“Aravot” comments on the scandal caused by pro-government parliament deputy Arakel Movsisian’s threats to “behead” and “rape” anybody who would dare to insult Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian or members of his family. The paper believes that the threats should be taken seriously even if Movsisian spoke figuratively. “Rape is not a good thing even in a figurative sense,” it says in an editorial. “For instance, when they rape people’s brains with a bad [command of] Armenian language and are unable to utter a single cohesive phrase. Many deputies talk just like that. Kebab and vodka have raped their stomachs so much that the difficult digestion processes can be seen on their faces. They clearly impede all manifestations of reasoning.”
“168 Zham” reports that Karapet Israelian, a candidate in the upcoming mayoral election in Abovian, claims to have been beaten up in the town 15 kilometers north of Yerevan on Monday. “He does not think that [the beating] was orchestrated by any of the other candidates,” writes the paper. It quotes Israelian as suggesting at the same time that he may have been attacked by bodyguards of one of the candidates, Vahagn Poghosian, who enjoys the backing of tycoon Gagik Tsarukian. The bodyguards most probably acted without Poghosian’s knowledge, Israelian says.
Citing data from the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), “Haykakan Zhamanak” reports that cash remittances sent home by Armenian migrant workers abroad fell by more than 40 percent year on year in the first four months of 2015. “The volume of cash transfers from Russia (the main source of remittance inflows) shrunk by more than half,” writes the paper.
“Hayots Ashkhar” reports on a series of explosions at liquefied gas stations across Armenia that resulted in three fatalities. The paper papers quotes a senior official from the Armenian Ministry for Local Government and Emergency Situations, Ruben Badeyan, as saying that car drivers buying that gas are primarily to blame for the blasts. He says that gas tanks placed in their cars are often not properly installed and do not meet safety standards. None of those motorists is known to have been prosecuted to date.
(Armen Koloyan)