Can Surik Khachatryan "digest" this crime?
Editor of Yerevan-based Aravot (Morning) daily, Anna Israelyan, knows Syunik Governor Surik Khachatryan well enough to say that the country's political and judicial systems will not make him accountable for the recent gunfight outside his house in Goris.
"If he (Khachatryan) has digested everything to this date, why shouldn't he digest this one?" she said.
Among the crimes ‘digested' by Syunik governor the journalist singled out the beating of a 16-year-old pupil by Surik Khachatryan, the rape attempt of a girl by his brother in a Gyumri store, beating of Syunik-based businesswoman Silva Hambardzumyan, the killing of a 30-year-old fellow by his nephews.
"Only one of his nephews was punished for the murder but he served his sentence in the prison hospital and was released earlier," she said.
In the editorial office, Anna Israelyan showed A1+'s correspondent an article about the first high-profile crime involving the Syunik governor. Surik Khachatryan had beaten a 16-year-old schoolboy. The prime minister appointed an official investigation and personally denied the obvious crime, saying it was the schoolboy who had beaten the governor's son.
"If the prime minister believes that someone will dare in Syunik to beat the governor's son and stay alive, it is his problem. Now let them rejoice at the recurrent ‘feats' performed by their beloved governor," said Mrs Israelyan.
Zaruhi Postanjyan, a lawmaker from the opposition Heritage faction, does not even want to recall the incidents involving Syunik governor during the parliamentary election campaign. She says ‘that man swore at and offended a woman.
"Khachatryan was to be arrested in connection with the recent deadly incident that left a former mayoral candidate dead outside his house," said the MP.
Zaruhi Postanjyan thinks that Khachatryan can interfere in the investigation in order to save his son.
"If he (Khachatryan) is not detained and no charges are brought against him, I think that he is sponsored personally by Serzh Sargsyan," said the Heritage MP.
Postanjyan believes that Serzh Sargsyan cannot ‘get rid of' Surik Khachatryan for fear that he will lose his influence in Syunik province which he gained thanks to Khachatryan.
