U.S. citizen wanted for inciting violence, plotting terror attacks in Armenia: NSS
The National Security Service (NSS) adjunct to the Armenian government has uncovered a plot to incite violence, instil fear and organize terror attacks in Armenia involving a US citizen.
The source detailed the citizen with Armenian nationality identified as R.K. created a fake Facebook account under the name of Martin Avagyan in September 2017 to publish materials on creating an organized group called “Justice Fighters”, as well as on strategy of the group, the discipline rules of its members, security, and confidentiality.
Meantime, the suspect also used the account to call for violence, explosions and arson attacks targeting the Armenian law enforcement and other government officials thus creating an atmosphere of fear across the country, the NSS said in a released statement.
According to the initial findings, the U.S. citizen attempted to create an organized criminal association recruiting ethnic Armenians both from Armenia and from other states to destabilize the situation in the country, terrorize its population, instil fear, impose pressures on the state authorities and attack government and law enforcement officials.
In addition, the findings revealed that the same individual also plotted terror attacks across Armenia through the recruited members.
Upon the basis of the evidence acquired during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case launched into the incident, a decision has been adopted to involve R.K. as a detainee issuing an arrest warrant against him with detention named as a measure of restraint against him under Part 1 of Article 34-223 and Part 3 (Point 1) of 35-217 Article of the Armenian Criminal Code.
Since the accused is residing in the U.S. and is a citizen of that country, the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office has submitted the acquired materials on the case to the U.S. law enforcement agencies to prevent the plotted crime.
The relevant units of the National Security Service are taking efforts towards identifying and tracking down the mentioned individual’s accomplices in Armenia.
Notice: The person suspected in or accused of an alleged crime shall be presumed innocent unless proven guilty in the manner prescribed by the RA Criminal Procedure Code in accordance with the Court’s verdict made effective.