Police Major Accuses Traffic Police Chief Egor Karapetian of Subverting Constitutional Order

Attorney Artur Ghambaryan's client, a senior inspector of the Road Patrol Division of the Armenian Traffic Police, has filed a report against the head of the Traffic Police, Egor Karapetian, claiming that his actions have undermined the constitutional order of the country. According to Factinfo, the reason for this accusation is the Traffic Police Chief's order No. 301-A, issued on December 5, 2016.

The issue is that with this order, the head of the Traffic Police was mandated to require Traffic Police officers to install and use mobile audio and video recording devices on their uniforms. In making this order, he was guided by point “e” of clause 15 of the annex to the charter of the Republic of Armenia’s Traffic Police, which defines the authority of the Traffic Police Chief to issue individual and local acts within the scope of their powers.

However, the order does not specify any legal provision allowing the use of recording devices. It is noteworthy that, according to part 1 of Article 300.1 of the RA Criminal Code, subverting constitutional order is the actual nullification of any norm envisaged by Articles 1-5 or part 1 of Article 6 of the Constitution, which is expressed by the cessation of the operation of that norm within the legal system.

The major has drawn the attention of the Special Investigative Service to the fact that the aforementioned order has effectively nullified the norm stipulated in part 1 of Article 6 of the RA Constitution, according to which "public officials are authorized to perform only those actions for which they are empowered by the Constitution or law," while there was no legal provision allowing traffic police officers to carry mobile recording devices in 2016. Amendments to the law and the establishment of such a provision were made only in 2018.