July 12, 2018 - 12:39 AMT
Armenia ex-president’s nephew arrested on attempted murder charge

A court in Yerevan on Wednesday, July 11 arrested Hayk Sargsyan, the nephew of former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, for two months on charges of attempted murder, the police said.

On April 1, 2007, the Central Police Department received a report that a young man had been hospitalized with a wound in the back area. On the same day, a resident of Yerevan, Arthur Ghevondyan, went to the same police station, handing over a 9mm pistol with six cartridges. He said he had found the gun in the courtyard of 11A Tumanyan Street, along with the person who had been hospitalized. He claimed that he tried to take the pistol from the latter, who was “accidentally wounded” as a result.

The department for combating organized crime recently revealed, however, that the hospitalized young man was injured not because of an accidental shot. He was instead shot by 34-year-old resident of Yerevan Hayk Sargsyan.

Given the new circumstances, the decision to terminate criminal proceedings issued in 2007 was canceled. A new criminal case was opened on the grounds of a murder attempt. As a result of actions taken by the police, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee, Hayk Sargsyan was detained on July 4 at the Zvartnots international airport and taken to police.

After the indictment, he was arrested by a court decision on July 11 and taken to prison.

The police also revealed that Ghevondyan, who had provided false information back in 2007, lives in Sochi, Russia. As a result of explanatory work, Ghevondyan went to the police on July 8, then to the investigative agency.