Vardan Ghukasyan Demands $300,000 from Vardenis Mayor, New Charges Filed

In the context of the criminal proceedings being investigated by the Severe Crimes Investigation Department of the RA Investigative Committee, new episodes and circumstances have emerged regarding the particularly large-scale extortion committed by Vardan Ghukasyan, known by the nickname "Dog," who is the leader of the "Public Voice" party, as well as demonstrating disrespect towards the court.

As previously communicated by the RA Investigative Committee, sufficient evidence had been obtained during the preliminary investigation regarding the extortion of $110,000 from citizen T.A., equivalent to 53,806,500 AMD, by V. Ghukasyan and two other individuals as a group, as well as extorting between $60,000 and $100,000 from a representative responsible for a night club.

It was also found that on July 9, 2021, V. Ghukasyan displayed disrespect towards the court during video presentations published in a publicly accessible format on YouTube under his name, as well as making public calls for violence against contract servicemen based on their political views on his personal social media pages, justifying violence against them.

As a result of extensive investigative and prosecutorial actions conducted within the framework of the criminal proceedings, factual data were also obtained regarding other similar criminal actions committed by him in a group.

Specifically, it was revealed that V. Ghukasyan made offensive remarks regarding the same judge through video presentations published on his personal YouTube page on November 29, 2021, and March 3, 2022. Furthermore, as a defendant in the criminal proceeding, he instructed two individuals who managed several social media accounts disseminating V. Ghukasyan's activities on social networks to obtain photographs of the judges and their close relatives and to make obscene annotations on them through editing.

They executed the order and sent the edited, obscene, discrediting photographs to V. Ghukasyan, who displayed these images on his social media pages in live broadcasts in April and June 2023, publicly uttering sexual insults and offensive remarks about the judge and his relatives.

New factual data have also been acquired indicating that in one instance, V. Ghukasyan, together with unidentified individuals, and in another case with A. Galstyan, K. and L. Ghukasyan, threatened to disclose discrediting information about two different individuals and close relatives of one of them, demanding the handover of particularly large property in December 2021 and September 2022.

Accordingly, in December 2021, an unidentified individual, pre-arranging with V. Ghukasyan, established contact with V.A., the head of the Jermuk community, using foreign phone numbers, having already obtained a video recording about the alleged dispute involving V.A.

Later, in May 2022, through WhatsApp messages sent from the same phone number, this individual presented a demand for $300,000 equivalent to 138,000,000 AMD, stating that V.A. should transfer this amount to his electronic wallet in portions every three days. Otherwise, he threatened to publish discrediting information detrimental to V.A.'s rights and legal interests on the internet.

After a refusal was received, V. Ghukasyan executed the threats made by himself and the unidentified individual, and in July 2022 published a video on his personal social media page containing offensive, discrediting remarks about the victim.

In another case, in the autumn of 2022, V. Ghukasyan, in conjunction with A. Galstyan and sisters K. and L. Ghukasyan, planned and executed a demand for 3-4 apartments equivalent to $500,000 USD from citizen Sh.B., threatening to publish discrediting information about him and his family on the internet, and upon refusal, the criminal process culminated in an agreement to provide an amount equivalent to $100,000 USD after negotiations.

Previously, the RA Investigative Committee released detailed information regarding this episode. Based on the collected evidence during the preliminary investigation, new charges have been added against V. Ghukasyan, under Article 137.1, Part 2, Clause 1 (two episodes) of the former RA Criminal Code, Article 489, Part 2, Article 258, Part 3, Clause 3 (four episodes), Article 330, Part 2, Clause 3, and Article 490, Part 2 (two episodes) of the current RA Criminal Code.

V. Ghukasyan has been remanded in custody as a preventive measure, and an international search has been initiated against him.

Notice: A person accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the law defined by the RA Criminal Procedure Code, by a court decision that has entered into legal force.