Poplavok ‘Privet Rob’ Killing Reopened: Court Orders Exhumation in Kocharyan Bodyguard Case

A Yerevan court has ordered the exhumation of the body of Poghos Poghosyan, who died 24 years ago at a café in the Armenian capital, to determine whether his death was caused by deliberate violence or by an accidental fall during an altercation with a bodyguard of former President Robert Kocharyan.

The decision came after prosecutors requested a new forensic examination. They argued that modern testing could reveal bone fractures or other injuries that were not identified in the original investigation. Prosecutor Tsovak Mnatsakanyan said in court, “We may have a significantly different picture, and the expected result is that bone fractures may be found.” He also referred to witness testimony that mentioned possible blows inflicted with a pistol grip.

Poghosyan’s death occurred in 2001 at the Aragast café, also known as Poplavok, a popular venue for jazz concerts and nightlife in Yerevan. 

Poghosyan, a 43-year-old ethnic Armenian from Georgia, was found dead in the restroom shortly after then-President Kocharyan left the café with his security team.

At the time, prosecutors claimed that Poghosyan died after falling and hitting his head on the floor during a dispute with one of Kocharyan’s bodyguards, Aghamal Harutyunyan, known by the nickname “Kuku.” The official version said the fight began after Harutyunyan reprimanded Poghosyan for greeting the president in a way considered too informal, “privet Rob”.

However, eyewitnesses offered a different story. Some said Poghosyan was attacked and taken into the restroom by several men who appeared to be security officers. Among them was a friend of Poghosyan’s who had been sitting with him that evening.

Harutyunyan was the only member of the president’s security detail charged in the case. In February 2002, a Yerevan district court found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter and gave him a suspended two-year sentence, supporting the claim that the death was accidental. The verdict drew public anger and accusations of a cover-up from Poghosyan’s family, friends, and political critics of Kocharyan.

The case remained closed for years until Armenia’s 2018 “Velvet Revolution,” which brought new political leadership and led to the reopening of several sensitive cases from the Kocharyan era. A new investigation began after British citizen Steven Newton, who was present at the café that night, repeated his earlier statement that several of Kocharyan’s bodyguards had beaten Poghosyan.

In January 2020, the Office of the Prosecutor-General asked the Court of Appeals to overturn the 2002 verdict and order a retrial. The office said new evidence suggested that Poghosyan’s death had been a “murder committed by a group of individuals.” The court agreed and returned the case to a Yerevan trial court.

During the retrial, witness Steven Newton has given inconsistent accounts. In earlier interviews, he said Harutyunyan struck Poghosyan with the handle of his pistol as Poghosyan lay nearly unconscious. But in recent testimony, Newton claimed he did not actually see Harutyunyan hit Poghosyan.

Because of these conflicting statements, prosecutors requested the exhumation, a new forensic analysis, and another hearing of Newton’s testimony. Harutyunyan’s defense team has rejected the renewed accusations, calling them baseless.

The retrial seeks to finally clarify what happened inside the Aragast café that night—whether Poghosyan’s death was a tragic accident or a deliberate act of violence connected to the entourage of one of Armenia’s most powerful former leaders.

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