VIDEO. Citizens Will Not Become 'Subjects of Fines', Police Chief Clarifies

“Until now, there has never been a situation where police officers have fined any citizen without grounds,” said Deputy Police Chief Ara Fidanian in a conversation with journalists today. He responded to the question of whether the mandatory requirement to wear masks, which will come into effect on November 1, would be used by the police to make citizens 'subjects of fines'.

Notably, while speaking with reporters, the Deputy Police Chief was not wearing a mask. He explained that he had taken off his mask during discussions on the draft budget at a joint session of parliamentary committees and could put it back on right now, however, he chose not to.

Returning to the matter at hand, Fidanian assured that there have been and will be no unfounded fines imposed by the police, stating that officers will operate within the framework of the law. Regarding the payments for fines imposed after previous restrictions, he noted that citizens have complied with these payments.

“There is a significant number of payments because otherwise the materials are sent to the Enforcement Service, and nonetheless, our citizens must pay,” he said.

The cancellation of numerous fines imposed previously as determined by court decisions, Ara Fidanian attributed solely to the inadequate administrative actions of certain police officers.

“We need to understand what the court decisions are related to. There have been cases where the protocols were simply incomplete or certain details that needed to be included were not mentioned by the police officer. This pertains to administration and is exclusively conditioned by that,” he added.