Man who desecrated Mother Armenia memorial in Gyumri arrested 

ArmInfo. Police of the Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported the arrest of a 41-year-old man accused of damaging the gilded letters of hero cities on the monuments of the "Mother Armenia" memorial complex in Gyumri.

According to the ministry's press service, a criminal case was opened  in connection with the incident on June 11 by the Shirak Regional  Investigative Department under Part 1 of Article 301 of the Criminal  Code of Armenia (liability for the destruction or damage of a  monument, object, or document under state protection, having special  historical or cultural value - ed.). "Thanks to comprehensive and  coordinated investigative operations, reliable information was  received on June 14 that a 41-year-old man, a resident of the Mush 2  neighborhood of Gyumri, tore down the inscriptions from the monuments  on June 9 at approximately 3:00 PM," the Ministry of Internal Affairs  police reported.

According to the source, he was located at 8:40 AM that same day,  detained, and taken to the Shirak Regional Criminal Police  Department, where he confessed to the crime. "The 41-year-old man and  the documents were handed over to the Shirak Regional Investigative  Department. The preliminary investigation is ongoing," the Ministry  of Internal Affairs police concluded.

The incident was reported early in the morning of June 10, when  workers from the municipal utilities department were landscaping the  area. They discovered, among other things, that the letters inscribed  with the names of hero cities had been stolen from the memorial. The  vandalism also damaged the stones of the memorial. The letters were  later found in a trash bin on the memorial grounds.

The monument has already been restored by service members of the  102nd Russian Military Base, stationed in Gyumri.