As the do every year, the residents of Vahan went this August 30 to the memorial built for their fallen villagers.   Some of the village youth had then decided to go to the lake, leaving behind their work in their fields.  Ten young people got into two cars and went to Sevan for a swim, heading back to the village the same evening.

“We were almost to the village when General Baghmanyan’s Brabus came from ahead and drove very close past our car,” recalled Aghavard Shushanyan, who was driving a VAZ 2106,  “There was a jeep coming about 15-20 meters behind that car, and it suddenly veered right towards us.  I couldn’t swerve right; we would have fallen into the gorge.  I braked and stopped the car.”

“I suppose the jeep wanted to frighten us.  It almost reached us and wanted to stage a near miss, but failed.  Its rear hit our car in the front left corner,” added Hamazasp Hamazaspyan, who was sitting next to the driver when the incident occurred.

The jeep contained four of General Haykaz Baghmanyan’s bodyguards.

“These guys got out and said, ‘Hey, why do you have your brights on?’ and one of us asked, ‘What brights?’  That was it; there was no further conversation.  They started hitting us.  I don’t know what they hit us with and how it happened,” said Ashot Balyan.  He received an injury to his leg in the incident; one of his bones was fractured.

There were five passengers in the VAZ 2106, including Gor, the son of martyred freedom fighter Grigor Chagharyan.  The other group of young people returning from Sevan reached the spot within minutes.  When the young people got out of their car, one of the bodyguards took out an automatic rifle from the jeep and started firing.

“We all ran away at once.  Then he started hitting on our cars with the butt of his automatic.  He hit the 06 a few times and then started breaking the windows of the other car, the 01,” said Aghavard, “I tried to get into the 06 at that point and drive away, but he started firing again and I had to run away.”

Aghavard, however, did manage to get the car out of the area, but he could not escape.  The jeep followed him and caught up with him not too far away.

They took Aghavard to the N military base close to Vahan, where General Baghmanyan and base commander Arsen Hambardzumyan were.  They joined the bodyguard in brutally beating the 21-year old boy.

“They were saying, ‘Who was with you? Give us names.’  If I’d told them, they would have brought the boys as well and beaten them the same way.  They had thrown me on the floor and were kicking me.  The general and the commander were punching me in the face, shouting the most obscene words.  They realized that I wasn’t going to give them names and the general ordered the bodyguards to fill the car with petrol, take me to Kelbajar and push me off the post located there.  At that point, police chief Minas Sargsyan arrived.  He had seen all of this,” said Aghavard.

It is worth noting that some of the bodyguards returned to the scene after they took him to the military base.  This time they caught 16-year old Bakur Saribekyan. The latter had also been a part of this incident.  That is to say, he was also in the car which had dared to drive past the general’s Mercedes Brabus with its brights on.

According to Bakur, he ended up with “lighter punishment”.  They demanded that he too give the names of his friends and threatened to inject his tongue with a truth serum if he did not comply.  They even brought a needle and syringe close to the young man’s mouth.

Some time later, Aghavard’s father, Zhora Shushanyan, came to the military base and spoke with the general.

“I was present for only a small part of that conversation.  The general allowed my father to take us home,” said Aghavard, “They had torn my clothes when they had beaten me.  I was left in just my socks and trousers.  I was looking for my shoes before I left, but the bodyguards said, ‘Don’t bother searching, we’ve thrown them away.’  They took my mobile phone from the car and didn’t return that either.”

The general told Jora Shushanyan that the young people from Vahan were driving drunk and had hit his jeep, after which they had got out of their car and started throwing bottles at his bodyguards.  Baghmanyan said that he would have to get his car repaired in Yerevan and demanded that Shushanyan pay half the expenses.  The latter agreed to do so in the military camp and apologized a number of times for the behavior of his son and his friends.

“I took the boy home, beaten and half-naked.  I only then found out what had really happened,” said Zhora Shushanyan.

The general’s behavior angered, but did not surprise, the residents of Vahan.  But the way that Commander Hambardzumyan behaved was a complete shock to them.

“Well, maybe because his superior was beating the boy, he felt that it would be wrong to simply remain an observer,” said the people of Vahan, trying to find some sort of justification for the man, whom they had described in a mostly positive manner.

When Jora Shushanyan asked the commander why he had beaten his son, this was the reply he got – “I thought that he was one of my soldiers who was trying to escape from the base.”

We tried to meet with Commander Hambardzumyan.  But he told us, through his deputy, that he was very busy making maps and did not have even a minute to receive us.

We should also report that Aghavard started feeling ill very suddenly a few hours after reaching home.  An ambulance took him to the hospital in Chambarak.  The police registered the case after doctors reported it.  Aghavard gave a statement where he described the incident in detail.  He even mentioned that the police chief had seen some of it himself.  The report that was filed changed nothing.

“I spoke with the general on the phone and he said, ‘We already agreed on everything as gentlemen – why did you file a complaint?’  I told him that his version of events had been very far from the truth,” said Zhora Shushanyan and continued, “He wanted me to take the boy to Erebuni hospital in Yerevan, where he knew the doctors.  I told him that I did not trust him.”

Zhora Shushanyan took the boy to Yerevan on his own, to the Saint Gregory the Illuminator hospital.  Aghavard had a concussion and blood had collected around his kidneys.  The doctors gave him medication and instructions to follow.

“I only want the child to be all right.  I don’t want anything else,” said Zhora Shushanyan.  General Baghmanyan promised to cover all the costs.

“I wish my son had given the names of his friends and that they all been taken and beaten up.  Would that have satisfied them?” said freedom fighter Melsik Hamzaspyan. During the war, he had commanded a self-defense platoon consisting of the residents of Vahan.  Hamazasp, the elder son of the freedom fighter, was also a victim in the incident.

“If they break our children this way now and frighten them, which of them will take to arms tomorrow if the war starts, God forbid?  Or are they going to come and protect our borders with their bodyguards?” asked the freedom fighter. 

According to his younger son, Harutyun, the youth of the village had got together after the incident and decided to talk to the “1 meter wide and 2 meter tall” bodyguards in “their own language.”  But they gave up on that a little later.

“What would have changed?  They would have fired their guns and that would have been the end of it,” he said.

The youths had also decided to block the road leading to the post and prevent a change of guard, hoping to attract the attention of high-ranking officers in that way.  But they gave up that idea as well, under the advice of older people who urged them not to “bring the innocent border guards under fire.”  In the end, the people of Vahan chose a very different option.  They wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, collected 275 signatures, and are now waiting for a reply.

“We don’t want the general to be punished.  They can even give him an award or a promotion.  Let them just get him out of our village. The village of Vahan is not compatible with Baghmanyan and his behavior,” said the people of Vahan.

“Baghmanyan is the terror of the village.  Something always happens when he comes here.  People try to hide when they see his car.  They don’t want him to see them, so that they don’t get into any trouble.  Thankfully, he doesn’t come too often.  We’re almost ready to get up and leave this village,” said Harutyun.