Goris Mayor, Deputy, and Associates Suspected of Extorting 33 Million Dram From Citizen

According to SHAMSHYAN.com, on March 17, a resident of the Kashatagh region of the Artsakh Republic, 32-year-old Gurgen Hovsepyan, reported to the Kapan police that on February 8 of this year, Goris Mayor Arush Arushanyan, Goris Deputy Mayor Menua Hovsepyan, and their associates Artak and Yasha Arushanyan, along with two individuals named Alik and Ashot, one of whom is a warehouse supervisor and the other a shopkeeper, as well as another shop director Arman Hayrapetyan, unlawfully deprived him of his freedom, assaulted him, and demanded that he pay 33 million dram.

According to photographer Gagik Shamshyan, Gurgen Hovsepyan informed the Kapan police that he was accused of having stolen construction materials worth that amount from a warehouse belonging to Mayor Arushanyan during the years 2015-2020. He claimed that against his will, they forcibly took away his passport, his Nissan Pathfinder vehicle, the vehicle's technical passport, and forced him to pawn the apartments of his wife's relatives.

G. Hovsepyan stated that thereafter, he and his relatives received threats regarding their lives and health from the mayor and his associates, aimed at preventing him from reporting to the police and investigative bodies. According to him, this was the reason he had not approached law enforcement earlier.

According to G. Shamshyan, the materials prepared at the Kapan police regarding the incident have been transferred to the Syunik regional investigative department of the Armenian Investigative Committee, and the mayor has indeed been arrested as a suspect.

Law enforcement officers reportedly have suspicions that G. Hovsepyan may be exaggerating and distorting facts. Contact was established with the community leader’s deputy Irina Yolyan, who reported nothing regarding the search and merely stated that news of the arrest was not true, that it was misinformation, and that they did not know the purpose behind the spread of this information.

It is worth noting that earlier today, Goris Mayor A. Arushanyan denied this information in a conversation with several media outlets.