Adequate Party Appeals to Special Investigative Service

The Adequate Party has appealed to the Special Investigative Service of the Republic of Armenia, requesting the initiation of criminal proceedings against the Prosecutor General and the Chief of Police of Armenia.

In this regard, the party issued a statement, which noted, “On September 2 of this year, Arthur Danielyan, the leader of the Adequate Union, submitted a report on the crime to the Prosecutor General’s Office. The report concerns the call made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on May 19, 2019, to blockade the courts. By effectively organizing a public gathering, Nikol Pashinyan did not notify the heads of all communities where there were court premises. We had appealed to Chief of Police Valery Osipyan to raise the issue of Pashinyan's administrative responsibility before the administrative court. However, Osipyan refused to fulfill this obligation.

We urged the Prosecutor General to initiate criminal proceedings on the basis of the presence of elements of a crime defined in Article 308, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (abuse of official powers). Unfortunately, on September 13, 2019, we received a response from the Prosecutor General’s Office informing us that our report of a crime was not accepted, citing the absence of a crime despite the aforementioned facts being clearly presented in the report.

In light of the Prosecutor’s Office's criminal inaction, we appealed to the Special Investigative Service on September 13, 2019, requesting the initiation of criminal proceedings against the Prosecutor General and the Chief of Police.

Almost anticipating the content of the response letter from the leadership of the Special Investigative Service, we want to inform the broad public and particularly our compatriots working in the law enforcement system that such criminal activities will not escape our attention, and we will consistently fight against manifestations of crime within the system. In particular, we have decided that if the Special Investigative Service does not initiate a criminal case, we will appeal to the National Security Service (NSS) so that responsible persons within that agency initiate criminal proceedings against the Chief of Police, the Prosecutor General, and the head of the Special Investigative Service for their abuse of official powers. If the NSS also takes a similar stance, we will be forced to approach the courts.

We call on all responsible officials to remember our Prime Minister’s prediction: “No one will escape.”