Hearing Scheduled for Foreign Ministry Employee Accused of Treason

The case of Foreign Ministry employee Ashkhen Aleksanyan, who is accused of espionage on behalf of Azerbaijan, has been sent to court. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow at 12:30 PM at the Central District Court of Yerevan. Judge Ani Danielyan has taken over the proceedings regarding Ashkhen Aleksanyan's criminal case.

According to the indictment, Ashkhen Aleksanyan is charged with having established contacts through online communication since February 14, 2023, and subsequently being recruited during personal meetings abroad by an individual representing Azerbaijani special services, identified as Shota Ivanishvili. As a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, holding the position of Third Secretary in the External Policy Interaction and Coordination Division of the Department of Diplomatic Functions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, she had official access to all documents processed through the 'MulberryGroupware 2.0' system of the MoFA. It is alleged that she cooperated in conducting espionage and hostile activities, and created conditions for access to sensitive documents, thus transferring information threatening the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and external security of the Republic of Armenia to the individual representing Shota Ivanishvili in exchange for a total of 34,000 euros.

It is worth noting that A. Aleksanyan was detained last summer, but information about the treason case only became public after a press release. The Investigation Committee was compelled to announce that, based on a report received from the National Security Service on June 20, a criminal investigation was initiated in the Main Investigation Department of the Investigation Committee on charges of espionage by an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Articles 418, part 1, and 424, part 1 of the Criminal Code, regarding the treason committed by creating conditions for a foreign state representative to access state secrets and providing assistance in conducting hostile activities.

“During the preliminary investigation of the criminal case, public criminal prosecution was initiated against the employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Article 418, part 1 of the Criminal Code (treason). No information has been obtained during the preliminary investigation indicating the involvement of other individuals, including other employees of the Foreign Ministry, in the aforementioned crime or any support or assistance to the said employee. Therefore, the information disseminated through mass media stating that this employee did not act alone is not consistent with reality,” the statement concluded.