On February 24, 2019, Arshak Karhanyan he got up late and turned on his computer. It was Sunday and had franc until Wednesday. He watched videos on YouTube and a chapter in a series. At 12:46, the bell rang. It was Leonel Herba, a policeman with whom he had worked in the Investigations area of the City Police. She decided to go downstairs and attend him at the door of the building. A security camera captured the entire sequence. The conversation lasted 36 minutes. In the middle they heard an audio from Herba’s phone.
Arshak was nervous. The conversation ended abruptly. The young policeman returned to his apartment. Again he browsed different sites and even searched for a game on the internet. An hour later, he left his home and withdrew $ 2,000 at an ATM. With that money he bought a shovel in the Easy de Rivadavia and Paysandú. It was the last image of Arshak. “The earth swallowed him,” repeat all those consulted.
A year and four months from that day, the case is a bunch of speculation. The family doubts everyone. You have reasons: A board of computer experts has just confirmed that the experts assigned to the case erased the content of the phones. From then on, the court case was filled with false evidence.
Arshak studied at the Military Lyceum and then pursued a career in systems engineering at UTN. His career within the Police started in March 2015, in the Cybercrime area. He was an ordinary technician but he had to participate in the expertise for the death of the prosecutor Alberto Nisman. “He had to look at some footage and review some CDs, all minor things,” confirmed a family source before so many speculations. The City Police confirmed that their participation in that case was not irrelevant. “He left because he did not adjust to the risk of work,” replied a police source on his departure from the Cybercrime area.
On February 24, 2016, just three years before his disappearance, Arshak jumped into the Criminal Investigations area, which is now known as “Exposures”. “He was happy in that place because he had a flexible schedule and that gave him freedom to continue studying,” said a friend.
A month before his disappearance, Arshak was transferred to police station 7B. Sources around him confirm that he did not like that decision at all.
Until now, the investigation carried out by the prosecutor Santiago Vismara, in charge of the Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor 2, was able to prove that on the day of the disappearance, the police had a meeting at the door of his building, on Avenida 963, with Leonel Herba. That policeman’s testimony always left many doubts. He said he passed him on to say hello to Arshak because he was “going to buy some parts on Warnes Avenue,” even though it was a Sunday. He also stated that the talk focused on the alleged purchase of a car.
According to the images of a security camera, to which he had access Infobae, During the conversation, Herba made him listen to an audio from his cell phone. Before Justice, the police assured that they heard a conversation between the two that he had recorded with his phone, through an application. Another striking fact.
In the file there is an audio recorded on February 23 where they spoke of a vehicle that Arshak was paying for. But researchers are still suspicious of that version: “The times of the audio and the sequence shown by the cameras do not coincide.”
Arshak’s gestures throughout the conversation show some tension or nervousness. In fact, you take your head when listening to part of that audio.
The talk ends at 1:22 p.m. Arshak says goodbye to Herba and goes up to his apartment with his hands in his pockets. He has a pink T-shirt and shorts. His partner puts on his helmet and drives off on his motorcycle.
Arshak spent about an hour in his apartment. Based on his computer skills, it was determined that he surfed the internet: He did some inconsequential searches on Google like “strong statements”, “Nissan”, “Arkanoid” and “Youtube Videos”.
His exit from the building was not captured by security cameras but it is estimated that it was around 14:24.
The next sequence is at a Red Link ATM located at the Primera Junta station on line A, ten blocks from your home. It is estimated that it was walking because there are no images of the route either. The police officer withdrew $ 2000 in cash and changed the bank password. The Central Bank reported that the operation was done at 14:38.
Then he walked to the Easy. The cameras of that place show the complete sequence until it arrived at the box. He paid in cash and put the shovel in his backpack. “Surely he did it with the idea of having his hands free when walking, it is something that we were taught as boys at the Lyceum”, explains one of his childhood friends.
Arshak left the premises in the direction of Primera Junta. After taking a few steps, he turned and started walking toward Flores. It is the last film record of the young policeman. After so long without a trace, it is presumed that he could have got into a car with an unknown destination.
That same night he was going to meet a young woman he knew from the Tinder app. He never communicated again. His two telephones remained at his house: a personal Iphone and a service one. He only took his regulatory weapon, his badge and his debit card. Another curious fact.
Her brother, Tigran Karhanyan, became suspicious only the next day. He went to the apartment and saw the motorcycle parked at the door. On Tuesday the 26th he began to contact friends. Almost 48 hours had passed. At night, he went to the police station where his brother worked to make the complaint. They told him to wait until early Wednesday morning, when Arshak had to take service.
For this reason, the complaint was only filed on February 27. Hours later, several police officers came to the apartment and took the two phones, the computer, and other computer equipment. The expertise remained in the hands of the City Police Cybercrime area, where Arshak had worked.
Almost inexplicably, when trying to recover the content of the Iphone, the content was deleted. “They placed the chip of another phone, as is usually done, to try to recover the WhatsApp back up and deleted it,” explained an expert.
