YEREVAN. – The opening of a criminal case was denied on the fact that activist Shahen Harutyunyan, the son of the leader of Armenia’s Tseghakron Party Shant Harutyunyan, had painted Russian writer Alexander Griboyedov's statue in Yerevan. Shahen Harutyunyan told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am that noting any development was expected for him.

"I had written a long explanation of why I did such a thing," he said. “Had they read it, it would have been difficult to file a case. They denied on the grounds of absence of corpus delicti because what crime have I committed. I have kept [Garegin] Nzhdeh's dignity, I have kept the Armenian dignity."

Harutyunyan noted, however, that he assumes he will face administrative accountability.

On December 2 last year, Shahen Harutyunyan announced on Facebook that he had painted Griboyedov's statue in red in response to the painting in black of the memorial plaque of Armenian military-political figure Garegin Nzhdeh, in Armavir, Russia.

Armavir City Duma MP Aleksey Vinogradov had painted in black the memorial plaque of Armenian military-political figure Garegin Nzhdeh, which is located in the area of the Armenian church in Armavir. Later, the Armenian Embassy in Russia expressed indignation over the incident.