“During my many years of work practice at the airport, I can point out a remarkable and cruel incident that happened this year,” Andranik Ivanyan, Head Division of Investigation of Crimes Committed at the Area of “Zvartnots” International Airport, of Investigative Department of Yerevan of the RA Investigative Committee, said in the framework of “The Investigator Presents” series of interviews of Iravaban.net.  

– Mr. Ivanyan, you have been working in the system for a long time. What changes has the Investigative Committee undergone in these years, what significant achievements have been registered according to you?

– Yes, I have been working in the investigative system for more than two decades. As you know, the RA Investigative Committee was formed in October 2014, becoming a separate entity conducting pre-trial proceedings in the RA. Before that, the investigative bodies were part of different power structures.,

It can be said that a new culture has been formed with the creation of the RA Investigative Committee. The activity of the structure for more than nine years has had a great impact on the improvement of the professional, social and morale-psychological condition of the employees of the investigative body, and, in my opinion, much more important, the public trust in the “investigator” and respect for that work have increased.

As a significant achievement of the Investigative Committee, I can mention the fact that at the beginning of this year, the former Investigative Department of the RA State Revenue Committee joined the RA Investigative Committee, and the Investigative Department of the RA NSS will also join at the beginning of the next year. Such an expansion proves that despite its young age, only about ten years of existence, the RA Investigative Committee is a well-established system. Such an expansion will further strengthen the role and significance of the RA Investigative Committee in the legal system of the RA. In this way, the function of conducting the preliminary investigation will be concentrated in two structures: the RA Investigative Committee and the RA Anti-Corruption Committee, which will ensure unity to the implementation of the preliminary investigation and make it more effective and qualitative.

– You are the Head Division of Investigation of Crimes Committed at the Area of “Zvartnots” International Airport. Can you specify what types of crimes mostly take place in the area of ​​the airport? 

– If we study the statistics of the last years, the crimes related to weapons, firearms or other dangerous materials and objects are obvious. Often, especially after the 44-day war, there are cases when ammunition of different calibers is found in the luggage of departing passengers.

– What are the characteristics of the cases examined in this division?

– Compared to other territorial bodies of the Investigative Committee, the number of criminal proceedings investigated in the division is relatively less. This allows investigators to spend more time conducting a comprehensive and detailed investigation.

In addition, the criminal proceedings examined in our investigation division are also different from other divisions as the persons undergoing the proceedings are mostly citizens of foreign countries and do not know the Armenian language. Or we deal with airlines registered in other states, which objectively makes the investigator’s work more difficult. Very often complications arise in the field of communication. For example, an incident took place in an Armenian airplane in flight, which was witnessed by citizens who do not live in Armenia. Finding them and organizing the interrogation in accordance with the law causes certain difficulties.

– Can you remember what was the most extraordinary or remarkable case that you disclosed in the airport area?

– During my many years of work experience at the airport, I can point out a remarkable and cruel incident that happened this year. It was also covered by mass media.

It refers to the murder of a young girl, a citizen of the Russian Federation. At first, the victim’s mother arrived in Yerevan and filed a report at the “Zvartnots” Police Department that her daughter was missing and that she was aware that she had arrived in Armenia. Based on the report, criminal proceedings were initiated in the investigative department. As a result of the professional, cooperative work of the investigator and the officers of the investigative body, the murder was revealed in a short time, the body of the young girl was found, many items of evidential importance for the proceedings, and the identity of the person who committed the crime, who was a US citizen, a representative of another nation, was revealed. Since the body of the murdered girl was found in the forests of the Dilijan community, the criminal proceedings being investigated by us were transferred to the regional investigative body according to the rules of investigative subordination.

-You often deal with foreigners. Can you specify what kind of problems you face with them? 

– As I already mentioned, we often deal with foreigners. Everyone knows that an integral part of the professionalism of investigators is the skill of creating an effective psychological connection with a person. Even the involvement of a very professional interpreter may not help the examiner to apply the above-mentioned skill and the much desired psychological connection between the examiner and the foreign language interviewee may not be established. The knowledge of the Russian and English languages ​​of the investigators of our investigation department helps them in this matter. However, believe me, there are many cases when the persons called for interrogation do not know either Russian or English languages. In practice, we had a case when we could not interrogate a person due to the lack of a licensed translator of the given language in the RA. This refers, for example, to the “Punjabi” language variety of the Indian language.

– Do you remember what your first internship was?

– One of the first criminal cases of my work activity was a crime against the legal circulation of narcotics, psychotropic substances, their preparations, and precursors, highly effective or toxic substances, in which the accused was a person with a higher status in the criminal hierarchy (thief in law or criminal authority). The criminal case was sent to the court and a guilty verdict was made.

– In your opinion, what should be done so that the society has a full understanding of the importance of the investigator’s work and his contribution to the implementation of justice?

– The formation of the full understanding of the importance of the investigator’s work among the society and his contribution to the implementation of justice is a continuous process. For this, various factors are needed, starting from the competent work of the mass media to the raising of legal awareness of the society. Of course, the continuous development of professional, communicative qualities by investigators is also relevant. In this regard, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to you personally and to the entire staff of the Iravaban.net news website, because the work you do is already an effective way to form objective and correct ideas in the public at large.

– During your long-term work practice, have you ever thought about changing your job, were there any disappointments?

– I faced many difficulties during my work practice, but there were no disappointments. I haven’t thought about changing job. I think the path I have taken proves it.

– What qualities should a person possess in order to undertake and perform the service of an investigator in Armenia?

– Be it in Armenia or another country, be it in an investigative body or in another service, every person should be endowed with honesty. When a person is honest to himself, his family, his country, all other factors, in my opinion, are optional.

– Work in the law enforcement system is unregulated, requires spending much energy and time, as well as sacrifices in terms of personal and family life. How do you manage to compensate that gap? 

–It is probably the most painful question from the perspective of the family members of every law enforcement officer, because due to irregular work, we spend most of the day at work and spend little time with our families and friends. However, we approach the issue from a different point of view. Our work, both indirectly and directly, is aimed at the well-being of our families and friends in an overall public health, safety, legal and law abiding environment. By doing the work honestly and with dedication, we must keep our state strong. If the state is strong, then all our families will be much prosperous.

This initiative, implemented in cooperation with the RA Investigative Committee and the Iravaban.net website, aims to properly present to the public the main directions of the work carried out by the preliminary investigation body, to reflect on the peculiarities of pre-trial proceedings and other issues of public importance.