On 18 July, the first hearing in the case of Vahagn Vermishyan, the Armenian architect, the former Chief Architect of the city of Stepanavan, the former Chairman of the Urban Development Committee, was supposed to take place in the anti-corruption court.
However, Presiding Judge Karapet Badalyan announced at the beginning of the session that Naira Artashesyan, the prosecutor of the Department for Confiscation of Property of Illicit Origin of the Prosecutor General’s Office, appealed to the court and requested to postpone the session on the grounds that she was on vacation. The court granted the petition.
After the session Iravaban.net tried to find out more details about the lawsuit submitted by the Prosecutor’s Office from Vahagn Vermishyan’s representative, Alexander Kochubaev. The indictment against Vahagn Vermishyan was the basis for starting a study on the property and sending the claim to the court, a copy of which the defenders have not yet received.
Thus: on 12 May, Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan of Yerevan First Instance Court General Jurisdivtion announced the verdict in the criminal case and sentenced Vahagn Vermishyan to 8 years in prison.
“Until today, Mnatsakan Martirosyan has not issued the court act. In other words, a judgment does not exist in objective reality. All that we have is the publication of the final part by Mnatsakan Martirosyan at the court session, but since he himself is not deciding how to declare Vahagn Varmishyan guilty, he has been thinking for 2 months what to write so that the text looks like a verdict,” Alexander Kochubaev told us.
After the publication of the verdict, the investigation into the confiscation of property of illicit origin was initiated, and then a claim was submitted to the court, which, according to the lawyer, has nothing to do with reality. According to the representative of the respondents, Vahagn Vermishyan did not live in the Republic of Armenia from 1992 to 2017.
“He lived in Moscow, Europe. Before coming to Armenia, he was the Chief Architect and Deputy Governor of Oryol Oblast. Organized his business activities, held government positions abroad. This is public, films were made about him, the companies he founded operated in Russia, Dubai, Shanghai, Sudan. Vermishyan formed his main capital abroad. And what today is qualified as property of illicit origin is actually a very small percentage of the capital formed abroad,” Kochubaev notes, adding that such a way of working is dangerous for the state, because they are trying to take the money earned by a person abroad, which the latter was trying to capitalize in Armenia,.
The lawyer believes that the lawsuit submitted by the Prosecutor’s Office lacks justification; it is even ironic that Vahagn Vermishyan’s property inherited from his grandmother was considered as property of illicit origin. “We have a person with a biography who has merit in the world, he is known as a super professional architect.”
Aleksadr Kochubaev also spoke about an interesting event. One of the alleged illicit properties refers to a plot of land acquired in the 90s in the city of Stepanavan, the area of which is 1000 square meters. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, it is worth 44 million drams. “All plots of land for sale in Lori marz can be purchased with such money.”
However, the interesting here is that Rafik Papikyan, the father of the Minister of Defense, Suren Papikyan, expressed wish to acquire the mentioned plot of land in July 2018. He owns another plot of land in the area adjacent to those 1000 square meters, which, according to the lawyer, he acquired by violating the legislation.
“That 1000 square meter plot is in the area adjacent to the existing bridge in Stepanavan. At a distance of 6 meters from the bridge, no plot should be given to anyone, it is an imperative requirement of the legislation. But land allocation was made to Rafik Papikyan. Vahagn Vermishyan believed that those 1000 square meters are of strategic importance for the city and can serve as a community park, categorically rejected the proposal. Rafik Papikyan wanted to establish a meat market in that area. This case also caused us doubts about the ongoing processes,” Alexander Kochubaev notes.
He claims: After the events of 2018, Vahagn Vermishyan is the first victim to be politically persecuted. “They attacked people’s property.”
Aleksadr Kochubarev mentioned several reasons, which, according to them, could be the basis of political persecution.
First: On the day of his arrest, Vahagn Vermishyan called the Minister of Economy and informed that the cement imported to RA is below the cost price and this caused him suspicion. The Head of the Urban Development Committee expressed doubt that other powder is being imported to RA under the name of cement.
“It was agreed that at 4 o’clock the cement truck entering Armenia would be suddenly inspected, but Vahagn Vermishyan was arrested 3 hours before that. It turned out that his office was tapped. In other words, the NSS caught Vermishyan’s wish at once and prevented that sudden inspection.”
Second: The sincere opinion expressed by Vahagn Vermishyan during the government meetings regarding the export of iron.
“He reacted very harshly to the decision to allow the export of iron. He gave an example that during the war of the 90s, the church bells were cast to make bullets and we, as a state in a war situation, do not have the right to export iron. In fact, 50 thousand tons of pure iron was exported from Armenia under the name of black metal, to which Vermishyan reacted very harshly.”
Third: During the construction of the customs house in Gyumri, he made a harsh observation, saying that the customs house should be built on the commercial border. There was a discussion whether the prospects of free trade between Armenia and Turkey are considered and that is the reason why a customs house is being built in Gyumri.
“This has led to very deep contradictions between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Vahagn Vermishyan. What happened next? The war, the era of peace, the pro-Turkish tendencies that come out of the government confirm Vahagn Vermishyan’s concerns.”
Fourth: “Cadastral map” of the Republic of Armenia. According to the lawyer, there were also conversations about the issue during Vahagn Vermishyan’s tenure. The mapping was to be carried out by an Israeli company.
“The company of the same state, whose UAVs destroyed the airspace of Artsakh during the 2020 war. He expressed a categorical and very sharp position on it.”
According to Alexander Kochubaev, the concerns expressed by Vahagn Vermishyan have already been confirmed today and the authorities had only to isolate him.
“If Vahagn Vermishyan abused his authority, then why Mnatsakan Martirosyan cannot decide for 2 months which of his authority he abused,” the lawyer notes, adding that the accusations presented were enough and were destroyed during the court sessions.
He also reminds that the Administrative Court of Appels satisfied Vahagn Vermishyan’s complaint and overturned the decision of the administrative court, by which his dismissal was declared invalid. “Due to the illiteracy of the government, about 50 million AMD should be compensated to Vahagn Vermishyan from the budget. I spoke with Mr. Vermishyan yesterday, according to our calculations, the act was late, and the government did not appeal. However, he is not happy with that fact, because this compensation should be paid to the taxpayers.”
Alexander Kochubaev notes that only a 2004 “Volvo” car was taken out of the mass of alleged illicit property.
“Persons conducting persecution hate people with a biography, and Vahagn Vermishyan is a person with an outstanding biography, who did not build capital at the expense of state resources, but thanks to decades of hard work,” he noted.
The lawyer also added that Vahagn Vermishyan was not provided with the right to give explanations regarding the property, and was not given a reasonable time to receive and submit documents from Russia and Africa.
It should be noted that the Prosecutor General ‘s Office requires to confiscate from Vahagn Vermishyan a total of 164 million 800 thousand AMD in favor of RA.
Evgenya Hambardzumyan
