Lieutenant Colonel tried to blow up Harsnaqar restaurant complex (photos)

A 39-year old Lieutenant Colonel Vardan Samvelyan entered Harsnaqar restaurant complex at approximately 2.15 am on July 1 threatening to blow it up.

Photojournalist Gagik Shamshyan reported that Samvelyan entered the complex in a military uniform with a bag threatening to detonate explosives.

Director of Harsnaqar Hrachya Zohrabyan called the police to report about the incident. The police officers dispatched to the site negotiated with the man for about 3 hours. They managed to disarm Samvelyan and took him to Nor Nork police department.

The police task force has found explosives in Samvelyan’s bag and seized them. Materials are being prepared over the case.

Vardan Samvelyan’s father is police colonel Samvel Samvelyan working in criminal department of the police, and brother Arman Samvelyan is a police agent.

On June 30 a candle-lighting ceremony was held with participation of few hundreds of citizens which later turned into a protest action because of a wedding held in the restaurant complex where doctor Vahe Avetyan, together with his friends, was severely beaten by the restaurant’s security guards on July 17.

Major Vahe Avetyan, who was the chief of the ENT Department at Yerevan’s Garrison Hospital, was subsequently hospitalized and underwent three surgeries, but doctors didn’t manage to save his life. Remaining unconscious for about a fortnight, he died on Friday evening.