ArmInfo. The death of the former director of the National Security Service of Armenia, Georgi Kutoyan, deprived our society of another opportunity to receive detailed information about the state capture process that took place during the years of his tenure. A similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by the Head of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly (HCA) Vanadzor Office, human rights activist Artur Sakunts.
The body of former NSS director Georgi Kutoyan with traces of a gunshot wound was discovered by his wife on January 17 in a house at Paruyr Sevak Steet in Yerevan. The criminal case was instituted under Article 110 of the RA Criminal Code (Bringing to Suicide).
Prosecutor General of Armenia Artur Davtyan, who was present at the funeral for Kutoyan on the evening of January 19, told reporters that the data obtained by the investigation indicate suicide. Noting that a criminal case was instituted on the grounds of committing suicide, the Prosecutor General said that in any case, all versions characteristic of any fatal case would be checked. "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, " the human rights activist noted.
In this light, Sakunts considers it very important to understand who benefited from the death of the former director of the NSS. The human rights activist is convinced that the current Armenian authorities were clearly not interested in Kutoyan's death. According to him, the death of Kutoyan and the preceding death of all high-ranking officials is aimed at concealing larger crimes. Accordingly, behind all these killings there are forces interested in not disseminating information about these crimes.
To recall, last fall, 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, "the human rights activist concluded. To note, in the room where Kutoyan's body was discovered, dozens of bullets and shells were found, and damage to the walls. At the scene of the incident, an award-winning Glock pistol was discovered, obtained earlier by Kutoyan from the leadership of the Georgian Security Service. The forensic report will be received on January 18. Kutoyan served as director of the NSS from 2016 to 2018.