People line up to greet Syunik governor (video)
Residents of Syunik province today received Surik Khachatryan, who is suspected of several crimes and murders, with traditional bread and salt. With a broad smile on their faces, people were waiting for their turn to shake hands with the reappointed governor, to kiss him and to say “We are glad to see you back!” Then they drank together. There are soldiers in the crowd. One of them offered to raise glasses and drink a toast for the soldiers who had been transferred from Syunik to Karabakh. None of them agreed to comment on Surik Khachatryan’s reappointment as Syunik Governor. Surik Khachatryan stepped down as governor of Syunik after a shooting incident near his house in Goris on June 1, 2013. Former candidate for Goris mayor Avetik Budaghyan was killed in that incident, while his brother, Colonel Artak Budaghyan and Khachatryan’s relative and bodyguard Nikolay Abrahamyan were hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Khachatryan’s son, Tigran, who was arrested in connection with the tragic incident, was later released as investigators concluded that he had acted in self-defense.
