Serop Der-Boghossian Might be Charged with Trafficking

On April 5, a Yerevan court agreed to extend the pre-trial detention of Serop Der-Boghossian, the American-Armenian businessman charged with “Involuntary sexual activities.

Der-Boghossian is the president and owner of Metal Prince Company. The Kentron and Nork-Marash District Court acquiesced to a petition filed by Armenia’s National Security Service and extended detention till June 9.

Ovsanna Markosyan, defense attorney for the accused, told Hetq that they would be appealing the decision and that two months was ample time to complete an examination of the case.

Hetq law enforcement sources have said that the investigation has uncovered numerous circumstances that also need to be looked into.

One source alleges that a file has been found in one of the three computers seized containing a video of a sex act taking place in one of Der-Boghossian’s apartments. The source suspects that Der-Boghossian shot the video himself with a camera hidden in a nearby closet.

We had previously stated that Hetq has the names of twenty of Der-Boghossian’s alleged victims. It turns out that their number is twice this.

Suspicions abound that Der-Boghossian has assisted a few of his former “wards” to flee the country.

Our law enforcement source says that Der-Boghossian might also be charged with trafficking, which carries a seven year maximum sentence.