Gagik Jhangiryan Questioned by NSS

Former military prosecutor Gagik Jhangiryan, who currently serves as the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, has been questioned by the National Security Service (NSS) regarding the case of a soldier killed nearly 22 years ago. This was reported in an interview with Hayarpi Sargsyan, the representative of the successor of the slain soldier, Arman Hakobyan.

As previously informed, the representative of Arman Hakobyan's successor had submitted a request to the NSS investigator to interrogate Gagik Jhangiryan, the military prosecutor who verified the legality of the illegal decision to suspend the case from 2001. The investigator had rejected the request, but the victim's side appealed the decision, which was subsequently annulled by the prosecutor.

Hayarpi Sargsyan informed us that Jhangiryan was questioned by the NSS on March 31. “The questioning was based on my submitted request, which the investigator had rejected, while the prosecutor found it justified and upheld my appeal. I will not disclose the specific testimony at this moment; I will present details after receiving the decisions from the investigator and the prosecutor. I am particularly waiting for the position of the supervising prosecutor, as it is evident that those responsible in the case have not been punished, and charges were only brought in 2008, seven years after the suspension of the case in 2001,” Sargsyan noted.

The murder of soldier Arman Hakobyan occurred on the night of September 24-25, 2000, around 03:45, at a checkpoint of the 5th battalion of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia. Arman Hakobyan received a gunshot wound to the head and died while being transported to the hospital. A criminal case was initiated based on Article 100 of the previous Criminal Code of Armenia, which includes the elements of murder. During the preliminary investigation, the case was suspended in 2001 under the pretext of not identifying those responsible for the crime, and the criminal case was resumed on November 11, 2008, at which time charges were filed against Hakobyan's comrade; however, the criminal prosecution against him was dropped due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The victim's successor had previously raised his concerns in a letter to then Commissioner for Human Rights Karen Andreasyan, stating his belief that his son's murder occurred as a consequence of Arman Hakobyan informing the commanders about missing weapons in the military unit. In particular, according to the soldier's father, several servicemen in the unit, specifically officer Samvel Saribekyan, along with fellow soldiers Garik Hovhannisyan, Arshak Shahbazyan, and Simon Muradyan, humiliated and degraded Hakobyan's honor and dignity. They took him to other servicemen who enjoyed authority within the unit, where he was brutally beaten and subsequently killed a few hours later. Furthermore, the soldier's father believed that the details of the incident and those who committed it were known, but the investigative body was covering it up.

The case was later suspended again, and years later, in May 2021, the representative of the slain soldier's successor filed a report about the crime, demanding a legal assessment of the actions of officials who investigated the case of the soldier Arman Hakobyan murdered in 2000. The Special Investigation Service initially sent the report to the Internal Security Department of the Criminal Investigation Committee for consideration; however, according to the lawyer, this agency was not authorized to examine reports of crimes or conduct investigative activities as defined by Articles 180-181 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia.

As a result, the lawyer submitted a complaint to the Special Investigation Service regarding inaction, which was accepted, and the report became an object of investigation by the Special Investigation Service. Based on the prepared materials, in June 2021, the Special Investigation Service rejected the initiation of a criminal case, which the lawyer also appealed against. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Armenia upheld the lawyer's appeal, overturning the decision to refuse the initiation of a criminal case based on the materials prepared from the report, and a criminal case was initiated under part 2 of Article 315 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, which pertains to official negligence. After the dissolution of the Special Investigation Service, the case was taken up by the NSS.