Associated Press
July 29, 2003 Tuesday 12:15 PM Eastern Time
YEREVAN, Armenia
Thirteen people, including the brother of a slain prime minister,
went on trial Tuesday in Armenia in the killing of a television
executive.
Tigran Nagdalian, head of the state-owned Armenian Public Television,
was fatally wounded in December in the capital, Yerevan. Thirteen
people have been charged in his death.
Prosecutors accuse Armen Sarkisian, the brother of opposition leader
Aram Sarkisian, of organizing the killing. A third Sarkisian brother,
late Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian, was shot and killed when gunmen
stormed the Armenian parliament building in October 1999.
Aram Sarikisian said the trial against his brother, who denies
involvement in the killing, was an attack against the opposition.
“Armen was the most apolitical and kind person in our family,” he
said, adding that he believed President Robert Kocharian was behind
the killing.
After Nagdalian’s death, authorities immediately said the killing was
political because Nagdalian had anchored a popular public affairs
program that frequently criticized the opposition. Opposition
leaders, however, accused authorities of trying to discredit them
ahead of presidential elections, which were held in February.
A Yerevan court began hearings Tuesday but immediately called a
recess until Aug. 5 because the lawyer of one of the defendants did
not show up.
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