Prosecutor's Office Responds to Arthur Vanetsyan's Statements

In response to a request from several media outlets for clarification regarding a portion of the statements made by the former head of the NSS, Arthur Vanetsyan, during yesterday's meeting and published today, the Armenian Prosecutor's Office has released a statement. This was reported by Gor Vardanyan, advisor to the Armenian Prosecutor General, on his Facebook page.

“In response to your inquiry, we inform you of the following: Arthur Vanetsyan, the former head of the NSS, informed the Prosecutor General about certain crimes committed by Miharan Poghosyan in writing on August 31, 2018. To ensure proper adherence to criminal procedural requirements, Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan clarified in a response letter to Arthur Vanetsyan on September 6, 2018, that a significant portion of the information described pertained to data on new crimes that were not subjects of investigation or legal assessment in the case of Miharan Poghosyan, where the proceedings had been terminated. Therefore, there is no legal impediment, and it was ordered that criminal proceedings be initiated regarding these facts and a criminal case be opened.

As for the facts related to the case concerning Miharan Poghosyan, it was found that in order to annul the decision to terminate the proceedings, grounds can be obtained under Article 49.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia (review of the proceedings based on newly emerged circumstances) if new evidence comes to light. Following the active procedures, i.e., if a new basis is established and the circumstances are confirmed, that decision will be annulled.

In fulfillment of this order, a new criminal investigation was initiated in the NSS, and on October 5, 2018, a new criminal case was opened, which was received at the Prosecutor General's Office on October 9, 2018. Moreover, written notification regarding the opening of the criminal case was sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office on October 8, 2018, while according to existing information, Miharan Poghosyan left the country on October 7, 2018. At that time, no new circumstances had been presented to the Prosecutor's Office for the review of the terminated case.

Subsequently, during the investigation of the newly opened criminal case conducted by the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia, new circumstances emerged as defined by Article 49.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allowed for the review of the decision to terminate the proceedings of the concluded criminal case. Given the presence of such grounds, a decision was made by the Prosecutor General, Arthur Davtyan, on January 17, 2019, to annul the previous decision on the termination of proceedings. Following the consolidation of both cases and based on the data obtained through joint preliminary investigation, a decision was made on April 13, 2019, to bring Miharan Poghosyan as an accused, to select a preventive measure of arrest, and to announce him wanted.

Regarding the questions raised by Arthur Vanetsyan about why Miharan Poghosyan left or who informed him, we must emphasize that he left the territory of Armenia during a period when the criminal case was still with the NSS. Second, during his approximately one-year tenure as the head of the NSS, Vanetsyan had all the necessary tools to uncover these matters and a duty to do so, yet nothing was discovered.

Nevertheless, if Mr. Vanetsyan has information regarding the circumstances he mentioned, he can present it to the relevant authorities without any constraints, and the Prosecutor's Office will demonstrate the utmost diligence in uncovering it,” the statement read.