Life in jail for Hunanian

[xBaron Dants]

Well, I can't believe it took so long to come up with a verdict, but the Hunanian brothers and a few others have been sentenced to life in jail, while some others have received 14 years.

Many were pushing for capital punishment, but of course, it is no longer in effect in Armenia, as part of our commitment to the CoE.

Who thinks that it would've been better to kill Hunanian?

[TJ]

It does nothing to kill him. The longer he stays alive the higher the chance that he will give some information as to the real perpetrators and organizers of the attack. I personally think that kocharian had a hand in this and am amazed that there is not more public outrage in Armenia over this matter. It seems the people have truly resigned their fate to this man, I hope he has some morals.

[Shahumyan]

Its funny how Armenia isnt allowed to enforce its own law, due to the wishes of the ruling class in Brussels, but hey WERE STILL INDEPENDENT OF COURSE!!!

I myself am against capital punishment, but the point is the workers should say its a bad thing, not the ruling class in a foreign land!

[ckBejug]

Do they have any answers yet regarding who was behind all of this? I mean they've had the guy for a WHILE you'd think they'd have gotten some answers out of him? I personally think he must be a little crazy, of course, to shoot someone in the face like he did! But his self-proclaimed non-affiliation to any political party begs the question WHY, doesn't it? He pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense. Self-defense against what??

As for the capital punishment thing. I used to be for it, at least I was FOR the methods they used in the middle east, steal something, get your hand cut off. Gruesome, I know. But now I think long years in prison to live out the rest of your miserable days makes a lot of sense, except for the part that criminals are kept alive and fed etc by money provided through taxes we pay. Anyway...

[Shahumyan]

He was a Dashnak tho wasnt he.

Meh, Sarkissian was a nasty corrupt piece of work anyway

[xBaron Dants]

Originally posted by ckBejug Do they have any answers yet regarding who was behind all of this? I mean they've had the guy for a WHILE you'd think they'd have gotten some answers out of him? I personally think he must be a little crazy, of course, to shoot someone in the face like he did! But his self-proclaimed non-affiliation to any political party begs the question WHY, doesn't it? He pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense. Self-defense against what??

As for the capital punishment thing. I used to be for it, at least I was FOR the methods they used in the middle east, steal something, get your hand cut off. Gruesome, I know. But now I think long years in prison to live out the rest of your miserable days makes a lot of sense, except for the part that criminals are kept alive and fed etc by money provided through taxes we pay. Anyway...

Well, Hunanian's answer seems to be that he wanted to get rid of Sargsian because he was corrupt (which he was) and didn't mean to kill Demirchyan and the others. His goal was to have the whole population march on the National Assembly and ask for a new government. Of course, the population didn't follow.

Some other people claim that it was Kocharian who masterminded the whole thing, as Sargsian was too influential, and had more power than Kocharian himself.

I personally don't know what to believe. I'm sure there were highly placed officials involved in all of this, but it wouldn't surprise me if Hunanian had acted alone, as he was judged too radical even by the Dashnak party.

But then again, Sargsyan had just started to become a "better" politician before his assassination. He had subsidized egg farmers, which caused Armenia to no longer eat eggs from Turkey and had forced his brother Aram, owner of a big cement company, to pay taxes (which he hadn't been doing for some reason). Could his crackdown on corruption been the reason why some rich mafiosos would want him dead? I don't know if we will ever find out, but for now, Hunanian says he was responsible for the whole thing.

What I don't understand is how Alexan Harutunyan, who was a suspect in those trials, can be appointed as head of Armenian Public Television...Why are we recycling the same garbage, corrupt politicians? I say out with the whole Sargyan clan (even Aram, member of the opposition who runs on an anti-corruption platform), get rid of Serzh Sargsyan, and all the other corrupt politicians. We can't have these same people being taken out from one post to be put in another. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the only one we should keep is Vartan Osganian.

Anywho, one thing is sure, if we are ever to have such a revolution, we can't afford to have another october 27. It must be done peacefully, and must be led by the entire population who will truly see ANOTHER option (not Aram Sargsian and his crew).

[ckBejug]

I agree with you Baron on everything you said.

I don't believe though that he didn't mean to kill Demirchyan, he shot the guy in the face....! How is that an accident? :-/

[xBaron Dants]

Originally posted by ckBejug I agree with you Baron on everything you said.

I don't believe though that he didn't mean to kill Demirchyan, he shot the guy in the face....! How is that an accident? :-/

Well, not to defend the guy, but it could have been caused by nervousness.

Nevertheless, I don't believe him either. And I certainly don't see how he could expect people to follow him after taking such stupid actions.

[TJ]

Sarkisian was not as corrupt as most of the politicians Armenia has today, he was certainly a lot cleaner than Kocharian is. He was a man that had ruled under the Soviet Union and corruption was second hand nature but like you said he changed himself a lot which shows a lot of will and that he actually cared for the nation, he was a very good man along with Demirchian sr. They truly were making reforms and they cared for the people.

I dont know where you get this think about Oskanian. I remember you posted something before about how he was so down to earth and not corrupt at all. I dont have anything against him he seems like a nice guy from the news that I read. But I am curious as to where you get this information from, please let me know as I would enjoy having another source of Armenian news.

By the way the current Defense minister Serzh Sarkisian is in no way related to the Sarkisian family.

[xBaron Dants]

Originally posted by TigranJamharian Sarkisian was not as corrupt as most of the politicians Armenia has today, he was certainly a lot cleaner than Kocharian is. He was a man that had ruled under the Soviet Union and corruption was second hand nature but like you said he changed himself a lot which shows a lot of will and that he actually cared for the nation, he was a very good man along with Demirchian sr. They truly were making reforms and they cared for the people.

I dont know where you get this think about Oskanian. I remember you posted something before about how he was so down to earth and not corrupt at all. I dont have anything against him he seems like a nice guy from the news that I read. But I am curious as to where you get this information from, please let me know as I would enjoy having another source of Armenian news.

By the way the current Defense minister Serzh Sarkisian is in no way related to the Sarkisian family.

Yes, I know that Serzh Sarkisian is not related to the other Sarkisians, which is why I didn't include him in the Sarkisian family package.
As for Vazgen, there are two ways to look at him. First one being that he was a war hero, and he made reforms to help the people, the second one being that he had already stolen so much, that he finally decided to give back a little.

As for Osganian, he has been a friend of my parents from Syria, and my uncle who lives in Armenia is pretty close with him, and has told me that he is one of the only honest politicians you will find. My uncle is also friends with other politicians, but he never claims the same about them. The very fact that he can be seen walking around Republic Square by himself while less important officials have 8 car convoys leading them everywhere speaks volume about the man. And he also was not an inheritant of power after the Soviet Union's breakup, and worked his way up the ladder. That is a proof of the man's competence.