ArmInfo. The Investigative Committee of Armenia has denied media reports about the dismissal of Yura Ivanyan, a senior official from the Investigative Committee. Naira Harutyunyan, spokeswoman for the IC, informed ArmInfo correspondent about this.
As regards other information circulated in the media about the dismissal of the deputy head of the Investigative Committee, Samvel Avetisyan, Harutyunyan refused to comment on this: "The deputy chief is appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister, therefore, I cannot comment on this information>. However, according to information available to ArmInfo, Avetisyan also continues his duty in the IC.
Earlier, the media disseminated information about the release of Ivanyan and Avetisyan in connection with the emergence of new circumstances in the Amulsar case. It should be noted that the Investigative Committee launched an official investigation in connection with media publications that the chief investigator in the Amulsar case, Yura Ivanyan, is a relative of the former Minister of Nature Protection Aramayis Grigoryan, who in 2016 signed a positive EIA opinion on the development of Amulsar mine.
It should be noted that the possible exploitation of the Amulsar mine raised a wave of discontent among various segments of the public in Armenia, especially among ecologists. In order to understand the situation, the Armenian government ordered a new EIA for the Lebanese company ELARD, and the IC ordered an investigation into this case. However, after the conclusion of the IC and the new EIA were made public, the RA government still had questions. In this regard, Prime Minister Pashinyan instructed the Ministry of Ecology to give his opinion on the new EIA, which has already been submitted to the head of the Cabinet.