Prosecutor's Office Refuses to Initiate Criminal Case Regarding Levon Yeranosyan's Abduction, Lawyer States

The Prosecutor's Office has previously refused to initiate a criminal case regarding the abduction of Levon Yeranosyan. Yeranosyan's lawyer stated that it remains unclear to them why and on what grounds the initiation of a criminal case has been denied.

“We have now filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office against inaction. In November 2020, the Prosecutor's Office instructed to prepare materials based on reports about the abduction of Levon Yeranosyan while traveling to Artsakh, and taking him to the Shushi fortress to keep him with Turkish captives, but the initiation of a criminal case was denied. Naturally, we disagree with that assessment and believe there is a composition of a crime involved,” he emphasized.

When asked whether the justification for taking Yeranosyan to the Shushi fortress had eventually been provided, he responded that if it had been justified, they would not have filed a complaint.

In one of his interviews, Levon Yeranosyan even published who was in charge of his abduction and the operation to take him to the Shushi fortress. He noted that the operation was led by the commander of the special police regiment, who was in charge during the 2016 incident when the “Sasna Tsrer” group seized it, referred to as “Tapor.”

When asked whether this individual had been questioned or if testimonies had been provided against him, the lawyer said that since the criminal case had not been initiated, there are neither testimonies nor interrogations. “We are still trying to get a criminal case initiated, and only then will it be clarified how many people were involved and why the abduction occurred.”

It is noteworthy that on the evening of October 8, information was circulated that unknown individuals had stopped the former commander of the internal troops of the Armenian Police, Levon Yeranosyan, on his way to Artsakh and taken him in an unknown direction. It later became clear that he had been taken to the Shushi fortress, but no justification for this action has been provided.