Kirakosyan, Ruben Stepanovich

Born on January 22, 1970 in Yerevan in the family of Stepan Tatevosovich Kirakosyan, a graduate of the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute, who stood at the origins of the Yerevan Automobile Plant ^[3] . Mother - Zhanna Babkenovna Azizyan, graduated from YSU Faculty of Physics, worked all her life at the Yerevan Scientific Research Institute of Mathematical Machines , reaching the position of Leading Engineer. She took a direct part in the development and operation of the first Armenian computers (NIRI) "Nairi", "Route-1", participated in the space activities of the institute ^[3] . Grandfather - Azizyan Babken Sergeyevich, a teacher and popularizer of the Armenian language , among whose graduates were Karen Demirchyan , Vardges Petrosyan , Ashot Ghazaryan . Grandmother - Shagoyan Amalia Oganesovna, teacher of the Armenian language. Brother - cameraman Hayk Kirakosyan , cameraman ^{[3] [4]} .

In 1999, Ruben Kirakosyan moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow ^[3] .

In 1998, he ran for deputies of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg ^[3] .

Education

In 1987 he graduated from Yerevan Second Russian School No. 55 named after A.P. Chekhov. In 1992 he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of St. Petersburg State University , in 1998 he graduated from the Faculty of Law .

Professional Activities

The professional development of Ruben Kirakosyan was accompanied by work with such classics of the Russian bar as Alexander Dobrovinsky, Vladimir Ryakhovsky, Mikhail Lyubarsky, Vyacheslav Zhukovsky, Anatoly Pchelintsev ^[3] . One of the first significant cases in the advocacy career was the defense of the interests of the St. Petersburg Book House in a dispute about the authenticity of a sold edition of the stories of the famous American author of the detective genre, James Hadley Chase.

A lawsuit against Oleg Kuznetsov

In 2017, Kirakosyan sued Oleg Kuznetsov, author of the book “The History of Transnational Armenian Terror in the 20th Century”, first published in 2014 ^[5] . According to the plaintiff’s side, Oleg Kuznetsov “was a forensic lawyer, specializing in areas such as“ The method of plugging human corpses. ” Suddenly, from a specialist in corpses, he turned, according to the Azerbaijani press, into "a famous Russian scientist, famous political scientist, famous historian." He gives particular preference to Armenian history, which he greatly distorts. ” At the same time, as indicated by the plaintiff, Kuznetsov was awarded a medal from the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. As indicated in the lawsuit, the book contains an open incitement to ethnic hatred, falling under article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ^{[6] [7]} .

In an interview with the Voice of Armenia newspaper, the lawyer said that in addition to personal threats, unknown persons approached him and asked his wife to convince the lawyer to withdraw the lawsuit ^[6] . In response to the threats, Ruben Kirakosyan stated:

In his interviews, Ruben Kirakosyan notes that Kuznetsov’s side has information representing the secret of the passage. All these facts are recorded, and if the legitimate requirements of the Armenian side are not satisfied, they will prepare material ^[6] . Kirakosyan also turned to the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin , who took the matter under his personal control ^{[5] [9]} . Kuznetsov in his books defends the thesis of the illegitimacy of the Republic of Armenia, the terrorist inclinations of the Armenians and the international criminal network represented by the Armenian Apostolic Church, de-Armenians are not Christians at all, but pagans, using the church screen for criminal and commercial projects ^[6] .

Garnik Harutyunyan's defense

Since 2016, together with a lawyer, Karen Nersisyan has been a lawyer for the bus driver Garnik Harutyunyan, in relation to whom a criminal case was opened on the fact of a traffic accident that occurred in November 2015 in the Tula Region with the participation of a bus from the Moscow-Yerevan flight under the control of Harutyunyan. The accident on the M-4 highway occurred on November 3 in the Tula region. The bus on the Moscow-Yerevan route contained more than 60 people, all of them are Armenian citizens. The accident killed nine people, injured 46, of which 32 were hospitalized. A criminal case was instituted against the bus driver Garnik Harutyunyan under the article “violation of the rules of the road, resulting in the death of two or more persons” ^[10] . Lawyers and passengers of the flight insist on Harutyunyan’s complete innocence and prosecution of the Chinese bus manufacturer, who issued a bus in a single copy with many defective parts, which was established by the investigation and caused the accident ^[10] .

