I Exclude the Possibility That Current Officials Have Ties to Criminal Authorities - Grigoryan

“The fight is against the cause, not the consequence, because the criminal subculture is the fertile soil on which various crimes emerge and continue to exist,” said parliament member Suren Grigoryan during press briefings with parliamentary factions, speaking about the draft law criminalizing affiliation with criminal subcultures.

In response to a journalist's observation that this draft law will not solve the issue by itself, Grigoryan stated that no such claim has been made. However, he expressed that the educational element might be much more significant in addressing this issue than simply criminalizing the phenomenon and having this law in place.

Discussing the causes, Grigoryan pointed out that various state officials often meet with criminal authorities during general celebrations, and when the state is weak and displays such behavior, one should not be surprised that such phenomena can arise. When asked which officials he was referring to, Grigoryan responded: “For instance, the former president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan. I remember at least one video.”

Journalists reminded him that some time ago, the same member of the “My Step” faction, Sasun Mikayelyan, had provided a guarantee for the release of one criminal authority, Alik Banduryan from Noratus. How does he interpret this? Suren Grigoryan replied: “Not long ago, our colleague Sisak Gabrielyan provided a guarantee for the change of the pre-trial measure for Arsen Babayan, and that does not mean that Gabrielyan has a positive attitude toward the acts allegedly committed by Mr. Babayan; the wet should be distinguished from the dry.”

Regarding whether he compares Alik from Noratus with former deputy head of the National Assembly staff Arsen Babayan, Suren Grigoryan responded: “I am not saying that Mr. Babayan is a criminal authority. Any person, regardless of whether they are a criminal authority or not, is a person whose freedom should only be restricted in cases provided by law and according to legal standards. If Mr. Mikayelyan found that there are no grounds for detention for even a person who is a criminal authority, and provided a personal guarantee, this should never be interpreted as encouraging such phenomena. Tomorrow a person might be accused of fraud, and if I provide a personal guarantee, you cannot conclude that I justify fraud and am supportive of such phenomena.”

According to Grigoryan’s assertions, another reason for the presence of criminal subculture is that when a person does not see solutions to their problems through state institutions, they seek alternative institutions to resolve their issues. “We say that this is no longer relevant. The state should resolve a person’s problems through its institutions,” Grigoryan stated.

Addressing the votes of opposition parliament members, journalists inquired whether this indicates that they do not want to clash with 'the boys who solve problems', or if there indeed exists a legal gap in the law that could be misused as a tool for filling prisons with innocent people. “In circumstances where it is stated that we are in favor of the concept, but there is a need for corrections that have not been proposed, and in that case, the vote is against, I consider that is not very logical,” Grigoryan said.

Regarding the LHK’s abstention from voting, Grigoryan found this more understandable, as issues remain unresolved, making it impossible to take a side.

When asked whether there are individuals in the current government with ties to criminal authorities, Grigoryan responded negatively: “I exclude the possibility that any representative of the current government has ties to criminal authorities as a criminal authority,” Grigoryan stated, excluding the case where if there is a long-standing personal relationship, one cannot say that when seeing each other on the street, they should change direction.