The Global Intelligence Files

On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.

ARMENIA - Armenia Rocked By Pedophilia Scandal

Released on 2013-09-24 00:00 GMT

Email-ID 2669279 Date 2011-02-15 15:49:20 From adam.wagh@stratfor.com To os@stratfor.com

ARMENIA - Armenia Rocked By Pedophilia Scandal





Armenia Rocked By Pedophilia Scandal

http://www.rferl.org/content/armenia_rocked_by_pedophilia_scandal/2308883.html

February 14, 2011



Before the arrival of Serop Der-Boghossian, this unassuming town in

northern Armenia was marked by poverty and widespread unemployment.



But since the arrest last week of Der-Boghossian, the town's main

benefactor, Akhtala has instead become synonymous with scandal.



Der-Boghossian, an Iraqi-born Armenian who spent decades working in the

United States before returning to his ethnic homeland, has been formally

charged with sex crimes. The arrest followed media reports accusing the

68-year-old businessman of pedophilia.



In particular, an article in the Yerevan-based investigative newspaper

"Hetq" cited two young Armenian men who claimed to have had sexual

relations with Der-Boghossian while still minors, and said they had video

evidence to prove it.



Speaking to RFE/RL before his arrest, Der-Boghossian, the owner of a

profitable Akhtala metals mine and a close adviser to Armenian Prime

Minister Tigran Sarkisian, dismissed the media allegations as blackmail

and attempt by his rivals to discredit him.



"There has been no such thing. I can say that in Akhtala there are people

who are jealous of me and who would want to damage my reputation and harm

my business. But there is no family, no person here whom I haven't

helped," Der-Boghossian said.



Town's Benefactor



In fact, this town of 2,500 owes its livelihood almost entirely to

Der-Boghossian, who more than a decade ago became Ahktala's main employer

when he assumed control of the Metal Prince mining company.



But Der-Boghossian's claims have failed to deter prosecutors, who have

made the case a priority. They have also called for authorities in Yerevan

to take the case over from local officials.



While Armenia's National Security Service has stopped short of charging

Der-Boghossian specifically with child molestation -- leveling only more

general charges of sexual coercion -- the Prosecutor-General's Office has

released a statement alleging the businessman engaged in homosexual sex

with Akhtala teenagers in 2009 and 2010 in return for cash and other

"material assistance."

For many years I worked as head of his security service. This is just the

talk of evil people.



A Yerevan court on February 12 approved a security service petition to

hold Der-Boghossian in custody pending his investigation and trial.



The scandal has sent shivers of discomfort through this deeply traditional

Christian country, where issues like children's rights and pedophilia are

rarely discussed. The issue came to the fore in Armenia last summer when a

teacher at a boarding school for special-needs children was convicted of

having sex with his underage female pupils.



But that case, and any pending prosecution of Der-Boghossian, is likely to

underscore Armenia's notoriously light sentencing on child molestation.

According to current law, sex crimes against children under the age of 16

are punishable by fines or prison sentences of up to two years. But senior

prosecutor Artur Ghambarian, who has called for stiffer sentencing, said

of 18 people convicted on child-molestation charges in 2009, only three

were sent to jail.



"Every Armenian must realize that if they approach a child with other

[illicit] purposes, they will face irreversible consequences. This must be

a state policy," Ghambarian said.



The government has scrambled to sever its ties with Der-Boghossian, who as

late as January 31 was listed on national websites as an adviser to Prime

Minister Sarkisian, a post he had held since 2009.



Sarkisian himself has expressed concern over the scandal, writing on his

blog after the publication of the newspaper allegations that he had "no

words" to express his feelings and promising a "speedy, comprehensive, and

transparent" investigation.



But officials in Akhtala have acknowledged that rumors of Der-Boghossian's

sexual liaisons with underage men have circulated for years.



Vazgen Khachikian, the former head of Armenia's Social Welfare Service, is

an Akhtala native and the brother of the town's current mayor. Khachikian,

who was dismissed from his post last year by Sarkisian for reported

mismanagement of a pensions scheme, says top government officials had been

warned as early as a year ago about the businessman's alleged behavior.



Khachikian claims to have personally viewed video footage of

Der-Boghossian engaging in sexual acts with two underage boys, and had

attempted to sound the alarm. But he says law-enforcement officials had

been reluctant to act, despite what he described as persistent evidence

that something was amiss.



"Law-enforcement officials know that for many months, Serop would take

children on trips to Yerevan and [the Armenian resort town of]

Tsaghkadzor, for days or even weeks. And here's the question: Why would a

13- or 14-year-old go with him to Tsaghkadzor or Yerevan?" Khachikian

said.



Der-Boghossian, who had amassed a fortune in the millions of dollars,

enjoyed a reputation in Akhtala as a philanthropist, providing shelters

for disadvantaged youths and often presenting them with generous gifts.



Gagik Hakhinian, the coach of a local soccer team supported by

Der-Boghossian, said he had never seen or heard anything inappropriate

about the mine-owner's behavior.



"There were children, five or six people, who studied in Yerevan and had

no place to stay there. So he rented a home for them and told them they

could live there while they were studying. I've never noticed anything

that would suggest this is a man capable of bad things," Hakhinian said.



"They say there's some video footage, and I'd like to know what kind of

video this is. If it just shows him kissing someone -- well, we've all

exchanged kisses on the cheek with Serop when we meet on the street, even

Mr. Khachikian. It doesn't mean a thing. This could be a completely

meaningless video that someone is just making a lot of noise about."



Changing Political Fortunes



But some authorities, like the city's former mayor, Suren Tamazian, told

RFE/RL that Der-Boghossian had raised suspicions when he repeatedly failed

to pay taxes to the city budget but continued to demonstrate considerable

largesse with young men in the town.



Artur Sakunts, a prominent rights campaigner in the neighboring town of

Vanadzor, acknowledges that rumors about Der-Boghossian have been

circulating for years, and that the recent arrest was more likely to have

been motivated by a shift in Der-Boghossian's political fortunes rather

than the emergence of any new evidence.



He says criminal behavior can go unpunished for years in Armenia if the

perpetrator is, like Der-Boghossian, a man of wealth and influence.



"I must say that this is the model in our country -- a person who has

monopoly control over a small town and can dictate life there absolutely

unchecked. He can allow himself to indulge in all sorts of things,

including pedophilia," Sakunts said.



Child-rights activists in Yerevan say they have evidence to suggest that

Akhtala residents are well aware of Der-Boghossian's sexual crimes, but

kept quiet out of a mixture of fear and unwillingness to put the town's

economic health at risk.



None of Der-Boghossian's alleged victims has come forward to discuss the

charges. And most local residents, like these two men who did not want to

give their names, say they have no reason to suspect the mine owner of

criminal behavior.



"This person has been operating the mine and letting people earn a living.

I can't say anything else," one man said.



"I haven't heard about any such thing. For many years I worked as head of

his security service. This is just the talk of evil people. I quit the job

with him, but it was on my own initiative," the other man said.



But others, like this woman who also didn't want to give her name,

appeared to have their doubts.



"What's so good about him? Everybody knows that he would help minors,

underage children -- but only boys. I don't know why only boys. He would

give them money. Only boys, not girls. There are some of those boys in my

neighborhood. But I won't show them to you. Why would I do that?"









