Excerpt from report by Armenian news agency Arminfo
Yerevan, 3 December: Crimes on religious grounds are committed in Armenia every year, the head of the public organization to adapt victims of destructive cults and lawyer, Aleksandr Amaryan, has told our correspondent.
He denied a statement by Hranush Kharatyan, chairwoman of the commission on religious affairs and ethnic minorities, that no criminal cases with religious motives have been registered in Armenia over the last few years.
[Passage omitted]
Amaryan recalled the recent suicide of a 24-year-old singer of the Armenian rock group Empyray, Anna Sagradova. He believed that the Empyray’s last clip called “No More You” was connected with Satanism and propagated suicide.
[Passage omitted: Amaryan speaks about the killing of a jeweller]
Amaryan said that due to the spreading of totalitarian sects, the number of suicide cases has increased tenfold in Armenia over the last 10 years. He said that nine new pro-Western religious organizations have been registered in Armenia over the last two years.
[Passage omitted]
Originally published by Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian 0803 3 Dec 07.