Born in Tbilisi to an Armenian family in 1970, Martirosyan's family moved to the European part of the Union when he was two years old. Following the USSR's collapse, he ventured out to search and explore the various countries of the post-Soviet era. In Belarus, he was convicted of theft and served a short prison sentence before moving to Russia. In the late 1990s, he joined a gang of robbers who broke into apartments, but they were eventually captured and imprisoned. Fortunately for Martirosyan, he was released under amnesty in 2000 in honor of the 55th anniversary of Victory Day. For the following seven years, he worked in a variety of jobs, including a cook, chauffeur, salesman and logger. In 2007, when he made a profile on the popular Russian dating site Mamba.ru, Martirosyan presented himself as a magician and spiritual healer, allegedly capable of curing ailmeant and healing bad karma, referring to himself as "Gosha the Magician".