Crime Revealed in Kotayk Region Over Illegal Land Transactions

The Special Investigation Service of Armenia has uncovered illegal land sale cases in the communities of the Kotayk region, linked to the Governor of Kotayk and the Mayor of Hrazdan, during the pre-investigation of a criminal case following an article published by the online newspaper "HETQ" on September 28, 2018, titled "Officials Privated 60 Hectares of Forest in Tsaghkadzor." The report was communicated by the press service of the Special Investigation Service.

It has been established that under the decision No. 422-N of the Government of Armenia dated April 5, 2007, the category of land plots in the administrative boundaries of the communities in the Kotayk region outside of the administrative boundaries was changed, resulting in 55.88 hectares being reclassified. Additionally, 50.48 hectares of forest fund land within the administrative boundaries of the Hrazdan city community were categorized differently. Some of these plots were moved to special protected area classifications, while others were categorized as settlement lands for mixed development.

These lands were acquired by various individuals, officials, and their relatives during this period through the preparation of forged documents, circumventing the auction process. Notably, several plots were acquired by individuals including Martun Matevosyan, who held the position of director of “Hayantar” State Non-Commercial Organization during the discussed period; Zarik Gevorgyan, wife of the Mayor of Hrazdan, Aram Danielyan; Arsen Arzumanyan, son of the mayor's advisor; Roman Galustyan, director of the Culture Organization of Charentsavan city; Armen Hovsepyan, son of the Armenian Prosecutor General; Ishkhan Vardanian, brother of the MP; Shamrik Gabrielyan, wife of MP Harutyun Garagyoyzian; businessman Samvel Mayrapetyan; Grigor Gevorgyan, driver of the Minister of Territorial Administration, and security officer Bagratuni Barseghyan, as well as Nikita Abrahamyan, uncle of boxer Arthur Abraham.

Thus, during the pre-investigation of the criminal case, it was established that former Governor of Kotayk, Kavalensko Shahgaldyan, and former Mayor of Hrazdan, Aram Danielyan, committed acts defined under part 2 of Article 308 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, while members of the auction commission they established, Levon Petrosyan, Manvel Petrosyan, Rudik Hovsepyan, Arpine Verdyan, and Myasnik Kostanyan, committed criminal acts as defined in part 2 of Article 325 of the same code. As a result of the actions of these officials, 106 hectares of land were illegally alienated, significantly harming the legal interests of the state and causing severe consequences due to negligence.

Considering that the time limits envisioned by law for holding the aforementioned individuals criminally liable had passed, they approached the prosecuting authority requesting that criminal prosecution against them not be carried out for these actions. Therefore, the investigator of the Special Investigation Service decided to terminate the criminal proceedings against them and not to conduct criminal prosecution. Samples of the decision have been sent to the Prosecutor General's Office for legal action to protect state interests and to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure to initiate processes to nullify the administrative acts in accordance with the law and to return the mentioned property units to the Tsaghkadzor community and the Kotayk regional administration.