By the instruction of the Chairman of the RA Investigative Committee, in all subdivisions of the Investigative Committee, including the General Department for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases, examination and active investigative actions are currently being conducted within a number of criminal proceedings concerning high-profile, socially significant murders committed in previous years that remain undisclosed to this day.Within the framework of these proceedings, the existing body of evidence has been brought to light and subjected to analysis, a plan for investigative and procedural actions has been developed and refined, and a number of hypotheses have been put forward and examined, with the aim of disclosing murder cases committed in previous years, cases the resolution of which the public has awaited for many years.

Moreover, in the course of achieving the full disclosure of these crimes, considerable challenges arose as a result of the extensive time gap that had elapsed: in one case due to the death of participants in the proceedings or their absence from the country, and in another due to witnesses being unable to describe the events with sufficient clarity. It should be noted that, in some instances, the Investigative Committee encountered cases involving disappearance or destruction of procedural documents.

Nevertheless, despite the significant procedural difficulties, it was possible to identify the perpetrators within a criminal proceeding dating back 27 years. In particular, the murder of the RA Deputy Minister of Defense, Vahram Khorkhoruni, was disclosed.

Thus, conducting comprehensive and objective preliminary investigation within criminal proceedings relating to high-profile murder cases from previous years that have garnered substantial public attention is one of the Investigative Committee’s priorities. The aim is to strengthen public confidence that, regardless of the passage of time or the course of events, criminal liability will remain inevitable.

It was precisely as a result of investigative actions conducted within this context that another high-profile murder was disclosed. Specifically, this concerns the murder of Major General Artsrun Margaryan, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and National Security of the RA.

It should be recalled that on February 9, 1999, at around 15:30, the body of Artsrun Margaryan, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and National Security of the RA, was found with gunshot injuries in a deserted area adjacent to the intersection connecting Yerevan–Sevan highway to the road leading to Nor Hachn and Avan.

In the result of the preliminary investigation of the criminal proceeding initiated with regard to murder according to the Article 100 of RA Criminal Code adopted in 1961, no person has ever been brought to criminal responsibility, despite the fact that Artsrun Margaryan’s body had two gunshot injuries -one on the front of the left side of the chest and the other on the rear right side of the head.

As a result, during the given period, the investigative body came to the conclusion that the latter, being in a state of prolonged mental tension, depression, faced with facts that were undesirable for him and not finding another way out, committed suicide with two shots fired from the firearm provided to him, therefore, the criminal case initiated regarding the murder case was terminated on September 20, 1999, on the basis of the absence of a crime.

27 years after the case, as a result of planned, comprehensive evidentiary and other procedural actions conducted by the investigator for particularly important cases, with a combination of highly professional knowledge, including through the exhumation of the body and the conclusion of a new forensic examination, factual data were obtained that Artsrun Margaryan had been killed as a result of gunshots fired by his bodyguard A.Kh.

At the same time, it was grounded that Artsrun Margaryan physically could not have inflicted such gunshot wounds to himself.

A significant difficulty in disclosing the murder was also caused by the fact that the materials of the criminal proceeding were completely absent and at the initial stage, the Investigative Committee had at its disposal only the bill of indictment drawn up within the criminal proceeding, court decisions, and several other procedural documents. However, in this situation, the investigative body was not only able to restore the materials of the criminal proceeding, but also to obtain significant evidentiary materials, which in their combination were sufficient to, on the basis of the newly emerged circumstance, firstly, make a decision to abolish the previously unfounded decisions and, secondly, make a decision to involve the same person as a defendant, already with the qualified attribute of murder (the Point 1 of the Part 2 of the Article 155, of RA Criminal Code).

On June 3, 2026, based on the investigator’s motion, public criminal prosecution was initiated against A.Kh. for committing murder under aggravating circumstances in connection with the performance of official duty.

Preliminary investigation of the criminal proceeding is ongoing.