Understanding That It Will End Badly: Chagh Rustam Becomes a Target of the Authorities

According to the «Hraparak» newspaper, in the past year, Rustam Stepanyan, known as Chagh Rustam, who has closely associated with the ruling party elite, particularly with MP Hayk Sargsyan, has become a target of the state authorities.

In the December 5 elections, the candidate for the Talin mayor's office, Karen Grigoryan, received 3 mandates on the list of the «Hayk» party, which could be crucial in the decision of electing the mayor. If he joins the ruling «Civil Contract» party, which secured 10 mandates, then the ruling Tavros Sapeyan will become the mayor, and the authority has subjected Chagh Rustam, who is a relative of Grigoryan, to terror. However, the candidate from the «Hayk» party has been persistent, thus the authorities have used all their arsenal against Rustam—he has been taken into custody three times in one month. Once he was taken away directly from his home, and another time from a restaurant. He was kept for several hours in the police chief's office, where they directly indicated to him that things would turn out badly for him.

Stepanyan is wanted in Russia due to a criminal case initiated years ago for organizing a murder. They presented this case to him and threatened that he could be extradited to Russia or imprisoned here for about 20 years. Rustam's circle gathered and discussed the situation, realizing that the authorities are capable of anything—they could make Rustam 'disappear,' and they would not give Karen any peace, day or night. It’s better for them to agree. As a result, last night, «Hayk» announced that they were renouncing their mandates.

For more details, see today's issue of the newspaper.