Onik Hakhverdyan has been unanimously elected head of the community of Parakar in Armenia’s Armavir Province, representing the Unity alliance. He was the only candidate. Hakhverdyan had been next on the electoral list after the late mayor of Parakar, Volodya Grigoryan, who was killed in September, Sputnik Armenia reports.
The Unity alliance includes the Country to Live and Victory parties.
Members of the Civil Contract and National Progress factions of the municipal council did not attend the council meeting. The session began with a minute of silence in memory of Vоlodya Grigoryan.
According to Pastinfo, Hakhverdyan stated that he is fully aware of all the problems facing the community and is committed to implementing all the programs that were planned under Grigoryan’s leadership. “Besides being a teammate, I was also a close friend of Volodya Grigoryan. I regret what happened and thank his parents for raising such a son for this nation,” he said.
On the night of September 23 in the town of Merdzavan, a masked and gloved individual approached three people standing behind the newly built house of Mayor Grigoryan, opened fire, and fled. Grigoryan and Karen Abrahamyan, an officer of the General Department of Criminal Intelligence of the Armenian Police who was off duty at the time, were killed. A third man, Artsrun Galstyan, was wounded.
On September 26, Narek Ohanyan, a relative of Civil Contract member and former Merdzavan mayor Mher Akhtoyan, was arrested as a suspect. He is also the brother of Grigor Ohanyan, who was murdered earlier this year. Two days later, on September 28, Gevorg Harutyunyan was also arrested and confessed to the murder. The firearm used in the crime was recovered.
