Former Arabkir Community Leader Hovhannes Shahinyan Involved as Accused, Wanted by Authorities

The Investigative Committee of Armenia's Yerevan City Investigation Department has determined that Hovhannes Shahinyan, the former head of the Arabkir community, has been implicated in a criminal case currently being examined by the division of serious crimes.

As a public official, Shahinyan is accused of abusing his official powers for financial gain and other personal interests, leading to significant harm to the rights and legal interests of the Arabkir community. This negligence reportedly resulted in serious consequences, according to the Investigative Committee.

Specifically, on April 25, 2007, a 1500 square meter plot of land from the "Arabkir" park, which is governed under Article 60 of the Armenian Land Code, was sold at direct sale for 19,367,755 AMD to the director of the "Pure Arabkir" LLC, established under the Arabkir municipality. This individual was reportedly connected to the former community leader. Subsequently, on April 8, 2008, the same land was resold for a significantly higher amount of 184,200,000 AMD to another citizen.

Based on sufficient evidence, it has been decided to involve the former community leader as an accused under part 2 of Article 308 of the RA Criminal Code (abuse of official powers), and he has been declared wanted. The chosen precautionary measure is detention.

The relevant department of the RA Police has been instructed to locate him and present him to the prosecuting authority. The investigation is ongoing.