I Have Nothing to Hide From Our Society: Gevorg Kostanyan Ready to Return

The former Prosecutor General of Armenia, Gevorg Kostanyan, has announced that he is ready to return tomorrow and publicly answer all questions from the investigative bodies, as reported by Factinfo.

Here is the complete statement from G. Kostanyan:

Dear citizens, despite the fact that the charges brought against me are devoid of any legal, logical, and substantive basis, I express my readiness to return to Armenia tomorrow and publicly answer all questions from the investigative authorities. In order for this to be conducted publicly and for our society to understand what is really happening, I propose organizing a public discussion with the Prime Minister of Armenia or with his participation through a live broadcast, involving the Head of the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor General, legal scholars, and international experts.

At the same time, considering the scale of the March 1 case, including the one-sided representation of this issue by the authorities in various international platforms, I believe and insist that representatives of the Council of Europe and the EU in Armenia, as well as other diplomats be invited to participate in this public discussion (If the authorities face difficulties in inviting representatives of the Council of Europe, the EU, or other international lawyers to that consultation, I will ensure their presence).

The number of participants and their selection is left to the discretion of the Prime Minister of Armenia.

Although I am not in favor of publicly discussing criminal cases, my demand to publicly respond to questions is based on two main reasons:

1. The public discussion of the March 1 case is highlighted and one-sidedly publicized, including at international platforms and at the level of diplomats from various countries.
2. The current modus operandi of the law enforcement agencies: They publish decisions to bring charges and other procedural documents through the media without any justification, while government media creates a specific impression of guilt regarding certain individuals through exclusively one-sided coverage, hiding real circumstances, as was the case with me.

Of course, I could issue statements from abroad regarding everything I wish to convey. However, my proposal is based on the fact that I am even ready to return, fully aware that I will be arrested after that consultation, but our society needs to be informed through a question and answer session not only about the grounds and reasons for the charges against me but also on the particularly important aspects of the March 1 case that are being hidden from the public under the guise of investigative secrecy.

Therefore, I propose and insist that, following their own adopted principle (open and transparent), you should substantiate the content of the documents you have published, as any statement and accusation can be made without any evidence.

Moreover, in this sense, the previous “open, transparent, popular, and public” modus operandi of the law enforcement agencies has changed under the guise of “investigative secrecy.” However, there is no longer investigative secrecy in this matter, since the Investigative Committee's messages have published not only the circumstances of the case but even the names and testimonies of witnesses. I will disclose the testimonies given by those witnesses and what they were given in exchange during the public discussion.

I want to believe that the Prime Minister of Armenia should be particularly interested in such a public discussion for two reasons: first, because transparency and open discussion with the people has been declared as a priority by him, and second, because such a discussion will give him an opportunity to assess the professionalism of the law enforcement agencies under his jurisdiction and the validity and justification of the legal nuances reported to him in closed quarters. In other words, the Prime Minister will at least have the opportunity to verify whether the case reported in his office is in any way substantiated or merely a collection of announcements.

I declare responsibly: If during the mentioned public discussion, the Armenian law enforcement agencies manage to present at least one reasonable piece of evidence or justification supporting the charges brought against me (I am not talking about the combination of evidences), I am ready to bear criminal responsibility to the fullest extent of the law.

Moreover, I further declare: if during this public discussion I cannot substantiate every word I’ve said, not only under the Constitution of Armenia, laws, provisions of international criminal law, and ECHR case law, but also according to national and international criminal law textbooks, then, even if the law enforcement agencies do not present any evidence to substantiate my guilt, I will still be ready to bear any responsibility under those circumstances.

Once the day, time, location, and format of the discussion are clarified, I am obligated to be in Armenia one day before.

H. G. Based on this proposal is a profound reason for which I want to address not only all the victims of March 1 and their relatives but also citizens who are genuinely concerned about the investigation of this case. Dear ones, isn’t it clear that the path currently taken by our law enforcement system does not answer the crucial question of what circumstances led to the death and injury of your loved ones, and who were truly responsible for their deaths?

For the attempted overthrow of the constitutional order 12 years ago, other individuals were accused; now, completely different individuals are being accused. Tomorrow, I am confident, it will become clear that the constitutional order of 2008 was undermined by others. However, regardless of who undermined the constitutional order and whether it was actually undermined or not, this does not relate in any way to the issue of identifying the culpable parties in the deaths of 10 individuals since to date, no one has been charged with homicide.

By the way, despite previously being established and charges being brought against four individuals concerning the deaths of 3 victims from “Cheryomukha,” the current law enforcement bodies cannot even clarify those charges.

I am convinced that the compensation provided to the families of the victims from the state budget cannot extinguish your drive to identify and punish the guilty parties. Do you not see that by involving various prominent names in the criminal case, there is simply an attempt to divert public attention from the incapacity or lack of desire to find the true culprits behind the March 1 killings?

I declare that if there is a genuine desire and the necessary professional capacities available, a lot could have been done during this time to reveal the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the 10 victims, which, unfortunately, is not being done. The reasons are very profound, and that is why the March 1 case is being particularly hyper-politicized. The professional investigation into the circumstances of the deaths has been overshadowed by the strategy of using this case for political purposes and ensuring PR-effect.

What I am saying is this: if there is really a desire to take real steps towards revealing the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the 10 victims and to expose the real culprits, I am ready to support the investigation of the facts and the identification of the guilty parties, considering the many new circumstances regarding this case that were not present during my tenure. However, I will refuse and will continue to refuse to participate in pointless purely political shows.

By the way, I have never participated and will never participate in such shows, both as an official in the law enforcement system and as a citizen of Armenia, and I must admit I have received such proposals, but I have rejected them all.

A person's guilt is not determined by a public statement made on television but by evidence. I have nothing to hide from our society, and if the authorities also have nothing to hide regarding the March 1 case and are confident that they will bring at least one reasonable piece of evidence to substantiate their claims against me (I am not talking about the accumulation of evidence), then my proposal will undoubtedly be accepted. Let’s see...

H. G. I have never been a member of any party and have never engaged in politics, and I only want to inform our society about the statements related to the 10 victims of March 1 and myself within strictly legal frameworks.

Sincerely, Gevorg Kostanyan