Arthur Meliksetyan's Defense

He defended his interests and obtained an acquittal for Arthur Meliksetyan, one of the suspects in the high-profile case of the criminal group "MS-47", which operated for several years in the Vyborg district ^{[11] [12]}

Other matters

• In 2015, together with a lawyer Karen Nersesyan, in the court of general jurisdiction of the Kentron administrative district of Yerevan, he represented the interests of the Russian citizen Sergei Mironov, who was detained at the Zvartnots airport as part of the Interpol extradition request initiated by the US FBI ^{[13] [14] [15]} . As a result, the court ruled to refuse to extradite Mironov to the US authorities ^[3] .
• In 1998, he defended the interests of the St. Petersburg Book House in a dispute about the authenticity of a sold edition of the stories of the famous American author of the detective genre, James Hadley Chase ^[3] .
• In 2002, he was invited as a public representative to the team of defenders in a resonant case to defend the head of the Moscow Metro advertising agency, Alexander Babayan ^[3] .
• In 2003, he achieved the first conviction in Russia with the sentence “murder motivated by national and racial hatred”, creating a judicial precedent in the trial of a group of skinheads, where he represented the interests of the family of the murdered Armenian youth Karen Yakhshibekov ^{[3] [16] [17] [18]} .
• In 2003-2004, as part of a team of specialists, he participated as a representative of the Novo-Nakhichevan and Russian Dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church in litigation with the justice authorities of Moscow to restore the integrity of the diocese, which ended in the victory of the AAC in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ^[3] .
• In 2010, in the Basmanny court of Moscow, he represented the interests of pianist Sergei Zhilin in a dispute by one of the Moscow elite salons, reaching an amicable agreement ^[3] .
• In 2016, in a lawsuit filed by the Head of Estet Jewelry House in Moscow against the Voice of Armenia newspaper, as a result of the negotiation and argumentation scheme organized by Kirakosyan, a settlement was reached between the parties and the defendant acknowledged his omissions.
• In 2016, in the “Kirakosyan v. Metro” case, he succeeded in terminating the series of columnist Janashiy’s publications directed against the Armenians of Russia and the Republic of Armenia, initiating hearings in the media community’s chamber under the Union of Russian Journalists ^[19] .
• In 2010, pro bono assisted in obtaining municipal housing for a political émigré, resistance veteran Hakob Karapetyan, whose house was demolished by Moscow authorities and huddled at the Dutch embassy. A few years later, after the violent death of Karapetyan under still unclear circumstances, Kirakosyan defended the inheritance rights to this apartment in favor of his family members living in Greece.
• In 2011, in a court of general jurisdiction in the Kentron administrative district of Yerevan, he defended a well-known opposition political and public figure, a citizen of Russia, Arkady Vardanyan , proving his involvement in the preparation of a terrorist attack against the highest political leadership of Armenia. However, later, according to a number of media reports ^[20] , in order to prevent Vardanyan from going free he was charged with an episode of participation in a domestic crime. As a result, Vardanyan is currently the oldest political prisoner in Armenia ^{[20] [21] [22]} .
• In 2012, he represented the interests of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist Anna P. Pavlyuchenkov, accused of the murder, in the Moscow City Court as part of the process, as the measure of restraint in the form of house arrest due to critical health conditions The court granted the request for the extension of the house arrest.
• In 2018, he organized the pro bono defense of a large group of Armenians participating in an unauthorized rally in the Temple complex of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Moscow during the days of the Armenian Velvet Revolution. The court ruled to recover the minimum fine in respect of the demonstrators, and the person against whom it was planned to institute criminal proceedings was convicted under an administrative offense article ^{[23] [24]} .

He is the president of the association of lawyers specializing in the legal support of Russian-Armenian trade, economic, cultural and scientific relations and the support of “ARMROSS” diaspora projects (since 2014) ^[2] , as well as a member of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of Russia ^[3] .

Since 2008, he is an expert in the distribution of presidential grants in the field of non-profit organizations ^[3] . In 2006, he participated in the law school of the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights ^[3] .

In 2002-2004, he was the legal adviser to the Novo-Nakhichevan and Russian Diocese of the AAC. He gives lectures at professional development courses for lawyers in the lawyer chamber of the Moscow Region ^[3] .

• Kirakosyan, R.S. New migration legislation of Russia and the citizens of Armenia / Kirakosyan R.S. - Ed. 2nd, rev. - Moscow, 2004.

• 2002 was awarded the Commemorative Badge of the 200th anniversary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (2002) ^[2] .
• In 2008, he was included in the list of 500 best lawyers in Russia according to the international directory “Who is who” ^[2] .