Edik Baghdasarian at Hetq Online follows up on reports that the massive February shoot-out in a suburb of Yerevan involved the bodyguards of oligarchs and other individuals that were also responsible for last year’s attacks on civil rights activists and journalists, including myself. Incidentally, I recognize all of the guys in the mug-shots above from the 5 April 2004 violence.

On February 4, 2005 at 8:30 p.m. there was an exchange of gunfire in the TETS-i Krug neighborhood on the outskirts of Yerevan. The shootout lasted fifteen minutes; one man, Mher Ter-Harutiunyan, was killed, and dozens were injured.

The perpetrators faced justice in a trial that concluded on April 29th.

The incident began with a disagreement over Microbus Route 69. The two parties that had laid claim to the route called in reinforcements in the form of gangsters and oligarchs’ bodyguards. About 200 people took part in the armed clash. Bullets from 7.62mm and 5.45mm caliber machine guns were found at the scene.

The full article can be found online here.