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YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Within the framework of the ongoing criminal case regarding the disappearance of a painting from Istanbul’s Armenian Patriarchate, Archbishop Aram Ateshyan has been questioned as a witness, the investigative committee of Armenia told ARMENPRESS.
Several expertise analyses are underway to determine some significantly important matters.
The criminal case has been initiated on November 20 on an attempted grand larceny/fraud.
According to Istanbul’s “Zhamanak” daily, the story of the painting’s disappearance goes back to the 2000s. The author of the painting is Aram Khchaturyan, it was painted in 1903. Patriarch Mutafyan ordered the painting to be transported from the Patriarchate, in order for the author to make a copy. After that, the painting was not returned. Sometime later, reports reach the Patriarchate that the painting has been seen in Yerevan. Moreover, the painting has been presented as being painted by Ivan Aivazovsky.
Becoming the Patriarchal Vicar, Archbishop Ateshyan inherited this problem. Taking into account the information they had, he contacted Armenian law enforcement agencies. Few details emerged in the process. The Bishop received information that the painting was sent to Russia, were it was put up for sale for half a million Euros, as a piece by Aivazovsky. Ateshyan has also seen an expert bulletin-conclusion of the painting in Armenia, made in Russian. Armenian law enforcement agencies vowed to determine all circumstances.