‘Hraparak’ Reports: NSS Director Determined to Find Materials to Charge Arthur Vanyetsyan at Any Cost

‘Hraparak’ newspaper reports, “On July 31, we published news that the NSS was not satisfied with one criminal case and has initiated a second one against Arthur Vanyetsyan. The first case involved the 51-year-old former NSS officer’s appointment, based on the NSS’s statement claiming Vanyetsyan abused his official powers, and a service investigation has been launched regarding this matter. However, during the process, they likely realized that this accusation had no prospects, so they started on the second one, allegedly uncovering ‘illegal’ weapons in the NSS arsenal that belonged to Vanyetsyan.

In this case, the head of the Armaments Division of the NSS, Artak Torosyan, was arrested. He is a former freedom fighter, one of the 500 suicide bombers who went to battle called by Vazgen Sargsyan in the 90s, and was held in isolation for several days. There were also pressures applied to his wife, who works in the NSS, to persuade her husband to testify against Vanyetsyan.

Yesterday, a neighbor of Artak Torosyan contacted us and provided details about this case. Firstly, he happily informed us that our publications played a role in Torosyan’s release. Perhaps the NSS has also realized the absurdity of the accusations; how can there be illegal weapons in the arsenal of a law enforcement agency? If they are in the NSS storage, it means they are not illegal and do not belong to any individual.

However, our interlocutor provided other troubling details. It turns out that prior to the arrest, the NSS conducted a search at the long-time employee Artak Torosyan's home. Apparently, this was to create a climate of fear to pressure him into testifying against the former head of the NSS. NSS officers conducted a search in their colleague’s residence throughout the night, and he is the father of three minor children, two of whom are not even ten years old.

The children were terrified and experienced severe stress. Nevertheless, NSS Director Argishti Kyaramyan has decided to fulfill the orders of his superior, the Prime Minister, at any cost, to find materials to charge Arthur Vanyetsyan. In doing so, he does not even fear that in the National Security Service, where the 29-year-old, unknown genetic officer is already poorly received, they may never take him seriously again.

By the way, when the NSS realized that Artak Torosyan was not providing the required testimonies, they redirected their focus toward the NSS Director’s deputy for economic issues, Aram Hakobyan. The latter is the brother of former MP and ‘Dilijan’ beer factory director Hakob Hakobyan,” the newspaper writes.

Read the full article in today’s edition of the newspaper.