Armenia’s Yerkrapah Volunteer Union to elect new head in September – vice-chairman
The Yerkrapah (Defender of the Land) Volunteer Union (YVU) of Armenia will most probably convene its congress this September to elect a new head, Vice-Chairman of the YVU Board Hamlet Hayrapetyan told a news conference on Monday.
MP Manvel Grigoryan, a retired Armenian army general who is in custody pending trial on misappropriation charges, served as the chairman of the union before being stripped of his powers after his arrest.
Hayrapetyan says the members of the union overwhelmingly backed the decision to nominate MP Aram Sargsyan, the younger brother of Sparapet Vazgen Sargsyan, for the position at a recent meeting.
Meantime, he said every member of the union is free to put forward their candidacy, stressing the need to keep the union out of politics. “Each YVU member can be affiliated to a party; s/he is free to act. Aram Sargsyan said he would do everything possible to make the YVU an apolitical structure,” Hayrapetyan stated.