Prosecutor's Office on Criminal Case Related to Charcian

The Prosecutor's Office has issued a statement regarding the criminal case against A. Charcian, a candidate for parliament from the "Armenia" alliance and Director of the Izmirlian Medical Center. Following the initiation of the criminal proceedings and the court's decision to impose pre-trial detention as a preventive measure, there has been persistent attempts from both his defense team and the alliance to convince the public that A. Charcian is being subjected to political persecution. This agenda is being supported by unilateral public commentary from his defenders, as well as political statements that bear no relation to legality or criminal law. This was also evident during the protest rally in front of the Prosecutor's Office today.

Consequently, the Prosecutor's Office finds it necessary to respond to several unfounded claims aimed at misleading the public during this period. Firstly, the assertions made by the defense and propagated by various media outlets, stating that the criminal case was initiated based on an anonymous report, are not true. The criminal case was opened based on the legitimate grounds laid out in Article 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia, stemming from sufficient grounds obtained during the preparatory stage of the investigation. The initiation of the criminal case was prompted by the discovery of evidence related to a crime by the investigative body while exercising its authority.

Furthermore, on the same day, the prosecutor sent to the investigative body a directive for preparatory work on materials that had been published on the FIP-Fact Checking platform regarding the incident in question, which is included in the evidence of the criminal case.

The defense sought to create the impression that the existing recording is fake. However, on June 19, 2021, A. Charcian's defense attorney publicly stated on their Facebook page and in interviews that their client does not acknowledge the content of the recording, thereby clearly distorting the essence of the explanation previously provided by the Prosecutor's Office. Nevertheless, during the court hearing regarding the preventive measure, the defense presented a video recording that fully contained the content of the recording available to the investigation at the time the criminal case was initiated, acknowledging that the speaker was A. Charcian.

Despite this, considering that the aforementioned recording—allegedly disproving the charges against A. Charcian—was published by the media after the opening of the criminal case, and due to discrepancies between various segments of the conversation in the recording, it has been instructed that necessary measures be taken to objectively verify its authenticity.

It is important to clarify that the prosecutor's powers regarding the preliminary detention, as well as the removal of preventative measures, are not discretionary, as has been suggested by A. Charcian's defense. These powers are regulated by the legal norms concerning the bases and conditions for the choice of preventive measures in the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia. Following these regulations, the prosecutor overseeing the legality of the criminal investigation rejected the defense's motion regarding the removal of the preventative measure, and this decision has been formally notified to the defense. The motion was denied on the grounds that the evidence obtained during the examination indicates existing risks of interfering with the proceedings by exerting unlawful influence on participants in the criminal proceedings—a basis that the court considered when deciding to impose pre-trial detention as a measure.

There is no legal or logical basis for the arguments presented during the organized protests in front of the Prosecutor General's Office, suggesting that the need for detention to be lifted due to the defendant's illness is a requirement of the law. Firstly, at present, A. Charcian is in a civilian hospital of his choice, under medical supervision. Secondly, Armenian legislation stipulates a clear procedure for resolving the issue of releasing a detained individual due to illness. According to paragraph 3.2 of Article 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia, the prosecutor has the right to change or lift the preventive measure of detention if there is a serious illness that prevents carrying out the detention, but this conclusion must be made by the relevant medical commission. Moreover, the list of serious illnesses that prevent detention is determined by a decision of the Government of Armenia. Neither the court nor the prosecutor received any evidence from the defense showing that the defendant may have a serious illness incompatible with detention.

However, once the defense provides information regarding the presence of an illness listed as preventing detention during the examination of the criminal case, a legal medical commission will be appointed immediately, and based on its conclusion, the matter of lifting the chosen preventive measure will be resolved in accordance with criminal procedural law.

In conclusion, it must be emphasized that the Prosecutor's Office does not question and will not question A. Charcian's professional reputation through any of its actions. However, the interest of justice cannot be subordinated to any individual's merits or any group interests.