Rustam Badasyan Responds to Naira Zohrabyan's Statement

The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, Rustam Badasyan, has responded to the statement made by Naira Zohrabyan, a deputy of the Prosperous Armenia faction in the National Assembly, regarding alleged directives received from penitentiary institutions ahead of the upcoming snap elections.

Rustam Badasyan addressed the deputy's statement on his Facebook page. "Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia faction, announced today from the National Assembly podium that she has received alerts from relatives of convicts in penitentiary institutions regarding the Deputy Director of the 'Convict Hospital' Smbat Bulghadaryan and employees from the 'Nubarashen' and 'Armavir' correctional facilities, who are reportedly meeting with convicts and detainees and telling them, 'You know who you should vote for; if you don't vote, you will have problems.'

"I understand that you are in a de facto pre-election process; however, I urge Ms. Zohrabyan not to spread misinformation from such a high podium and, upon receiving any alerts, at least verify them with the Ministry, if there is, in fact, a desire to uncover the truth.

"The penitentiary service is not involved in any political processes; it is an apolitical body and will always remain so. I will not dwell on the several inaccuracies contained in a brief statement, but simply present one fact that will refute the existence of the issue raised by Ms. Zohrabyan. It was stated that Gevorg Varosyan, who, by the way, is not the head of the 'Nubarashen' correctional facility, but the head of the Operational Division of the 'Armavir' correctional facility, has also reached out to convicts and detainees with such inquiries.

"Ms. Zohrabyan, the announcement for holding snap parliamentary elections in Armenia was made just a few days ago on March 18, while Mr. Varosyan has been on leave from January 21 to February 5, 2021, and then from February 9 to March 11, and has been temporarily unfit for work since March 12. Therefore, there is no opportunity for him to have had contact with individuals held in penitentiary institutions after the announcement of the snap parliamentary elections.

"I urge Ms. Zohrabyan to provide me with information about the sources of her alerts. I assure you that I am the first interested party in preventing such corrupt phenomena, uncovering them, and providing them with appropriate legal assessments," wrote Badasyan.