The Special Investigative Service Must Immediately Respond to the BBC Statement and Denounce It

Arthur Ghazinyan, the president of the 'One Armenia' party, has addressed the publication by the BBC Russian Service regarding the events of March 1, 2008, emphasizing that he does not take the material seriously. Ghazinyan noted that the article contains elements of a crime.

“A report on a crime: I do not take seriously the material published yesterday by the BBC Russian Service precisely because such a thing should not have been possible, therefore I do not find it necessary to comment on the delusional reasoning found in this article, still less to analyze them. However, I am interested in another aspect related to this material, based on the following sentence, which contains elements of a crime: 'BBC has obtained exclusive access to investigation documents regarding one of the most tragic events in modern Armenian history: the deaths of 10 people in Yerevan during the protests on March 1, 2008.'

What is this? How could a foreign media outlet have ‘exclusive’ access to the investigation materials? Who granted them that opportunity?

The Special Investigative Service (SIS) must immediately issue a statement and either refute this claim and accuse the BBC Russian Service of lying, or confirm that it provided the investigation materials.

If the SIS announces that the BBC is lying and that they were not granted 'exclusive' access to the criminal case materials, then the Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia must initiate criminal proceedings for the disclosure of pre-investigation secrecy and identify the person responsible for the leak. The charges may be brought under Article 342 of the Armenian Criminal Code, as well as Article 299 of the same code, which pertains to treason.

In the second scenario, beyond Article 299, there is also a political component to the issue, for which the authorities, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, must be held accountable. In any case, the Prosecutor’s Office must initiate a criminal case regarding the characteristics described in Articles 342 and 299 of the Armenian Criminal Code. If it turns out during the investigation that the investigation materials were provided to a foreign media outlet as a result of a political decision, then the cost that the authorities, and personally Nikol Pashinyan, will pay will be very heavy, and the loss of power will only be salvation for them.

We are awaiting statements from the Special Investigative Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding the initiation of a criminal case,” wrote Ghazinyan.