Armenian presidential candidate Paruyr Hayrikian was shot just minutes before midnight yesterday on a street in downtown Yerevan.

Doctors at the Saint Grigor Lousavorich Hospital told Hetq Hayrikian was admitted with gunshot wounds to the right collarbone and is being treated at the intensive care unit.

Hetq telephoned Hayrikian’s cell number and a young man answered. Crying, the man said, “They shot my brother Paruyr Hayrikian, but it will turn out all right.”

A number of government officials and politicians have visited Hayrikian in hospital. Among the visitors were Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Parliament President Hovik Abrahamyan and two presidential candidates – Raffi Hovannisian and Hrant Bagratyan.