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Armenian Presidential Candidate Shot In Yerevan - PHOTO

Armenian Presidential Candidate Shot In Yerevan - <span style="color: red;">PHOTO

01 February 2013 00:18 (UTC +04:00)

Paruyr Hairikian has been taken to hospital after being shot by an unidentified attacker on a central street in the capital on the evening of January 31.

A relative of Hairikian told that the 63-year-old opposition leader had been hit in the shoulder.

The wound is not believed to be life-threatening.

Police have launched an investigation.

Hairikian, 63, spent a total of 11 years in Soviet prison camps and a further three in internal exile for being a member of a clandestine political organization as well as for writing samizdat literature and pamphlets.

He is considered a leading candidate in next month's presidential poll.

Several political leaders have already visited the wounded Hairikian in hospital, including Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, who condemned the attack.