Ashot Minasyan Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison

Ashot Minasyan has been sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment for illegally acquiring, transporting, and storing firearms, ammunition, explosives, and explosive devices. The Criminal Court of Appeal partially satisfied the appeal of the Prosecutor General's Office and amended the December 26, 2024 verdict of the Syunik Province First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction, revoking the judicial act on the conditional non-application (suspended sentence) of the punishment imposed on Ashot Minasyan.

It is reminded that the public criminal prosecution against Ashot Minasyan was initiated for illegally acquiring, transporting, and storing a large arsenal until November 13, 2020, in a building under his possession and use, adjacent to a restaurant complex on Israyelyan Street in the city of Sisian. The arsenal included:

PK and PKMT machine guns, a converted training machine gun, AK-74 and AKM assault rifles, Mosin and Mauser rifles, RPG-7 grenade launchers, over 9,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, hand grenades, various types of detonators and fuzes, and a 400-gram block of TNT.

On December 26, 2024, the Syunik Province First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction had found Ashot Minasyan guilty and sentenced him to 2 years of imprisonment. After crediting the 1 month and 27 days he had already spent in detention, the final punishment was set at 1 year, 10 months, and 3 days. The court had decided to apply the sentence conditionally, setting a probation period of 1 year.

The aforementioned judicial act was appealed by the Prosecutor General's Office. The Criminal Court of Appeal partially satisfied the appeal and amended the verdict, revoking the suspended sentence.