Head of Armenian Evangelical Church Beaten by Newly-Elected City Council Member

Rafayel Gevorgyan, the head of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Vanadzor, was severely beaten on October 4 by member of Armenian Renaissance party (formerly known as Rule of Law) Arkady Peleshyan, Collaboration for Democracy chairman Stepan Danielyan said on Facebook today. Note, Peleshyan was elected into the city council of Vanadzor, Armenia's third largest city, after the local elections that were held in several hundred Armenian communities on Sunday, October 2. 

“Peleshyan went to the church accompanied by 15 representatives of his pre-election gang, crossed himself and told Rafayel Grigoryan that all his companions were people of faith; he then suggested that he and Grigoryan talk privately in [Grigoryan’s] office. Upon entering the room, Peleshyan, without any explanation, began to cruelly beat the 66-year-old man, hitting him solely on the face. The beating stopped only after the intervention of Grigoryan's daughter and his son-in-law, who managed to somehow push aside Peleshyan's companions and enter the room. The beating was accompanied by the crudest insults and death threats,” Danielyan wrote.

He added that the incident was most likely related to the Sunday local elections in Vanadzor. A day before the voting, on the “day of silence,” supporters of the Armenian Renaissance candidate went to the church – where a mass was being held – and tried to distribute propaganda leaflets among the assembled.

“Rafayel Grigoryan did not allow them to, citing the law […] This must have offended the members of the organization promising rule of law and a renaissance in Armenia,” Stepan Danielyan concluded.