NSS Reveals Details Regarding Actions Related to Hrayr Tovmasyan's Family Members

The National Security Service of Armenia, aiming to maximally ensure the respect for the authority and independence of the judiciary and to uphold the confidentiality of judicial proceedings, has refrained from publishing information regarding actions related to the current head of the Constitutional Court and his family members.

However, considering that there have already been numerous publications in the media regarding the actions carried out by the NSS involving the family members of the CC president, and in order to avoid unnecessary speculations and the spread of misinformation, we provide the following information.

During the period of 2012-2014, in the context of the reconstruction of a building located at 2 Zakyan Street in Yerevan under the Ministry of Justice and the renovation of Abovyan Prison and a secondary school in Sari Tagh, allegations have arisen regarding misappropriation amounting to about 855 million AMD and approximately 15 million AMD related to the mentioned projects, respectively. Data has been obtained within the framework of the articles 180-181 of the Criminal Procedure Code regarding the acceptance of work not performed by officials, with indications that a representative of the company involved in these construction works provided construction materials to an official free of charge and conducted construction works.

Additionally, an explanation has been received from Vardan Tovmasyan, the father of the CC president in question. Furthermore, he was offered to allow experts to investigate the roof of his private house within the scope of the designated legal and technical expertise, which he rejected.

Accommodating V. Tovmasyan's wish, he was invited to provide explanations at his own home, for which an NSS employee visited his residence; however, he changed his position and preferred to provide his explanation at the NSS administrative building in the presence of lawyers he invited himself.

Measures are being taken within the preparatory materials to ascertain the extent of potential damage caused to the state and to identify officials who accepted works that had not actually been performed. At the same time, the necessity of obtaining explanations from family members of Hrayr Tovmasyan has been motivated by the need to verify information acquired during the preparation of documents regarding the non-declaration of property belonging to an official or his family members in the prescribed manner.

These procedural actions have been carried out with the participation of lawyers selected by the respective persons, safeguarding the guarantees of rights in criminal proceedings. In accordance with the prepared materials, appropriate procedural decisions will be made per the law.

Note: An individual suspected of or charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the law established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia through a legally enforced verdict.