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Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan on Friday said he is certain that the murder of Parakar Mayor Volodya Grigoryan was not politically motivated.
“As far as I know — I wouldn’t want to insist — but it is obvious that this had to do with some personal relationship. It wasn’t related to a political stance,” Simonyan told reporters, adding that those responsible must be held accountable.
He acknowledged that crime remains an issue and emphasized that law enforcement agencies must draw appropriate conclusions.
“Indeed, it’s a problem. What happened is an absolutely heinous act,” he said, extending his condolences to the families of the victims and expressing hope that the case would be resolved as quickly as possible.
The mayor of Parakar, a small town outside Yerevan, was shot dead along with his friend, an off-duty police officer, outside a house near Merdzavan, a nearby community. The shooting occurred around midnight on Tuesday and also left another person wounded.
CCTV footage from the scene shows Mayor Grigoryan and two men standing outside a home near a highway in Merdzavan when a masked gunman opens fire with an automatic weapon, killing Grigoryan and off-duty policeman Karen Abrahamyan. The shooter is then seen approaching the unresponsive mayor and striking him with the weapon.
Grigoryan was affiliated with the non-parliamentary opposition Aprelu Yerkir party and had defeated the ruling party in local elections in his town earlier this year, prompting speculation that the gunman may have had political motives.
On Friday, a local media outlet reported that the murder was apparently the result of a blood feud connected to an earlier shootout in the town.
Police haven’t officially named any suspect or suspected motive so far.