Mher Yenokyan Will Not Be Released

The life-imprisoned Mher Yenokyan will not be released. The court rejected the motion.

According to the criminal case, on July 12, 1996, resident of Yerevan Yenokyan, in collusion with Harutyunyan, took his fellow student, Yosif Agajanov, to Harutyunyan's apartment with the intent to murder and extort $20,000 from Agajanov's parents for disclosing the location of the body. They murdered Yosif Agajanov for selfish purposes and with particular brutality. Yenokyan struck Agajanov on the head with a metal tool (wrench), and then stabbed him in the chest and the eye. During this time, Aram Harutyunyan held Agajanov's legs, and when he fainted and fell, on Yenokyan's command, Harutyunyan cut Yosif's neck.

After killing Agajanov, they placed the body in a pre-obtained canvas bag, took it outside, and hid it behind a concrete retaining wall built along an earthen road, covering it with stones.

During the trial, Mher Yenokyan did not plead guilty and still insists he is innocent. He claimed in court that he tried to prevent the crime but failed. However, in a video published online, Yenokyan tells law enforcement, "We killed a man" and shares some details of that murder.

After Nikol Pashinyan came to power, rumors circulated that he was planning to grant clemency to Yenokyan, but the uproar that arose after that news likely deterred the authorities. Nevertheless, in Yenokyan's life, the coming of Pashinyan's administration had only a positive effect, as the penal regime for the life-sentenced criminal changed in 2022, shifting from a semi-open regime to softer conditions in a low-security zone.