A board of experts made up of experts from different forces has just confirmed that initial expertise is riddled with errors. “The good practices of forensic informatics have not been respected,” says that technical report, to which he had access. Infobae, when it comes to Arshak’s Iphone. And he adds: “Beyond the explanations that may be convincing, it would have been correct to carry out a forensic extraction of the mobile device with the restored WhatsApp, storing the result in some medium for later consultation.”
The fateful mistake triggered a box of witches. In Cybercrime they blame the prosecutor, who would have “rushed” to try to open that phone. They also blame the experts of the Federal Police, who intervened in a second instance and managed to restore part of the content. The truth is that the Iphone was locked and was manipulated by the brother. This allowed the Police to cast doubt on that instance prior to the expert opinions. “The brother made some attempts to open it, but the phone was not erased when the police took it away.”, They remark near the family.
Why did the prosecutor Vismara give the expertise to the Cybercrime area of the City when the disappeared person had been an effective force? “At that time there were no suspicions about the Police,” agree the sources consulted. Vismara preferred not to answer the questions in this medium.
The board of experts spoke of a “combination of factors” when looking for culprits. “The previous manipulation by the victim’s brother and also the excessive manipulation within the DAIE (Cybercrime),” says the report dated May 29. However, he adds that there are no elements to affirm that the deactivation of the apparatus “occurred internationally.”
Without the contents of Arshak’s phones, the focus was on Herba’s phones. But there were also surprises: The police officer purposely deleted the content of the conversations. When the prosecutor summoned him to testify, seven months after the fact, He said he did it because his girlfriend “was very jealous.” Unusual.
It is not the only suspicious element about Herba. In police sources they admitted that their sworn statement threw serious inconsistencies. “I had bought a very expensive motorcycle and was about to buy an imported car ”said a source who knows the details of the investigation that Internal Affairs made.
From that moment on, the court case began to fill with strange statements. An attempt was first made to sow the theory that Arshak had escaped to Armenia to see his father, Armando Karhanyan, who later ruled out any contact. A curious fact: the father stated that his family contacted a clairvoyant who told them that Arshak is “alive and accompanied”.
The possible trip to Armenia was completely ruled out. Interpol reported that there were no records of an entry into that country. Meanwhile, the Armenian embassy in our country provided passport data for the family group and information about their biological father.
Strikingly, the young police officer was also accused of having stolen a vest, when he was already missing. Where could that rumor have come from if it is not from the Police? It was also dismissed as a false complaint.
It was not all. Arshak was also said to be a fan of extreme survival, hinting that he may have disappeared on his own. Among the last, increasingly strange clues, there were witnesses who claimed that he could have crossed the border into Bolivia and one went as far as to say that he could be in Venezuela, where he would report to that country’s Secret Service.
Although they seemed crazy theories, the Justice gave intervention to the embassies of Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. None reported legal income.
The story lacked nothing. A malicious version of the alleged Arshak participated in a swinger group in police sources. Such a conflict, they say, could have triggered his disappearance. For researchers working with the family, they are versions that seek to “muddy the field.”
The family lawyer, Juan Kassargian, ensures that the investigation had basic flaws from the very beginning. “Near the place where Arshak disappeared, there is an eight-hectare wasteland, but it was only searched with two dogs and six troops. The survey of the cameras in the area was also done poorly, “he told Infobae.
From the Police in the City, however, they assure that they did everything possible to find Arshak and they reject any attempt within the force to divert the investigation. “The hospitals in the area and the judicial Morgue were visited. The People Search Division began to work following the search protocol, a survey of more than 50 public and private chambers was also carried out and together with the Prosecutor’s Office, a reward was managed through the SEARCH program of the Ministry of National Security “, an official listed.
The case also had political repercussions in the Buenos Aires Legislature. The block of the Front of All and the left tried to question the Chief of Cabinet Felipe Miguel for the disappearance of Arshak and for the participation of a group of City police officers in the AFI, just when the case of espionage in Lomas de Zamora shakes Public opinion. But the ruling party blocked that special session.
“There have been no ‘mistakes’ to be made by the City Police. Unfortunately, through our history we know that people do not disappear, in any case they make us disappear. The question I ask myself is who made Officer Arshak disappear, “he told Infobae the legislator Victoria Montenegro. And he added: “No camera records his journey, ‘accidentally’ all the data from his cell phones and computer were lost, the family was not allowed for a long time to be a complainant and access the progress of the cause.”
From the City they assure that the legislators of Kirchnerism are “using” a very sensitive cause. “There is no protection for any police, they want to transform this into a political issue,” an official complained.
Aside from the political crossings, the judicial investigation does not have concrete data on the whereabouts of Arshak.
His mother is still waiting for him. Every now and then he puts a plate of food on the table.
Corresponsal de Argentina, Encargado de seleccionar las noticias más relevantes de su interés a nuestro sitio web NewsPer.com
