Aram Vardanyan (Vstrechi Aper)
Who is Vstrechi Aper?
He is a member of the criminal subculture and was earlier arrested as part of an investigation about a 2017 kidnapping and assault incident. He was extradited to Armenia for a trial. However, his case was cut short and he was let go. The official explanation is that he would have qualified for the 2018 mass amnesty.
What else do we know about Vstrechi Aper to give us some context before today's story?
In August-2019, the Informed Citizens NGO chief Daniel Ionesyan claimed that Vstrechi Aper and Arthur Vanetsyan were close friends. Ionesyan had long complained that the National Security Services chief had friends from the criminal subculture. The claims about Vstrechi Aper and Vanetsyan being allies in the media field were first made around this time, so ArmTimes isn't breaking any "exclusive" info. Some of this was known, but the outlet provides additional info.