Decision Made Not to Prosecute Armen Amiryan Due to Lack of Criminal Composition

The former Minister of Culture of Armenia, Armen Amiryan, will not face criminal prosecution due to the absence of a crime. This information was provided in response to a written inquiry by Factinfo from the Office of the Prosecutor General of Armenia.

It is worth noting that on April 10, 2020, the Investigative Committee of Armenia released a statement claiming that in 2017, under the pretext of covering the expenses for the participation of the Armenian delegation at the Cannes Film Festival, the former Minister of Culture demanded and received, in an indirect manner, a total of approximately 6,800,000 AMD from the director of the film “My Grandmother’s Hair.” However, the criminal case was subsequently referred to the Special Investigation Service (SIS) for preliminary investigation based on investigative jurisdiction.

In response to the written inquiry, the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia announced that during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case opened under Article 309 (part 1) and Article 179 (part 1) of the Criminal Code of Armenia, regarding the abuse of official powers by Armen Amiryan and embezzlement of particularly large amounts of property, a decision was made on October 23, 2020, at the SIS not to initiate criminal prosecution against Amiryan on the grounds of absence of a crime in his acts.

The media highlights the fact that the investigative body made this decision more than a year ago, which the SIS kept secret from the public. This means that a statement was made attributing alleged corrupt activities to the former Minister of Culture without filing charges against him, and later, there was no obligation to inform the public that the former official had actually not embezzled funds and had not abused his powers.

The Prosecutor General's Office informed Factinfo that the preliminary investigation into the aforementioned criminal case continues at the investigative division of the Yerevan Investigative Committee’s Ajapnyak and Davtashen administrative districts. “There are no ongoing criminal cases regarding purported offenses committed by Armen Amiryan,” the office stated.