11:59, 31 January, 2020

YEREVAN, JANUARY 31, ARMENPRESS. Former National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsyan has been questioned at the Investigations Committee, the investigative agency’s spokesperson Naira Harutyunyan told ARMENPRESS.

She said that Vanetsyan, who is also a former President of the Football Federation of Armenia, was questioned as a witness amid the criminal investigation into the 2018 wiretapping case as well as another criminal investigation into misconduct committed at the federation.

In 2018, when Vanetsyan was NSS Director, his phone conversation with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was wiretapped and the audio recording was leaked online. Vanetsyan’s phone conversation with Special Investigations Service director Sasun Khachatryan was also leaked. In the audio recordings they are discussing high profile criminal proceedings against ex-president Robert Kocharyan and Yuri Khachaturov, a former military commander who also served as CSTO secretary general. Separate investigations are underway, one to determine whether the discussions constitute obstruction of justice and another is focused on the illegal wiretapping itself.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan