Ashot Minasyan (Iron) Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison

Ashot Minasyan has been sentenced to 2 years in prison for acquiring, transporting, and storing firearms, military ammunition, explosives, and explosive devices illegally. The Court of Appeal partially upheld the Prosecutor General's appeal and modified the ruling of the first instance court in Syunik Province dated December 26, 2024, thereby annulling the court act that did not apply the sentence conditionally to Ashot Minasyan.

Minasyan was found in possession of various firearms, including:

• 7.62 mm caliber rifled machine gun of type «ПК» with number «BC 839»
• 7.62 mm caliber rifled machine gun of type «ПKMT»
• Modified training machine gun from a rifled hand machine gun
• 5.45 mm caliber rifled assault rifle of type «AK-74»
• 7.62 mm caliber rifled assault rifle of type «AKM»
• 3 rifled carbines of Mosin construction with a caliber of 7.62 mm
• 7.92 mm caliber rifled rifle of type «MAUSER Mod.98»
• 5.6 mm caliber hunting-sporting rifles of type «TO3-8»
• 8,119 rounds of 5.45 mm caliber ammunition
• 2,532 rounds of 7.62 mm caliber ammunition
• And various grenades and detonators.

It should be noted that public criminal prosecution against Ashot Minasyan was initiated for acquiring, transporting, and possessing arms in violation of law. Until November 13, 2020, he was found to have kept these materials in a building under his control adjacent to a restaurant complex on Israel Street in the city of Sisian.

The first instance court in Syunik found Ashot Minasyan guilty according to Article 235 Part 1 of the Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003, and sentenced him to 2 years of imprisonment. The court took into account the period of actual detention of 1 month and 27 days, resulting in a final sentence of 1 year, 10 months, and 3 days, and the sentence was not applied conditionally with a probation period of 1 year.