Suspicious Item Found in Luggage of Judge Samvel Uzunyan Linked to October 27 Case

An extraordinary incident occurred at Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport on December 21. At 01:45, a suspicious item was discovered in the luggage of one of the passengers departing on flight number 1869 to Moscow.

According to photojournalist Gagik Shamshyan, it was revealed that the passenger in question was 65-year-old Samvel Uzunyan, who has been a judge in the case of the October 27 killings.

SHAMSHYAN.com is attempting to determine what suspicious item was found with Uzunyan.

Recall that on December 20, the staff of the Supreme Judicial Council announced that they had received a request from the Acting Chief Prosecutor of Armenia regarding the criminal prosecution and detention of Samvel Uzunyan, the former president of the Avan and Nor Nork Administrative District Court. The Supreme Judicial Council decided to approve the requests, granting permission for criminal proceedings to be initiated against Uzunyan and for his detention.

Earlier, Advisor to the Chief Prosecutor of Armenia Gagik Abrahamyan made a post on his Facebook page stating, "To avoid various comments regarding the requests submitted to the Supreme Judicial Council of Armenia, I inform that the requests were submitted by Acting Chief Prosecutor David Melkonyan under articles 178, 34-312, and 311 of the Armenian Criminal Code, as part of the investigation currently being conducted by the Special Investigative Service of Armenia. During the preliminary investigation, it was established through sufficient evidence that Samvel Uzunyan, a leading staff member of the judicial authority, allegedly committed crimes by soliciting bribes amounting to significant sums in exchange for judicial decisions favoring plaintiffs in civil cases presented in October 2014 and in another case from 2007, which had been shortened before.