A new head of the Masis community has been elected

Following the arrest of David Hambardzumyan, who was sentenced to imprisonment for organizing mass riots, Norayr Hakobyan, a representative of his bloc, became the head of the Masis community.

As the "Caucasian Knot" reported, on October 23, the Yerevan Criminal Court sentenced the head of the Masis community, David Hambardzumyan, to six years and three months in prison. On the day of the verdict, Hambardzumyan was on a working visit to Moscow; he was arrested at the Yerevan airport on October 28, immediately upon his return.

The Council of Elders of the Masis community in the Ararat region elected a new mayor at an extraordinary meeting on November 17. Norayr Hakobyan, a representative of the David Hambardzumyan bloc, was elected, Pastinfo.am reports.

The meeting participants voted unanimously for Hakobyan, who previously served as the first deputy head of the community. The ruling political party "Civil Contract" did not nominate a candidate for the Masis mayor position and did not participate in the meeting.

After his arrest, David Hambardzumyan, while in pretrial detention, announced his resignation as a member of the Council of Elders, noting that he was seeking to protect the position of community head from "pressure and administrative intrigues by the authorities," Armenia Today reports.

The opposition parliamentary faction "I Have the Honor" had previously nominated Hambardzumyan as a candidate for prime minister as part of Nikol Pashinyan's impeachment process, Novosti-Armenia reports.