YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–At the court hearing of the "Others minus Vano Siradeghian" case on June 22 testifying was Karen Rafaelian’s mother–Zhenya Khogeyan. She said that eight months after her son’s disappearance she had met with the then minister of the interior–Vano Siradeghian. According to her–he was glad to tell her that the Moscow-based businessman Serge Jilavian had been arrested. According to the materials of the case–Siradeghian ordered Jilavian to be killed–but Jilavian learned about the plan–and the attempted murder failed. For the traces of the crime to be covered up–Artur Hovhannissian and Karen Rafaelian were "invited" to the Department of Internal Troops and–by the minister’s order–shot dead.
Siradeghian told Khogeyan that Karen Rafaelian was in Bulgaria–though he had been killed eight months before. He asked why no measures were taken to find Rafaelian and bring him to Armenia–Siradeghian said–"Turn to whomever you want–but do not turn to me any more."
The lower court of Yerevan’s Malatia-Sebastia districts chaired by Judge Razmik Tovmassian made two unsuccessful attempts to summon Serge Jilavian. The court intends to summon Jilavian a third time. Another citizen–Garnik Voskanian–who was head of the Department for Struggle against Ethnic Crimes at the moment of failed attempted murder of Jilavian–will also be summoned.