Domestic Homicides Continue to Predominate in Armenia: Arpine Sargsyan Presents Statistics

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia has summarized the past year of Minister Arpine Sargsyan's tenure. Although 365 days might seem short for achieving significant results, the final report indicates substantial positive shifts during this period. In particular, this year, three large-scale groups engaged in investment fraud have been uncovered.

Presenting the activities carried out and ongoing work during the year, Minister Arpine Sargsyan highlighted that the damage inflicted on the state and the community due to cases solved by the criminal police has been approximately 25 billion AMD based on preliminary calculations. Criminal proceedings have been initiated, and recovered assets have been reported.

Compared to the previous year, the number of firearms seized, discovered, or voluntarily handed over has increased by approximately 60 percent, thanks to explanatory efforts. This year, the proportion of serious and particularly serious crimes within the total crime rate has decreased by 0.7 percent. The crime structure remains stable, with 85.7 percent classified as low public danger, minor, and medium severity crimes.

As a result of the implemented measures, the effectiveness of crime detection has improved. The number of registered crimes with a suspect involved has risen by 3.5 percent, with particularly serious crimes increasing by 9.9 percent and serious crimes by 5.8 percent.

Homicides account for 0.2 percent of the overall crime structure in Armenia, with domestic-related murders continuing to predominate. Recent years have not witnessed a sharp and dangerous increase in these crimes. According to global publications by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the average homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants was 5.8 cases in 2021. By comparison, Armenia's calculated figures were lower: 2 in 2021, 1.9 in 2022, 1.8 in 2023, and projected at 2 in 2024.

“These figures indicate that Armenia is performing significantly better than the global average. Furthermore, according to rankings published by various international organizations and platforms, our country is considered one of the safest in the world,” said the minister.