Epress.am News from Armenia
Norayr Melkonyan, a 63-year-old Russian citizen accused of attempting to steal a bottle of vodka from a Yerevan supermarket, was found dead in a tire shop in the Armenian capital’s Avan district. The man’s naked body was found on February 4, Hetq.am reports, adding that a criminal investigation has been launched into the death.
According to the charge sheet, Melkonyan “decided to steal a bottle of vodka when passing by the Krpak supermarket on Tigran Mets avenue on May 10 2017.”
“In an attempt to implement his criminal intent, Melkonyan entered the supermarket and went to the vodka counter. He then took a 0.5l vodka bottle worth 1050 drams and tried to hide it under his jacket. The employees of the supermarket noticed Melkonyan and urged him to stop […] Melkonyan was caught by [other shoppers] at the entrance door as he tried to escape,” the prosecution said.
Melkonyan was subsequently released on his own recognizance since he did not have a criminal record. During the preliminary investigation, Hetq writes, the defendant accepted the charge and said he had tried to take vodka “to drink during dinner.”
The case has been in court for 7 months; the defendant, however, never appeared to any of the hearings.