VIDEO: 'Don Pipoy' Taken by Surprise

Today, a meeting was scheduled at the 'Artsakh' press club with the criminal authority known by the nickname Don Pipoy, Arthur Asatryan. However, it later became clear that Asatryan was unaware of the press conference. This information was reported by the Armenian Times.

In the statement circulated, there was no mention of the topic of his meeting. It soon became evident that Arthur Asatryan had come to meet with a group of beautiful women, as his foundation finances the 'Miss Armenia' cultural foundation.

Before his arrival, the beautiful women made their entrance, followed by Arthur Asatryan, who appeared to be surprised by the presence of journalists. “I said I’d come to see you, to say a couple of words,” Asatryan said, addressing one of the competition organizers, Gohar Harutyunyan. She spoke about the competition, fair elections, and winning beauty contests without personal connections, as well as the charitable foundation's activities. “For years, some whispers have circulated that their friends and relatives are being made into beauties. I told Goharik (referring to Gohar Harutyunyan), ‘I have a request, if you do this, we will finance that the most beautiful and knowledgeable wins, which is very important to me,’” Asatryan said, adding, “I didn't expect so many people to be here today, I've never sweated this much in my life.”

The media outlet reports that after discussing the competition, journalists smoothly transitioned to questions about the charges against him and his relationship with Manvel Grigoryan. In response to journalists’ inquiries, Asatryan stated that the preliminary investigation concerning the criminal case against him has been completed.

When asked by Armenian Times if the name of the client behind the assassination plot against him is finally known, Asatryan replied, “How should I know, excuse me?” In June 2018, when he was arrested, the NSS released a video concerning an alleged abduction incident involving Don Pipoy, in which, according to the NSS, he demanded to be informed of the client’s name from individuals accused of planning his assassination. In response to this observation, Asatryan stated, “But what do I have to do with the video? Did you see me there? The voice has been sent for examination, it has come back that it is not me, kids, it’s not me.” However, it should be noted that according to the concluding report of that examination, it wasn't possible to determine whether the voice in the video belonged to Arthur Asatryan.

Referring to his charges, Asatryan claimed not to be connected to the weapons and ammunition discovered from his villa located in Ejmiatsin. “Now see, I came to see Goharik, to do something good for the kids, you are using your journalistic tricks against me... I’m just a tourist here. I’ve come back to my father’s house, where three brothers live, and there are 50 little fish that support us; they will figure out whose weapons those are, please don’t attribute this to us,” Asatryan expressed his dissatisfaction with the journalists’ questions.

Arthur Asatryan is being charged under Article 131, clauses 1, 2, 3, and 6 of the Criminal Code (Kidnapping three individuals using violence dangerous to life by a group of individuals acting in pre-arranged agreement, carried out by means of weapons or objects used as weapons) and part 2 of Article 235 (Acquiring and possessing firearms and military ammunition illegally by a group of individuals acting in pre-arranged agreement). He was arrested but was released on September 20, 2018, after posting a bail of 50 million drams.