Conclusion on the Personal Search of Lawyer Arzumanian

On April 24, 2020, lawyer Arman Arzumanian was subjected to a personal search by the police department of Nor Nork, Armenia. The Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Lawyers of the Bar Association of Armenia held a remote meeting and published its conclusions.

“The Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Lawyers of the Bar Association of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as the 'Commission'), with the participation of coordinator Gevorg Mkrtchyan, members Arpine Panayan, Diana Shahramanyan, Emin Beglaryan, Roman Akharyan, Arsen Mkrtchyan, and with the presence of lawyer Arman Arzumanian, examined the application and video presented by him, and also listened to the verbal explanations given during the meeting regarding the fact of his personal search in the police department of Nor Nork on April 24, 2020. The following was recorded:

1. The investigating body, in this case, has not been the body conducting the criminal proceedings.
2. There was an apparent lack of a decision on the detention of the person, as it was not presented to the lawyer or his client.
3. There was also an absence of an assignment by the body conducting the criminal proceedings for the execution of the decision to detain (point 8 of part 4 of article 55 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia).
4. Lawyer Arman Arzumanian's client was detained in violation of the requirements of Article 153 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia.
5. Lawyer Arman Arzumanian was subjected to a personal search in violation of the guarantees provided by Article 21 of the 'Law on Advocacy' during the direct performance of his professional duties when he attempted to prevent the apparent violations of his client's rights.
6. Lawyer Arman Arzumanian is at risk of criminal prosecution in connection with the performance of his professional duties, which is directly prohibited by Article 21 of the Law.
7. The personal search of lawyer Arman Arzumanian did not pursue a lawful purpose and was not aimed solely at seizing his client's mobile phone, as even after its location was indicated and confiscated by the police, the personal search of the lawyer continued, resulting in the removal of his personal mobile phone from his pocket and the inspection of all the contents of his pockets.
8. Considering that obstruction can only be to the lawful activities of the criminal prosecution body, lawyer Arman Arzumanian's actions cannot contain the composition of the crime stipulated in Article 332 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.

The Commission, citing relevant legal regulations, made the following statements:

• The Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Lawyers of the Bar Association of the Republic of Armenia considers any restriction on legal guarantees of advocacy activities to be unacceptable and strongly condemns the personal search of lawyer Arman Arzumanian by police officers of the Nor Nork police department while performing his professional duties directly.
• The Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Lawyers of the Bar Association of the Republic of Armenia resolutely condemns any initiative to initiate criminal prosecution against lawyer Arman Arzumanian in connection with the performance of his professional duties and urges the bodies conducting criminal prosecutions to refrain from any illegal interference in the advocacy activities.