On 22 January, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke on the current state of affairs on the ongoing investigation on the death of the former Armenian National Security Service (NSS) Director Georgi Kutoyan, reported aravot.

“The main hypothesis being investigated is what drove him to commit suicide. I believe that, in order for the case to be solved in its entirety, the members of Kutoyan’s family need to be involved the most. I believe that they need to fully cooperate with the pre-investigative body so that the truth can be fully disclosed. I guarantee that the government will make use of its levers to ensure that this and other cases will be solved in all of their details,” said Pashinyan during a questions and answers session between the government and parliament. He also called attention to the fact that the former authorities have caused a commotion over the fact that the government did not respond adequately to Kutoyan’s death. “The Prime Minister’s honorary NSS guards were present at Georgi Kutoyan’s viewing and funeral, as were the acting director of the NSS, other members of the NSS leadership, and the NSS secretary.”

Pashinyan then posed a question. “What else was the government supposed to do? In response to journalists’ questions, I expressed my condolences to his family. Why wasn’t anyone asking questions when Hayk Harutyunyan died? Why are they being treated differently? The former authorities were the ones who governed during a controversial time period, but we did everything that we were supposed to. I even consider these discussions to be meaningless.”

Kutoyan was found dead in his apartment with a bullet wound on 17 January. The dominant assumption was that Kutoyan committed suicide, but other speculations also circled across the Armenian media over the causes of his death (Caucasus Watch reported).