Minutes ago, a Yerevan court sentenced Gevorg Badalyan to life imprisonment for the murder of Nazaret Berberian in 2009.

Badalyan is the third person to be sentenced in the murder.

Mr. Berberian, an American-Armenian businessman, was found dead on a stretch of road 25 kilometers north or Yerevan. Traces of violence were found on his body.

On April 28, 2010 a Yerevan court sentenced Petros Temiryan and Karen Dallakyan to life in prison for the murder.

The businessman, 57, had gone missing after leaving his Yerevan apartment on April 25, 2009.

Nazareth Berberian was murdered by strangling and injection of ketamine. The criminals transported his body to a ditch by the Yerevan-Sevan highway in the victim's car, which was afterwards taken to the Zvartnots Airport to create an impression that Berberian had left the country. The car was in a working condition, there was no sign of robbery; even the alarm was on.

A native of Armenia, Berberian had moved from Yerevan to the United States with his family in early 1970s.

He moved back in 1999 and engaged in a range of business activities there. His Lil-Nar company was also building a hotel in a prime location in central Yerevan. It stands uncompleted today.

Berberian was also engaged in charity work both in Armenia and Artsakh.