Surik Khachatryan's Illnesses Are Not an Obstacle for His Transfer to Armenia: Special Investigation Service

The former governor of Syunik, Surik Khachatryan, who is involved as a defendant in a criminal case under investigation by the Special Investigation Service (SIS), has been diagnosed with illnesses that do not obstruct his independent movement in the territory or his transfer to another country, including the Republic of Armenia.

This was stated by the SIS in response to the inquiry of "Haykakan Zhamanak." We specifically inquired whether the medical documents provided by Khachatryan's lawyer were insufficient before the announcement of his wanted status. "Based on the documents sent by the lawyer, a forensic medical examination was assigned, which concluded that, according to the submitted documents, Surik Khachatryan can continue receiving treatment in Armenia," said the SIS.

It should be reminded that on November 20, the SIS announced the involvement of Surik Khachatryan as a defendant, the selection of a preventive measure of detention, and the announcement of him as wanted. It later became clear that Khachatryan had provided medical documents to the investigating body through his lawyer, stating that he was receiving treatment abroad and would return to Armenia after its completion.

“Based on the combination of sufficient evidence gathered in the criminal case being investigated by the SIS, former Syunik governor Surik Khachatryan has been involved as a defendant for the commission of criminal acts specified in Part 1 of Article 309, Part 3.1 of Article 38-179, and Part 1 of Article 38-314 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, which indicates that he has exceeded his powers and, using his official position and giving illegal orders to individuals, has caused particularly large-scale waste and official forgery, resulting in significant damage to the legal interests of the state,” the SIS statement said.

According to the SIS, during 2011-2012, while serving as governor of Syunik, Surik Khachatryan illegally instructed Lavrentik Arakelyan, the head of the Noravan community of Syunik, to transfer metal pipes belonging to the Noravan community directly to his brother without any legal grounds through an unauthorized directive.

Lavrentik Arakelyan, in violation of legal requirements, instead of presenting a proposal to the community council regarding the alienation of the pipes, and subsequently alienating or granting their use according to the council's decision and established conditions, at the instigation of Surik Khachatryan, provided metallic pipes worth 5,132,891 AMD, which belong to the Noravan community, to Khachatryan's brother.

Additionally, according to the SIS, in August-September 2016, Surik Khachatryan illegally instructed the head of the Akner community to alienate a portion of a plot of land of 0.43 hectares connecting the area to the road to a specified person, Ashot Gevorgyan, through a fraudulent auction. For this purpose, the head of the Akner community's staff compiled false reports on the conduct and results of the auction by introducing blatantly fake information, according to which the auction supposedly held on September 16, 2016, sold the mentioned 0.43 hectares of land to Ashot Gevorgyan for 70,000 AMD.

Charges have also been brought against Lavrentik Arakelyan under Part 3.1 of Article 179 of the Criminal Code and against Ashot Gevorgyan under Part 1 of Article 38-314.