In Yerevan, protesters demand to prosecute Ruben Airapetyan

Today, in Yerevan, near the building of the National Assembly, a protest action was held, which participants demanded to convene an extraordinary session of the parliament on the recent incident at the "Harsnaqar" Restaurant. The participants of the protest action voiced demands to institute criminal proceedings against Ruben Airapetyan, ex-MP, the owner of the "Harsnaqar" Restaurant.

About 200 persons attended the protest action, organized by the public initiative "We demand to punish all the persons, responsible for the incident at the 'Harsnaqar' Restaurant". The participants of the protest action held posters reading: "No robbery, torture, injustice, impudence!", "No lawlessness!", and "We demand to convene extraordinary session of National Assembly!"

Griselda Gazaryan, a public figure, widow of Academician Rafael Gazaryan, pointed out the need to continue such protest actions. "We will be satisfied only when all guilty persons are punished and placed behind bars," she said.

Arthur Sakunts, a well-known human rights defender, expressed his solidarity with Griselda Gazaryan. "Launched struggle should be continuous, since it concerns not only German Rubo (German Rubo is a nickname of Ruben Airapetyan, note of the 'Caucasian Knot'), the oligarchs are very well represented at our political arena. Here, the issues of safety and security guarantees for each of us are in question," the human rights defender has emphasized.

During the short rally, Zarui Ovanisyan, the leader of the initiative, announced the demands of the protesters, including dismissal of Ruben Airapetyan from his position of President of the Armenian Football Federation, involving him as a suspect in the criminal case, instituted on the fact of beating of military doctors in the restaurant, owned by Ruben Airapetyan. Besides, the participants of the protest action demanded to convene an extraordinary session of the National Assembly, which should form a special commission to investigate the incident, which occurred on June 17 at the "Harsnaqar" Restaurant.

Later, it became known that today, the parliamentary factions of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation "Dashnaktsutyun", "Heritage", Armenian National Congress and "Prosperous Armenia" sent an official appeal to Ovik Abramyan, Parliament Speaker, demanding to organize hearings on the situation in connection with the incident at the "Harsnaqar" Restaurant. This was told to journalists by Levon Zurabyan, the leader of the faction of the Armenian National Congress.