ARF Calls on President to Oversee Proshian Murder Investigation

YEREVAN (Yerkir.am)—Seeing no justice for the murder of Proshian Mayor Hrach Muradian, an Artsakh freedom fighter and a popular leader in the Kotayk region of Armenia, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) recently led hundreds, including villagers, to a gathering at the presidential residence to demand that President Serge Sarkisian oversee the murder investigation, which has been stalled since April.

Armen Rustamian, chairman of the ARF Parliamentary bloc, reiterated the party’s insistence that Muradian’s murder was politically motivated. Muradian, he said, was successfully governing the village—a fact that did not sit well with his political opponents.

The ARF insists that Muradian was at odds with members of the local ruling Republican Party and others loyal to the government, and that he often received threats.

On April 2, Muradian was shot in front of the administrative offices of Proshian in circumstances that remain unclear. A local resident, Arayik Petrosian, was arrested in the days following the murder but denies the charges.

Muradian’s relatives and supporters continue to believe that law enforcement officials are covering up the crime.

A little more than a month after the murder, Muradian’s gravesite was defaced with graffiti, and posters defaming the late mayor were anonymously posted throughout the village.

His murder, Rustamian said, was the culmination of a criminal chain that began in 2009, when Muradian, an Artsakh war veteran, was elected to govern the village.

Given the slow pace of the investigation and the judicial obstacles that have abounded during the investigation, the ARF is demanding that the president personally oversee the investigation and ensure that justice has been served for the mayor.

The demonstrators were protesting the fact that no concrete steps have been taken in the past seven months, and that the people’s trust in the judicial system is, once again, being tested.

The presidential staff promised that the protest letter would be delivered to the president. Meanwhile, Rustamian pledged to continue the protests.

“It is unjust to accept the murder of a man, who has gone through the great liberation movement of Artsakh, but was murdered in his own village by an internal enemy,” said Rustamian.