a
journalist was cleaned and this one will have the same fate. Asked
how save he feels himself in Armenia, Kiviryan replied: ‘Who feels
save in Armenia?’. At the same time he said his request to carry arm
was ignored.