Unknown Man Allegedly Threatened to Run Garni Protester Over and Toss Body Into River

An unknown man threatened on Sunday to run over Garni resident Sahak Sahakyan with a car and throw his body into the river, Arusyak Ayvazyan, a villager who, along with Sahakyan, has been fighting against a government-initiated irrigation project which, if implemented, would divert water from Azat river to a number of villages Ararat in province, told Epress.am Monday. Recall, as a result of a numerous protest actions and demonstrations held by hundreds of Garni residents, Armenia’s Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan finally announced on Saturday that the government would scrap the construction plans.

“Sahak came to my pharmacy yesterday, and we were talking about how good it was that we had managed to save the river. Then Sahak said that at around 7 pm an unknown man approached him in the Garni gorge and told him to behave himself, otherwise, the man said, he'd run Sahak over and throw his body into the river. I showed Sahak a photo of the man who had threatened me at my pharmacy, and he said that the man looked very much like this person. He recalled that the car was a black Jeep with Russian number plates,” Ayvazyan said.

Note, Garni villagers claim that the project would cause Azat river – the main source of Garni’s irrigation and drinking water – to dry up entirely, and that its main intention is to provide Abrahamyan’s agricultural lands in Ararat plain with irrigation water.