Vahe Hakobyan appointed new governor of Syunik province

YEREVAN, July 10. / ARKA /. The Armenian government has approved today the appointment of  Vahe Hakobyan as governor of Syunik province. Introducing the new governor to cabinet members prime minister Tigran Sargsyan said  Vahe Hakobyan, for many years was a  member of the National Assembly. He  wished the newly appointed governor fruitful work.

Vahe Hakobyan has replaced former governor Suren Khachatryan, who was dismissed last month 

after a shootout outside his home in the town of Goris that left  one of his local rivals dead and two other men injured.

The shooting followed a bitter dispute involving Avetik Budaghian, a 43-year-old local businessman and his brother Artak, who is the commander of an army unit. Avetik died on the spot, while Artak and another man, who is  linked to the governor, were hospitalized with serious gunshot wounds.

On June 4 Suren Khachatrian’s son Tigran and the governor’s s bodyguard Zarzand Nikoghosyan were charged under three articles of the Criminal Code and were placed in custody for two months. 

Both are charged under paragraph 6, section 2, article 104 (murder committed in a manner dangerous to the lives of many people), Article 235 (illegal purchase, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons) and the first part of Article 112 (intentional infliction of corporal damage to another person or other serious harm, endangering life). -0-