Prosecutor Found Dead In Yerevan

Friday 27, January 2006
Armenia Liberty
By Astghik Bedevian

A deputy district prosecutor in Yerevan was found dead in office late Friday under mysterious circumstances.

Law-enforcement sources told RFE/RL that the official, Arshak Karakhanian, was killed with a single shot fired from his personal pistol. They said Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General immediately launched an criminal investigation in what it believes was a suicide.

But a spokesman for the Armenian Justice Ministry said it is too early to assert that Karakhanian committed a suicide. He suggested that the father of four may well have been shot by someone else.

Karakhanian, who was reportedly in his late 40s, is not known to have dealt with any high-profile criminal cases in recent years. Sources said friends who met him on Thursday did not find him depressed or anxious.

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