Hetq: 46 Hectares of Forested Land in Tsaghkadzor Were Not Returned to the State: Most Court Cases Ended in Failure
The process of returning to the state around 46 hectares of forested land located at the entrance to Tsaghkadzor, which had been illegally privatized in 2007, has largely failed to produce results. As Hetq writes, most of the court proceedings, which lasted eight years, ended unfavorably, and the Prosecutor’s Office disagrees with the rulings of the Anti-Corruption Court. The situation has become even more complicated because some of the landowners, taking advantage of the absence of restrictions on the property, managed to sell the land.
The issue concerns forested areas on Mher Mkrtchyan Street in Tsaghkadzor. “Hetq” had exposed the illegal privatization of these lands back in 2018 in an investigative report. The land had been acquired by individuals connected to former officials, including the driver and bodyguard of former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, an associate of former Kotayk Governor Kovalenko Shahgaldyan, the wife and adviser of former Hrazdan Mayor Aram Danielyan, former director of the “Hayantar” SNCO Martun Matevosyan, as well as other officials.
Following “Hetq’s” publication, a criminal case was initiated and investigated by the Special Investigation Service headed by Sasun Khachatryan. During the nine-month preliminary investigation, evidence of fictitious auctions was recorded, but the investigator’s decision was also upheld by the Prosecutor’s Office. At the time, the Prosecutor General was Artur Davtyan. After that, the Prosecutor’s Office began challenging the auction decisions in court within the framework of protecting state interests.
After years of court proceedings, the state managed to recover part of the forested areas. These were the lands that had been sold through auctions organized by the Kotayk Regional Administration. The other section, approximately 50 hectares, had been alienated by decisions of the head of the Hrazdan community, and the municipality was supposed to file the lawsuits in those cases.
However, during the tenure of Hrazdan Mayor Sevak Mikaelyan, the lawsuits were not properly filed, while in cases that had already been brought, the municipality failed to ensure its proper participation in court hearings. As a result, the claims were rejected one after another or left without consideration.
In 2025, when the Prosecutor’s Office had already acquired the authority to apply to the court to protect community interests, it once again filed lawsuits with the Anti-Corruption Court. However, this time as well, the process failed to produce the desired result: the judges, applying the statute of limitations, rejected and continue to reject the Prosecutor’s Office’s claims.
The fact that part of the land has been sold further complicates the issue of returning it. Thus, years after the illegal privatization of the forested areas was exposed, the process of returning them to the state remains at a dead end, while most of the court disputes have ended in favor of the current or former owners of the land.