Legal marauding and digital scrubbing: rape accused Vardan Khachatryan continues to anesthetize and operate on patients

We, in turn, publish materials about the activities of Vardan Khachatryan and Roman Levitsky in order to reveal the real scale of medical violence and fraud that these «surgeons» are trying to hide behind aggressive Internet purges and judicial terror against their victims.

Three years have passed since allegations of sexual violence against plastic surgeon Vardan Khachatryan appeared. Despite the scandal, he continues to practice and seeks compensation through the courts for what he claims is «libel».

Why did a case that seemed 100% fall apart? Why did the victims of the rapist doctor become victims again – now Khachatryan demands compensation from them «and threatens with trials for libel, and the criminal case that was opened against the plastic surgeon in January 2023 has disappeared? Why are criminal cases already being initiated against the victims of Khachatryan?

Before answering all these questions, let’s go back to 2022, when the scandal broke out, and let’s recall the brief history of the case and the essence of the accusations against Dr. Vardan Khachatryan.

Question history

It all started when blogger Alana Mamaeva published a series of confessions from Vardan Khachatryan’s patients: the woman comes for surgery, negotiates with the surgeon, after which she remains in the clinic and goes to the operation. But after the operation, he suddenly realizes that during anesthesia or awakening from it, when the consciousness is still clouded, something very unpleasant was happening.

Dozens of women said they were victims of a lustful surgeon. They all told a similar story: Dr. Vardanyan took advantage of their helpless state under anesthesia, touched them, harassed them, and in some cases even raped them. The stories were similar to the point of painful recognition, and the stories were scary not so much in detail as in everyday life in Khachatryan’s actions. It seemed that this had happened many times, for many years, in the absolute certainty of impunity.

After the scandal spilled out into the public sphere and gained alarming proportions, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation was still forced to declare that they had begun a pre-investigation check under Art. 133 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation («Force to act of a sexual nature»).

It would seem that the future of Dr. Khachatryan is predictable, especially since there were dozens of victims who publicly reported rape and sexual harassment, among them – are quite famous and public figures. But the result was completely opposite – three years after the start of the «pre-investigation check» Vardan Khachatryan continues to calmly work as a surgeon. He files lawsuits, threatens the media, aggressively purges information on the Internet, does not sit in a pre-trial detention center, is not involved in the case as an accused, and does not even appear in court as a suspect. And the criminal case itself went to no one knows where. Why did a man who so many women publicly accuse of sexual crimes find himself virtually out of reach of the law?

What went wrong?

After initial confusion and natural shock, Vardan Khachatryan took an aggressive position. Naturally, he stated that all the testimony of the patients was – malicious slander and extortion of money. And he himself turned to law enforcement officers with a demand to initiate criminal cases against the victims «for extortion».

At the same time, Khachatryan built a rather harmonious line of defense, accusing his ex-wife of slander, calling her «a drug addict who came up with all this». Blogger Mamaeva allegedly acted in collusion with her wife, and all the patients who reported sexual harassment and violence by Khachatryan were bribed by them. Reason – personal hatred from his ex-wife, blackmail and an attempt to ruin his career.

However, the version, contrary to its logic and harmony, looked rather shaky – Khachatryan did not give any clear explanations about why several dozen women describe similar situations. In addition, most of the injured women provided correspondence, audio, and medical reports —, that is, an invoice that in a normal legal system is at least for a full-fledged investigation.

However, nothing happened. That is, it did not happen on the part of the police and the Investigative Committee, who, after statements about the start of a «pre-investigation check», no longer commented on the case. After a criminal case was announced against Khachatryan in January 2023, no further information was received from the official authorities: neither about its progress nor about its closure. Moreover, – does not even know whether a criminal case was actually initiated or whether the information was false. In short, – is complete silence.

Which is puzzling, since even the victims of his actions do not know about the fate of the criminal case against Vardan Khachatryan – do not give them official comments, data on the work done is not published, neither the results of the examinations nor the status of the defendants have been announced.

