Armenian Man Storms Erebuni Plaza with Hunting Weapon, Demands Meeting with Kocharyan's Aide

According to the newspaper 'Zhoghavorod', at around 14:40 yesterday, the Armenian police received a report that a man had stormed the 'Erebuni Plaza' hotel armed with a weapon, firing shots and demanding to be informed of Robert Kocharyan's office location, as he wanted to meet with Viktor Soghomonyan, who is the head of Kocharyan's office.

A large number of police officers arrived at the scene, and later joined by the acting Police Chief Arman Sargsyan. According to the police's press secretary Ashot Akharyan, Sargsyan was the negotiator with the armed individual.

According to Akharyan, the shooter conditioned his surrender on not being handcuffed while being taken into custody, and only under this condition did he lay down his weapon. It is somewhat difficult to imagine how other countries would handle a person acting as a terrorist, firing shots and entering a public place while taking hostages and making demands. In any case, no terrorist would deserve such cordial treatment, for whom the Chief of Police of Armenia would personally open the door of his service vehicle and have him seated inside before taking him into custody.

This delicate operation raises many questions. Let's recall that on August 29, 2017, in the Erebuni community of Yerevan, 31-year-old Gor Hakobyan took a resident hostage in the now-defunct 'Weekend' billiard hall, and the police neutralized him by fatally shooting him.

Indeed, the situation in the country has changed. Nevertheless, it has already been revealed that the name of the individual who stormed 'Erebuni Plaza' yesterday is Arthur Torosyan, born in 1987 in Artashat city. 'Zhoghavorod' learned that the weapon he used was a hunting rifle and was illegal.

A criminal case has been opened against him under three articles: 185 (intentional destruction or damage to someone else's property), 218 (hostage-taking), and 235 (illegal possession or use of a weapon). He faces a prison sentence of 6 to 10 years.

What prompted him to commit such an act? Law enforcement is not rushing to put forward theories yet. What is known is that his Facebook page was rather active and politicized, supporting Robert Kocharyan. Notably, in recent weeks, some of Kocharyan's supporters have removed him from their Facebook friends list.

Details of the case will be reported in the upcoming issue of the newspaper.