Criminal cases initiated on murder of the residents of Gyumri Q. Vardanyan and S. Hakobyan were combined in one proceeding the preliminary investigation of which is ongoing in General Department of Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Committee, by the instruction of the Chairman of RA Investigative Committee.
 

Earlier it was informed that on the morning of March 7, 2015 a “Nissan Tiana” had been found in a canyon near the road Yerevan-Gyumri-Bavra. The body of the driver – 30 year-old Qrist Vardanyan with firearm injuries had been found on the back seat of the car.
 

On March 7 a criminal case was initiated on the mentioned case in Akhuryan Investigative Division of Shirak Investigative Department according to the Part 1 of the Article 104 and the Part 1 of the Article 235 of RA Criminal Code.
 

On the morning of March 8, 2015 the body of 34 year-old Samvel Hakobyan with violence causing death was found in the canyon near the 7.6^th km of Gyumri-Bavra road located in the administrative area of Qeti village.
 

On March 8 a criminal case was initiated in Akhuryan Investigative Division of Shirak Investigative Department according to the Part 1 of the Article 104 of RA Criminal Code.

In the result of the investigative operations it was found that Q. Vardanyan and S. Hakobyan had known each other. On the evening of March 6 the latter was at Q. Vardanyan’s place. At about 22:00 S. Hakobyan left, a few minutes after him Q. Vardanyan also left in “Nissan Tiana”. On March 7 at about 00:00 their phone numbers were unavailable and their relatives could never get in contact with them.
 

In the result of external and internal inspection of the bodies, by the assessment of forensic experts Q. Vardanyan and S. Hakobyan died at about the same period.
 

Based on the evidence obtained through preliminary investigation, a number of working hypotheses were developed, including that Q. Vardanyan and S. Hakobyan were killed by the same person or persons
 

In order to provide the efficiency of preliminary investigation it was decided to combine the mentioned criminal cases in one proceeding and continue the investigation in the framework of one criminal case. The implementation of preliminary investigation was tasked to the General Department of Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of RA Investigative Committee.