Former Russian official Boris Avakyan, who escaped from a St. Petersburg court the previous day, has reportedly committed suicide inside the Armenian Consulate, according to preliminary information from law enforcement cited by RIA Novosti.
“According to preliminary data, Avakyan took his own life inside the consulate building,” a law enforcement source told the agency.
Avakyan, the former deputy head of the Rosreestr (Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography) office in St. Petersburg, fled the Kronstadt District Court on Tuesday. He had been brought there for a pre-trial detention hearing after prosecutors petitioned for his arrest.
According to public records, Avakyan co-founded the customs brokerage of the Port of St. Petersburg in 2009, where he served as general director. Between 2010 and 2014, he worked as deputy director of the Territorial Administration of the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) in the Leningrad Region. From 2014 to 2016, he held a senior post in a federal executive body, serving as deputy chief inspector in the State Land Supervision division of Rosreestr in St. Petersburg. His most recent position was with Rosreestr’s office in the Leningrad Region.
Authorities have not yet released official details on the circumstances of Avakyan’s death or the motive for his escape. An investigation is ongoing.
