Maral Najaryan's Representative: Police Official Clarification Does Not Correspond to Reality

The official clarification from the Armenian police stating that neither Maral Najaryan nor her representative applied for a new passport does not correspond to reality. This was stated by Maral Najaryan's lawyer, Alexander Kochubayev, in an interview with NEWS.am.

“I have copies of my application, and they can confirm that the claims that we have not applied are unequivocally false,” he said.

According to the response from the head of the department, Kochubayev's application was received electronically on March 29. The head of the department states that according to current legislation, a person over the age of 16 must apply in person for a passport. Maral Najaryan can apply on any working day in accordance with the applicable legislation, as mentioned in the head's response.

Kochubayev suggests that after the uproar raised, the head of the department reported to the management that there had been no application. “He conveyed incorrect information, which resulted in the police disseminating inaccurate data. We have submitted our application, and there is a response as well. The police press service cannot present complete data; it is based on the information provided to it,” the lawyer pointed out.

It is worth recalling that Maral Najaryan, a dual citizen of Lebanon and Armenia, was captured after the signing of a trilateral statement confirming a ceasefire. This did not prevent the Azerbaijani authorities from keeping the innocent woman in captivity for several months. Maral was released following the personal intervention of Valentina Matviyenko, the Chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia. Upon her release, the Azerbaijani authorities did not return her Armenian passport. Despite undergoing a rehabilitation course, Maral is trying to obtain a new Armenian passport, but the police are unwilling to accommodate that patriotic desire.