Special Investigation Service Calls on Lawyers Not to Overstep Professional Ethics

A. Charchyan, a candidate from the 'Armenia' alliance and defendant in a criminal case investigated by the RA Special Investigation Service, has today issued a statement unjustifiably claiming that 'in no case did the investigative actions conducted by the prosecuting authority constitute grounds for initiating a criminal case.'

In this regard, it is necessary to emphasize that making such statements at this stage regarding the innocence of their client is merely a futile attempt by the lawyers to shape public opinion about the case, especially since the decision to initiate a criminal case clearly states that the grounds for initiating the case were based on materials prepared regarding reports of pressure exerted on employees by a candidate from the 'Armenia' alliance during the pre-election period in the extraordinary parliamentary elections of the RA.

In particular, in the presented report, the circumstances mentioned, as well as the legitimacy of the occasion for initiating a criminal case and the sufficiency of the grounds, were verified by the necessary actions of the prosecuting authority conducted in accordance with Articles 180-181 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code during the stage of preparing materials. This included obtaining publications regarding the event from the Fact Verification Platform (FIP).

Based on the legal grounds provided in parts 2 and 3 of the first paragraph of Article 176 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code, namely the information obtained as a result of the investigative actions undertaken by the prosecuting authority, as well as sufficient grounds regarding the alleged crime contained in the aforementioned publications sent by the RA Prosecutor's Office, a decision was made to initiate a criminal case.

Therefore, we urge lawyers not to overstep the boundaries of professional ethics and to refrain from making statements that call into question the lawful activities of the prosecuting authority.