Director of Elos Hair Removal Cabinet Secretly Drilled Wall and Installed Camera: New Details from SHAMSHYAN

According to SHAMSHYAN.com, a criminal case has been initiated in the Investigative Department of the National Security Service of Armenia under Article 144 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (Illegal collection, storage, use, or distribution of information regarding personal or family life).

Reported by photojournalist Gagik Shamshyan, this case was opened based on a complaint from Evelina Hakobian, a makeup artist at the "Manana" beauty salon in Yerevan. The criminal case has been transferred from the NSS to the Arabkir Investigative Division of the Investigative Committee of Armenia, where, by the order of the division head Norik Harutyunyan, the preliminary investigation has been assigned to senior investigator Tigran Baghdoyan.

As previously reported by SHAMSHYAN.com, a notification was received from Evelina Hakobian, who stated that the director had secretly installed a camera in her office without informing her or the clients, where Elos hair removal was also performed. "I have worked there for 12 years, as a makeup artist, and I also performed facial and full body hair removal in my office. There had been no camera in our room before the coronavirus pandemic, and it is not allowed to install one since people undress there. Even if it were installed, I and the clients needed to have been warned about it. The director secretly drilled a hole in the wall and placed a camera inside. The camera operated from the 10th to the 20th of the month, capturing both video and audio of everything, even my personal conversations on the phone. Women undress there; I have done so as well while getting hair removal. Without our knowledge, all of us were naked, and whatever we did was recorded. Various women and girls from different fields come there. I accidentally discovered the camera when I noticed a blinking blue light. I found it, saw that there was a chip inside, and took it to an IT specialist who opened it; we found all the recordings inside," the employee stated.

The employee asked the director why he resorted to such a vile act; the director claimed it was because he suspected that his employee was stealing clients and money from him. "I said, 'There we are all naked, what have you done?' He replied, 'I've done well. I put it there because you’ve stolen clients from me.' I said, 'Prove it.' He claims I stole money, and I told him to prove it, stating that the footage clearly shows the customer paying at the cash register."

The employee reported the incident to the NSS, who came, seized the chip, and removed the camera from the wall. "The director told me, 'Where do you think you're going to complain? Nobody can do anything to me...his son works as an investigator in one of the investigative divisions, so maybe he counts on his son's influence to get off scot-free. But he doesn't realize that he has violated all moral and legal laws," the employee concluded.

Notification: The person suspected or accused of an alleged crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia by a legally binding judgment of a court.