Criminal Case Against Former Head of Artik Penitentiary Facility Sent to Court

The investigation into the criminal case relating to the former head of the Artik penitentiary facility has concluded. This information was provided by the Prosecutor's Office.

As a result of operational and investigative measures conducted by staff of the National Security Service of Armenia, it was revealed that from July 24, 2018, to August 7, 2019, the former head of the Artik penitentiary facility, J.V., abused his official position, creating privileged conditions for certain convicts and allowing prohibited items to be transferred into the penitentiary.

Based on the factual data obtained through these measures, a criminal case was opened on July 19, 2018, under part 2 of clause 3 of Article 266, Article 308, part 1, Article 311, part 2, Article 312, part 1, and Article 314, part 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and the case was then referred to the Special Investigative Service for further investigation.

As a result of the preliminary investigation, J.V. was charged under part 1 of Article 308 of the RA Criminal Code for committing a criminal act. According to the charges, he violated his official duties on June 28, 2019, out of personal interest and with the aim of maintaining friendly relations with a convict.

Specifically, knowing that the package addressed to convict V.G. contained a prohibited item, he committed an obvious illegal act by failing to take measures to prevent and seize the prohibited item from being smuggled into the facility, as stipulated by the internal regulations of the detention and correctional institutions. Instead, at the request of that convict, he permitted officials in charge of receiving packages and granting visitation in the facility to accept it, and the prohibited item was transferred to the convict on the same day.

Due to the actions described above by J.V., significant harm was caused to the legitimate interests of the state, undermining the principles and objectives of punishment. J.V. has fully acknowledged his guilt in the charges brought against him and has provided a confession.

The part of the criminal case separated from J.V. has been sent with a prosecutorial conclusion to the Office of the General Prosecutor of Armenia, where it was approved by the supervising prosecutor and forwarded to the court of general jurisdiction in the Shirak Province.