Pavel and Aram Manukyan wounded in overnight shootout: Two other gunmen caught by police (video)
Pavel Manukyan and Aram Manukyan, two of the anti-government gunmen barricaded in a police station in Yerevan they seized on July 17, were taken to hospital following a late night shootout between the police and the armed men. Two other gunmen, Gagik Yeghiazaryan and Aram Hakobyan, surrendered to the law enforcement authorities, Ashot Aharonyan, a spokesman for the Armenian police, wrote on his Facebook page at around 2 p.m. He said the skirmish had stopped and negotiations were underway with the group on completing the surrender of the other members. In a later post, Aharonyan said there were two wounded gunmen in the area of the police station seized by the Sasna Dzrer group, who refuse medical aid of any kind. The armed group confirmed shortly afterwards that security forces 'had kidnapped’ its four members, including Pavel Manukyan and Aram Manukyan, in an overnight attack. Pavel Manukyan and his son were operated on and are in the intensive care unit of the Erebuni medical centre. They are connected to artificial respiration apparatuses. Harutyun Mangoyan, one of the doctors of the hospital, said they both were wounded in the legs and remained in a serious but stable condition after operation.
“Turks were unable to dispirit Pavlik. Armenian policemen will not be able to do it either. A wounded lion remains a lion even when wounded,” Garegin Chugaszyan, President of the Founding Parliament opposition movement who is in hiding, wrote shortly after the skirmish.
Before midnight, while the supporters of the Sansa Dzrer armed group were holding a march in downtown Yerevan, Ashot Aharonyan said the gunmen had opened sporadic fire in various directions. In the meantime, Toros Sefilyan, the brother of the jailed opposition leader Jirayr Sefilyan, made a Facebook post saying ‘policemen were shooting in the direction of Sasna Dzrer.’ At the same time, it became know that citizens were being beaten at the intersection of Tigran Mets Avenue by plainclothes policemen who wanted to know what people ‘were doing in the street at such a late hour.’ After the late night operation of the security forces, riot police detained numerous people who continued to stay in Khorenatsi Street. Detentions continued all night through. Armenian Ombudsman’s Office said an hour after the incident that it had received numerous calls about people being detained without reasons. “We were also informed that there is a minor among the detainees but the information is yet to be verified,” the Office said adding that its staffers are implementing appropriate actions. The situation was relatively calm on the section of street leading the seized police station on Wednesday morning. Two members of the group, Ashot Petrosyan and Hovannes Harutyunyan, surrendered to law enforcement authorities after being wounded by security forces in a shootout early on Tuesday. About 30 armed men affiliated with Jirayr Sefilyan’s Founding Parliament movement, stormed and seized a police station in Yerevan’s Erebuni district on July 17, demanding the release of their leader [Sefilyan] and resignation of Serzh Sargsyan. The group calling itself Sasna Dzrer (Daredevils of Sassoun) took several police officers hostage in the late night attack that left another policeman dead. The gunmen also demanded that the authorities free all ‘political prisoners’ in Armenia. They released the four remaining hostages on Saturday as part of negotiations brokered by Artsakh war participants Vitaly Balasanyan.
