Sanctioned by the United States in May 2002 for engaging in proliferation activities with Iran; the Lizen (Lysine) Joint Stock Company, which was also sanctioned, denied the State Department's charge that Armen Sargsian (Sarkisyan) was the owner or director of the firm; a businessman reportedly sentenced on November 18, 2003 to 15 years in prison by an Armenian court for organizing the murder of the chairman of the Armenian Public TV and Radio Council, Tigran Nagdalyan; reportedly the brother of former Armenian prime ministers Vazgen V. Sarkisyan and Aram Sarkisyan.