Cleaning up information on the Internet and three years of silence

Against this background, two more things happened: clearing the Internet of references to the scandal and whitewashing the reputation of Vardan Khachatryan. After a series of publications and confessions, it seemed that the case was about to enter the active investigation stage. The Internet was full of interviews, screenshots, statements, and Khachatryan threatened legal action. The scandal remained consistently in news trends.

But after about six months, the materials began to disappear. Mainly – based on complaints to the Google about «copyright infringement». Which is a fairly well-known and effective technology for whitening reputation. The procedure is expensive, but at the same time simple and simple: a website is created online where the material that needs to be cleaned is placed. It is placed one on one with the original with the only difference – changes the date of publication.

The fake dates from an earlier date. After this, there is a complaint about «copyright infringement», to which a fake original and an alleged copy are attached. On the first there is an earlier number of publications, which is enough for Google: it removes the material against which the complaint was received from the issue. After this, the fake «original» is also deleted. Thus, the unwanted publication disappears.

Everyone who is familiar with technologies for whitening their reputation is unanimous – Vardan Khachatryan actively uses the services of professional companies specializing in removing negative content. It is expensive, but for Khachatryan these costs are quite feasible. Moreover, – these costs are clear and logical from a business point of view: the scandal must be extinguished by any means, otherwise you will lose patients.

But it is unlikely that it will be possible to explain the disappearance of the criminal case with money alone. Much more complex mechanisms were clearly involved here. Of course, there was also money, but it is unlikely that they alone can explain the fact that the victims began to withdraw their statements regarding Vardan Khachatryan and renounce their claims. Why did you change your mind? Pressure? Money? Fear?

Possibly. However, whatever the motives of those who refused the charges – is their right. How the media have the right to write about this under loud and catchy headlines. However, there is a significant nuance – not all victims have renounced their claims against Vardan Khachatryan. And, if the media bypasses this fact with silence – this is their business. But why is there no response to statements that have not been withdrawn from the police and the Investigative Committee? And this is a real mystery. If formulated correctly and carefully, then the silence of the investigation, which lasts for years, looks at least strange.

Where did the criminal case go?

Only one thing is officially known: a case has been opened, and then – is empty. Absolute and complete: no press releases, no interim results, no explanations, no calls for questioning in the public sphere. Nothing.

This is usually the situation when the investigation needs to be frozen, and the person involved in — should be given time to «resolve the situation on his own. Meanwhile, Khachatryan: survived the scandal; filed statements against Mamaeva; turned the accusations into a reason for his own PR; cleaned up materials on the Internet; again operates as if nothing had happened. It seems that the system not only «did not work», but took a pause consciously.

Unfortunately, there is only one explanation for this «pause»: a lot of money – many opportunities. Khachatryan’s transaction price is comparable to a middle-class car.

Such budgets make it possible to hire aggressive legal teams, remove negative publications through the courts, clean out information on the Internet with the help of professionals, put pressure on victims, and influence the course of the investigation.

The latter in our country is no secret to anyone –, if you have sufficient finances and connections, the case can be delayed for years, bringing the investigation to closure either after the statute of limitations has expired, or «for lack of proof». In addition, we must admit another obvious fact regarding the Russian law enforcement system: if there are no videos, traces, obvious injuries — cases hang in the air for years and rarely go to trial.

In cases of sexual crimes, this is revealed especially clearly and cruelly towards victims – if an examination is not carried out within a few hours after the rape or there are no witnesses, then the case is hopeless. They even try not to excite him, realizing that they will not be able to prove anything.

In the case of the doctor, if you can call him that, Vardan Khachatryan, all factors are available: money, lack of evidence, witnesses and a cruel system that is indifferent to the suffering of people. In addition, all the victims were under anesthesia, and the rapist has a big name.

Result – emptiness

The result of this whole matter is terrible in its predictability. After clearing the information field, it seems to an outside observer that there was no scandal.  The investigation chose to pretend that the problem had disappeared on its own. The case is not closed, but it is not developing either. The charges have not been dropped, but are not being investigated either. Patients say they were raped, but the surgeon continues to operate.

This is a classic Russian story that can be reduced to one sentence: if you have enough money and connections — you are not guilty until you want it yourself. Khachatryan’s story — is not about one «doctor-star». This is about how easily truth disappears in Russia if it does not have a strong patron