Alleged Murderer of Armenian Lawyer Believed to Have Had ‘Property Dispute’ With His Bank

A 54-year-old Yerevan man suspected in the murder of Hovhannes Atanyan, the young head of Anelik Bank's Legal Department, was arrested and questioned on Thursday, November 25, Armenia's Special Investigative Committee said in a statement. 

Recall, Atanyan, 32, was fatally shot from a hunting rifle at about 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday on 14 Vardanants St. in Yerevan. The lawyer, as reported by law enforcement authorities, died on the spot, while the alleged murder suspect – later identified as Yerevan resident Mkrtich Poghosyan – “put the rifle in the trunk of a taxicab, sat behind the wheel and drove away.” 

Poghosyan, officials said, is a client of the bank where the murdered lawyer used to work. According to preliminary information, the 54-year-old man had a property dispute with the bank and had multiple meetings in the past with the head of the bank's legal department. The last meeting took place hours before the murder at a bank branch on 13 Vardanants St.