YEREVAN (Hetq) — Parliament member Ruben Hayrapetyan announced his resig- nation from parliament last week out of a sense of “moral responsibility” he feels over the June 17 beating of military physicians at the Harsnakar Restaurant he owns on the outskirts of Yerevan.
The army doctors were beaten by restau- rant employees and a personal bodyguard of Hayrapetyan. One of the physicians, Vahe Avetyan, never regained conscious- ness and died in a hospital a few days later.
“I would give everything to have been there on that terrible evening and stopped the tragedy with my own hands. I would give everything to be able to turn the clock
back. But I can’t,” said the tycoon, who has the nickname Nemetz Rubo, in his public resignation from the parliament.
The move comes after a wave of public protest, both in the streets and on the inter- net, charging Hayrapetyan with creating an environment in which such a savage attack was possible and demanding that he resign.
There is an on-line petition calling on UEFA and FIFA to call for Hayrapetyan’s resignation as the president of Armenia’s Football Federation.
