Was the accusation against Aghvan Hovhannisyan false? Criminal case dismissal

The former Prosecutor General of Armenia, Aghvan Hovhannisyan, had a criminal case against him dismissed due to lack of evidence of a crime based on a report he filed regarding an alleged offense. This was confirmed in a conversation with Factorinfo by the press department of the Armenian police.

Recall that an unnamed news website, lacking any contact information, telephone number, or editor, published false information accusing A. Hovhannisyan of committing acts against the sexual integrity and life of a person. In this regard, Aghvan Hovhannisyan submitted a report to the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office demanding the initiation of a criminal case against the media outlet for the particularly false accusations and sought accountability for the authors of the slander.

The Prosecutor's Office forwarded the report to the Armenian police for verification and to determine the course of action.

The police examined the publication itself to establish whether such an event had occurred and ultimately confirmed that the information disseminated by the news website bore no relation to reality, leading to the dismissal of the criminal case due to the absence of a crime. However, the initiation of a criminal case for false denunciation was also dismissed on the grounds that there was no evidence of a crime.

According to the police, a person can be defamed and falsely accused of murder without facing consequences, yet they are prepared to launch a criminal case based on anonymous letters allegedly intended to insult Prime Minister Pashinyan, contrary to the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia.

The media also reached out to a member of Aghvan Hovhannisyan's legal team, Gagik Khachikyan, to clarify whether they plan to contest the decision on the dismissal of the criminal case for false denunciation. Khachikyan responded that the possibility of filing an appeal is under discussion.