“Privet, Rob” and other musings

On the evening of September 25, 2001, Poghos Poghosyan, a native of Javakhk, was sitting at the famous Poplavok cafe in central Yerevan when he saw his former classmate, then-President Robert Kocharyan walk out, accompanied by the late world-renowned singer Charles Aznavour. “Privet, Rob,” he said in his casual Russian from his table. Ten minutes later, he was declared dead by paramedics who found him in the restaurant’s washroom, where Kocharyan’s bodyguards had just brought him for “a talk.” 

While news of the murder was initially suppressed, the media eventually broke the story, which provoked widespread outrage and protests. In a rare sign of Armenia’s previous oligarchy caving to public pressure, the bodyguard, Aghamal Harutiunyan (who went by the underworld nickname ‘Kuku’) was thrown under the bus, but his punishment was light. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to a year of probation for the murder. Kocharyan went on to conclude two terms as president, ending in 2008 with the greatest recession in Armenian history and the controversial deaths of 10 people.