New Head of Investigative Committee Removes Appointees of Arghishti Kyaramyan

The purges continue in the Investigative Committee of Armenia. Personnel from the Office of the Prosecutor General are still being installed in the Committee. Although the newly appointed Head of the Investigative Committee, Arthur Poghosyan, evidently claims to be dismissing appointees of the former Chairman Arghishti Kyaramyan, he is simultaneously granting new positions to Kyaramyan's close associates. This was reported by the newspaper ‘Zhoghovurd’.

By the decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Arthur Nahapetyan was appointed as the Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee yesterday. Previously, he served as a judge in the Court of Appeal for Anti-Corruption. It is worth noting that he is a protégé of Arghishti Kyaramyan.

Vazgen Avetisyan was also appointed Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee, overseeing the General Department for Examination of Particularly Important Cases. 'By the way, Avetisyan had moved from the Anti-Corruption Committee to the Prosecutor General's Office and was the head of the department for crimes against state authority. Now he has been confirmed in the Committee. It is interesting to note that he illegally recorded a journalist from the newspaper “Zhoghovurd” to expose testimony regarding the March 1 case, in a ruling that considered his actions unlawful; now, this offender is being promoted.'
The purges in the Committee are not over.

According to information from the newspaper ‘Zhoghovurd’, at the request of the Investigative Committee, Yura Ivanyan, the head of the department for examining crimes involving torture and abuse of power by officials, has also submitted a resignation request. Ivanyan was previously the head of the investigative group for the 'Amulsar case', and a service investigation has already been launched against him regarding this case.
According to media reports, Yura Ivanyan and former Minister of Environment Aramayis Grigoryan are relatives, and the latter had confirmed a positive conclusion for the operation of the Amulsar mine in 2016.