Criminal Proceedings Initiated Against 4 Residents of Noratus

The prosecutor has initiated public criminal proceedings against four residents of Noratus in Gegharkunik Province on January 19, 2024, for particularly large-scale robbery, hooliganism, exerting violence against employees of the “Sevan” National Park SNCO, water patrol officers, and interfering in their legal official activities.

The public criminal proceedings have been initiated based on Article 253, Part 3, Clause 4, Article 297, Part 2, Clause 1, and Article 452, Part 4, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code.

The criminal case revealed that to prevent and detect illegal fishing activities during the spawning season of pike in Lake Sevan, a routine inspection was organized by the director of “Sevan” National Park SNCO on December 19, 2023, with boats and motorboats included in the operation. Seventeen employees of the “Sevan” National Park SNCO and eight water patrol officers from the Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Gegharkunik Province, participated in this inspection.

Many residents and fishermen from Noratus and neighboring communities, upon learning of the planned inspection to prevent and detect illegal fishing in Lake Sevan during the pike spawning period, gathered armed with various objects—more than one hundred individuals—to remove the fishing nets they had set in Lake Sevan. At around 11:00 AM on the same day, the aforementioned individuals surrounded the boat of the “Sevan” National Park SNCO employees and the police water patrol boats, demanding that they do not remove the fishing nets and do not obstruct their fishing activities.

Employees of the “Sevan” National Park SNCO and the police water patrol informed them not to interfere with their legal official activities. The individuals, including V.E., G.S., H.A., and S.A., upon receiving a refusal, began to shout obscenities and throw bottles filled with flammable liquids, wood, iron objects, and hammers at the employees aboard the boats.

Some participants maneuvered the motorboats close to the boat of the “Sevan” National Park SNCO employees, removing the paddles and using them to damage the motorboat, detaching its engine and other mechanisms. One participant cut the rope holding the motorboat with a knife and stole it.

About four dozen individuals involved in this hooliganism, including V.E., G.S., H.A., and S.A., attacked the employees of the SNCO, striking them with their hands, feet, paddles, wooden sticks, and other objects. As a result, five employees sustained varying degrees of bodily injuries.

Note: The accused individual is considered innocent until proven guilty by the court in accordance with the procedures established by the Criminal Procedure Code, with a legally effective court judgment.