Cemetery Supervisor Accused of Committing Crimes Related to Grave Allocations

As a result of extensive investigative and procedural actions carried out by the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia in the Kanaker-Zeytun district, several circumstances have been revealed regarding the fraudulent appropriation of money from various citizens by a cemetery supervisor during the process of granting burial plots.

According to the factual data obtained during the investigation, a 47-year-old resident of Yerevan had served as the supervisor of the "Avan" cemetery under the Municipal Special Services from December 2015 until March 2021. Lacking the authority to allocate burial plots at the "Kanaker" cemetery, which, during this period, was providing plots for free, he misled the relatives of several citizens seeking burial services. Acting under the pretense of being authorized to provide related documentation, he exploited their trust by claiming that the burial plots were being provided for a fee.

By issuing falsified burial certificates under the names of other individuals for the purpose of granting burial plots, he embezzled various amounts of money, causing material damage both to the citizens and to the municipality of Yerevan. Additionally, the 47-year-old man created burial certificates for citizens purportedly for the allocation of burial plots, incorporating false data within them. In doing so, he established fraudulent grounds for registering burials and issuing burial certificates while concealing the fact of granting new burial plots.

The cemetery supervisor also fabricated circumstances suggesting the existence of burial plots occupied decades ago, obstructing the ability of the municipal body’s burial registration department to verify the authenticity of the data filled in the burial certificates, as there had been no records of burials from previous years, specifically from 1980 onwards.

As a result of these actions, numerous burials were registered, and burial certificates were issued by the Special Municipal Services of Yerevan. In one instance, it was revealed that, at the request of a deceased person's son, for the purpose of relocating the remains to a more suitable location within the same cemetery, he allocated a 35 square meter plot in violation of the established legislative order within the adjacent property owned by another citizen, thus claiming it to be part of the cemetery grounds. Consequently, the grave of the aforementioned individual was relocated to this plot, causing significant harm to the rights of the property owner, depriving them of the right to manage the land at their discretion.

Investigators have also gathered data indicating that with the intent of stealing money, between September 2020 and January 20, 2021, the 47-year-old man desecrated three family graves located in the above-mentioned cemetery. Specifically, he demolished the gravestones, and after freeing up the plots, he fraudulently allocated them to another citizen for a burial related to their relative.

The citizen, under the request of the 47-year-old man to clear the burial plot, dig the grave, and provide the burial certificate, transferred part of the agreed amount, while the remainder was to be paid upon the provision of the gravestone. However, the 47-year-old man failed to secure the issuance of the burial certificate.

Based on sufficient established facts, charges were brought against the 47-year-old man under several articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, including Article 255, Article 44-255, Article 255 (with multiple counts), Article 457, Article 306, and Article 460. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.