The building of "AOKS" returned to the Republic of Armenia

On October 2, 2023, the settlement agreement between the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia and the shareholders of the "AOKS" LLC was approved by the Administrative Court. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

The property rights of a 526.9 sqm building located at 3 Abovyan Street (commonly known as the "AOKS" building) and a land plot of 0.0467 ha have been returned to the Republic of Armenia.

It is noteworthy that the Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit on November 18, 2022, to return the building at 3 Abovyan Street, which is included in the state list of historical and cultural monuments of Armenia, for the protection of state interests.

The basis for the lawsuit was the fact that, by the decree No. 699 of the Council of Ministers of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic dated November 24, 1955, property, including the building at 3 Abovyan Street, was transferred to the balance of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.

Later, on July 30, 1992, the "Armenian Company for Cultural Relations and Cooperation with Foreign Countries" was established, which acted as the legal successor of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries without legal grounds and, in 2001, presented the mentioned decree, adopted approximately 37 years earlier, to obtain a certificate of ownership for the "AOKS" building.

Considering the above, the Prosecutor General's Office demanded the invalidation of the state registration of rights made on July 3, 2001, in the name of the Armenian Company for Cultural Relations and Cooperation with Foreign Countries and on November 25, 2011, in the name of "AOKS" LLC.

The application was filed with the Administrative Court on November 22, 2022. On September 8, 2023, a settlement agreement was reached between the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia and the shareholders of "AOKS" LLC. The agreement was submitted to the Administrative Court on the same day.

The criminal investigation regarding the illegal privatization of the historical and cultural monument belonging to the Republic of Armenia continues in the Main Investigation Department of the National Security Service.

It is worth noting that in 2001, the "AOKS" building located in the center of Yerevan was privatized. It is one of the oldest buildings in the capital and a state monument. The state monument was privatized in 2001 by former Armenian ambassador to Russia Armen Smbatyan and former Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan.