Prosecution Receives Criminal Complaint from Onik Gasparyan

The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia has received a complaint from the former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Onik Gasparyan. In an interview with Armenpress, Aravik Khachatryan, the head of the public relations department of the Prosecutor General's Office, addressed the news regarding Gasparyan's intention to file a criminal complaint.

On February 25, the Armed Forces General Staff issued a statement in which the senior military personnel demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister and the government. The Prime Minister characterized this as an attempted military coup. On the same day, he proposed to the President of Armenia to relieve Onik Gasparyan of his duties as Chief of Staff. President Armen Sargsyan did not sign the Prime Minister's proposal to dismiss Onik Gasparyan and, acting according to the fourth point of part 1 of Article 169 of the Constitution, referred the issue of the compliance of the Law on Military Service and the Status of Military Personnel of November 15, 2017, with the Constitution to the Constitutional Court.

On March 10, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Onik Gasparyan had been legally relieved of his duties as Chief of Staff. On the same day, Pashinyan presented a proposal to the President to appoint Artak Davtyan as the new Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. The President did not sign the proposal for Davtyan's appointment and did not refer the matter to the Constitutional Court. On March 11, the President raised objections regarding the appointment proposal; however, these objections were not accepted by the Prime Minister and were returned to the President with justifications. A few days later, Artak Davtyan legally assumed the position of Chief of Staff.

Onik Gasparyan filed a complaint with the Administrative Court, which on March 17 granted the defense's request for interim measures regarding the claim. However, the Prime Minister's staff clarified that Onik Gasparyan had been released from his position as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. Following this, Onik Gasparyan's lawyer, Arthur Hovhannisyan, announced on March 22 that they would submit a complaint to the Prosecutor's Office.