The Response of the Prosecutor General's Office to Aram Vardevanyan's Public Inquiries

On January 5, National Assembly Deputy Aram Vardevanyan made three inquiries to the Prosecutor General of Armenia via his Facebook page, regarding which we find it necessary to state the following:

Both the incidents of not allowing the elected members of the Vardenis Council to enter the workplace and the statements made by former Mayor Hayk Marutyan and others during the Yerevan City Council session were highlighted through the continuous media monitoring conducted by the Prosecutor General's Office and were examined accordingly.

As a result, the publications regarding the situation surrounding the Vardenis City Hall were sent to the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia to prepare materials in accordance with Articles 180-181 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia and to decide on further actions based on the results. Meanwhile, the publications related to the statements made during the Yerevan City Council's well-known session were forwarded by the Prosecutor General's Office to the Criminal Police of the Republic of Armenia on the same day to verify the facts mentioned therein. In this regard, the Prosecutor's Office has informed the public on the same day.

Preparations for materials related to part of the statements have already begun, while verification actions regarding the other part are still ongoing. In this sense, it may not be necessary to mention that the question of initiating criminal prosecution (which the deputy raises) can only be addressed based on the assessment of evidence obtained during the investigation of a criminal case that has adequate grounds.

Regarding the inquiry on applying detention as a preventive measure against Ashot Minasyan, the commander of the Sisakan detachment, and the question of preferring non-custodial preventive measures in cases with similar charges, it should be noted that it is unrelated to the regulations on the conditions and grounds for detention.

Considering that Mr. Vardevanyan frequently calls for respect for the positions expressed in judicial acts, we propose that he follow this call and respect the court ruling regarding Ashot Minasyan, refraining from making unfounded assessments of the charges.

Moreover, although the severity of the charges is not a determining factor for preventive measures, since Mr. Vardevanyan has emphasized in his inquiry whether other individuals have been detained under similar charges in other cases, we inform that, for instance, in 10 cases concluded in courts from 2017 to 2021, where the same criminal offenses were examined by the same preliminary investigation body, 9 individuals were detained under Article 235, part 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia. Similarly, throughout the Republic in 13 cases concluded in 2021 with the same charges, 8 individuals were detained.

Furthermore, over the years, individuals have been imprisoned under conditions that warranted detention, and later sentenced to imprisonment for possessing even just one pistol or submachine gun illegally. In any case, none of the individuals detained under the same charges have illegally possessed arms and ammunition such as that which Ashot Minasyan is accused of possessing, namely, 3 pieces of 7.62 mm caliber PK type machine guns, one piece of 5.45 mm caliber RPK-74 type machine gun, 2 pieces of optical sighted anti-tank grenade launchers, 3 submachine guns, 14 optical sighted rifles, 9 boxes each containing 2160 pieces of 5.45 mm caliber cartridges, 5 boxes of 7.62 mm caliber cartridges, 233 pieces of 7.62 caliber cartridges, and explosives (…).

Taking into account that Mr. Vardevanyan has participated as a lawyer in the case against Ashot Minasyan and is familiar with the charges brought against him, we do not find it necessary to continue listing the types of illegally held munitions found in the facility belonging to Minasyan.