Armen Khaloyan, a former boxing champion of Armenia and the USSR, now lives in a homeless shelter.

In the 1990s, Khaloyan left for Latvia and returned to Armenia in 2003. He can’t find his family and doesn’t know if his wife and two daughters are waiting for him...somewhere.

“I returned to Armenia in 2003 to get the necessary documents in order to lengthen residency status in Latvia. I needed to be locally registered but it turns out I no longer had a permanent address in Armenia,” says the Soviet Master Sportsman.

It turns out that Armen Khaloyan’s brother had bribed a notary public, Emma Shaboyan, who in turn facilitated the sale of Armen’s apartment to a Georgian citizen.

Armen Khaloyan says the sale contract was written up to make it seem that his mother had sold the place. Khaloyan says that at the time, 1998, his mother was bed-ridden and died of cancer a year later. Armen says that the apartment was jointly owned by him and his mother and that he would have had to agree to the sale as well.

In 2004, we took the matter to the Shengavit Court. At the trial, Emma Shaboyan feigned ignorance and claimed that an office fire in 2000 had destroyed most of the files.

Shaboyan said that it would be up to the court to decide her fate.

The court ruled in favour of Khaloyan and voided the apartment sale to the Georgian buyer, Donara Davtyan.

Months later, out of the blue, the Appeals Court overturned the verdict. It remains a mystery why the Appeals Court even reviewed the lower court’s ruling.

Khaloyan claims that at the start of the Appeals Court session his lawyer told him that the judge, Levon Grigoryan, wanted to see him. Khaloyan says that the judge asked him for a bribe. “Your apartment is worth $15,000. Give me $3,000 and you get to keep it.”

Armen says he refused the offer and took the case to the Court of Cassation. He says Judge Varuzhan Abelyan made a similar offer. “A 20% kick-back on the price of the apartment is the going rate,” said the judge according to Armen.

Armen says that when he told the judge he didn’t have the money the judge threw him out of the office.

Armen took the matter to the police and Prosecutor’s Office. The Arabkir district prosecutor launched a criminal case in 2005. Charges were dropped four times in the following five years. Each time a new investigation has been ordered.

In November 2010, the Prosecutor General directed the Police Department’s Central Department of Investigations to take charge.

Investigator Mangoyan concluded from his findings that notary Emma Shaboyan did indeed violate the law stemming from personal interests by selling the apartment without the consent of Armen Khaloyan

Mangoyan made a note saying that the statute of limitations of five years had passed since Shaboyan violated the law. He subsequently dropped the charges against the notary saying her offense was of medium level seriousness.

Khaloyan says he has lost all hope in the judicial system – the judges, prosecutors, everyone.

“All these years I have been pursuing justice and for what? To see the guilty get off scot free?”

Even his petitions to different tribunals and the RA Special Investigative Service regarding the bribe offers by judges, have been for naught.

“No one even responds to my complaints anymore, not the police or prosecutors. They say they’ve heard it all before. Even the Human Rights Ombudsman says it’s not in his jurisdiction. So who do I turn to?”