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17 death cases in Shirak Region and 24 cases in Lori Region have not been solved since 1998

Since 1998, overall 41 death cases in Lori Region and Shirak Region have not been solved to date. One of them is at the stage of preliminary investigation.

We were informed about this from the Information Center of the RA Police, in response to HCA Vanadzor’s inquiry of May 30, 2018.

Prior to this, we turned to the Prosecutor’s Offices of Lori and Shirak Regions of the RA in expectation of receiving information on the unsolved death cases in Lori and Shirak Regions from 1998 till today, the course of the criminal cases initiated on the basis of those cases and the names and surnames of those who died during those cases.

The prosecutors of both of the regions replied to HCA Vanadzor’s inquiries of May 11, 2018 that the Information Center of the RA Police had the information on the murder crimes and the course of the initiated criminal cases, and the Prosecutor’s Office does not keep records of names and surnames of deceased persons.

As regards the criminal proceedings being carried out with respect to the initiated criminal cases, the regional Prosecutor’s Offices informed that operative tasks are assigned to the body of investigation in connection with certain criminal cases; if necessary, investigative and procedural actions are carried out.

Artur Antonyan, Deputy Head of the Information Center of the RA Police, in his response to the inquiry of May 30, 2018, provided information on the number of the unsolved murders in the two regions according to years, as well as the grounds for terminating the criminal cases initiated with regard to those murders.

Accordingly, the criminal cases initiated on all the 17 unsolved cases in Shirak Region were terminated due to the fact that the person subject to being involved as a defendant was unknown. 22 of the 24 criminal cases initiated with regard to the murders unsolved in Lori Region from 1998 until today were terminated on the same ground; one case is at the stage of preliminary investigation.

The Information Center of the Police does not keep records of the details of deceased persons either.

In Shirak Region, the majority of the 17 unsolved murder cases from 1998 to this date occurred in 2015 (3 cases), while in Lori Region 6 of the 24 cases occurred in 2000, and 3 took place in 2016.

One of the unsolved murders in Lori Region is the murder of Prosecutor of Lori Region Albert Ghazaryan in August 2007.

The RA Prosecutor General’s Office did not provide information on the implemented and envisaged investigative actions and the names and surnames of deceased persons either, providing the argument that they did not have such information.