Armenian rights activist says former officials’ death aimed at hiding large-scale crimes

By Azernews

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Armenia’s former National Security Service (NSS) Chief Georgi Kutoyan was recently found dead with a gunshot wound on his head.

Although Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan initially said that the data obtained by the investigation indicate suicide, the Armenian society is skeptical about the high-profile official’s sudden death.

Head of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly (HCA) Vanadzor Office, human rights activist Artur Sakunts believes that Kutoyan’s death deprived Armenian society of another opportunity to receive detailed information about the state capture process that took place during the years of his tenure.

"It is obvious that Kutoyan was not the only one who had this information. However, it was he who worked as the Deputy Prosecutor General, Assistant to the President of Armenia, headed the NSS during the period characterized as the period of state capture. The deceased, of course, had information about the governance of state during this period, which the society is practically not aware of," Sakunts noted.

In this light, Sakunts believes it’s very important to understand who benefited from the Kutoyan’s death.

The death of Kutoyan, he added, and the preceding death of high-ranking Armenian officials is aimed at concealing larger crimes. Accordingly, behind all these killings there are forces interested in not disseminating information about these crimes.

Last autumn, under the same circumstances, the former head of the Armenian Police Hayk Harutyunyan was found dead, after which the former head of the Yerevan Police Ashot Karapetyan died in a gas explosion in Russia.

"The deaths of the key figures of the previous regime involved in serious crimes against Armenia and its citizens, aware of these crimes, can in no way be an accident. At the same time, this indicates the insufficient efforts of the current government to curb such crimes. This means that further delay of reforms in the judicial sector and relevant agencies is becoming a challenge to national security," Sakunts concluded.

Armen Ashotyan, the Deputy Chairman of Republican Party of Armenia, expressed shock at the “murder” of Kutoyan. “This tragic incident is very strange and raises many questions,” he wrote.

Alen Simonian, a senior lawmaker representing the ruling My Step bloc suggested vaguely that Kutoyan’s death is one of the “echoes of the past which we are still hearing.”

Kutoyan is the second former senior security official found shot dead in the last four months. Hayk Harutyunyan, a former chief of the Armenian police, was found dead in his country house in September. Harutyunyan reportedly had a gunshot wound to his head. Investigators suggested that he committed suicide.

A lawyer by education, Kutoyan had worked as an assistant to ex-President Serzh Sargsyan from 2011 until his appointment as Armenia’s NSS director in February 2016. He was sacked by newly elected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in May 2018. Kutoyan has made no public statements since then. He also kept a low profile during his tenure.