The Issue of Involving Pashinyan as a Defendant Will be Discussed: Fallen Soldiers Recognized as Victims

On April 26, 2022, the Armenian General Prosecutor's Office received a petition from several parents and relatives of soldiers killed during the war unleashed by Azerbaijan in 2020, requesting that these soldiers be recognized as victims in a criminal case. The request was granted, according to the Armenian Prosecutor's Office.

“In particular, considering that the interview of the former head of the Military Supervision Service of the Ministry of Defense, Movses Hakobyan, led to the initiation of a criminal case under Article 308, Part 2 of the Armenian Criminal Code on November 21, 2020, in the RA Investigative Committee, as well as in connection with a report by Ara Zohrapyan, the subject of the investigation concerns possible actions taken by high-ranking officials of Armenia before and during the war that negatively impacted the combat readiness of the armed forces and influenced the outcome of the war. According to the request to be recognized as participants in the trial, the individuals mentioned in the attached list have died during the war in Artsakh. The supervising prosecutor has given written instructions to the conducting authority (the investigator of the RA Anti-Corruption Committee) to recognize the fallen soldiers as victims and their parents and relatives making the request as legal successors of the victims.

Additionally, on April 26, a separate request was received in the RA General Prosecutor's Office regarding the circumstances that led to the disastrous consequences of the 2020 Artsakh war, involving Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as a defendant under Article 299, Part 1, Article 308, Part 2, and Article 309, Part 3 of the Armenian Criminal Code. This request was forwarded by the supervising prosecutor to the investigator conducting the aforementioned case for discussion in accordance with Articles 102 and 199 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code.

The Prosecutor’s Office will take all necessary measures to guarantee the full exercise of procedural rights for all participants in the proceedings related to the 2020 disastrous war, including victims and legal successors of victims, while remaining open for effective communication.

At the same time, it is reminded that the investigation of criminal cases, the prosecutorial oversight of their legality, and the procedural decisions made within that framework are carried out exclusively in accordance with the established legal procedure and should not be influenced by public processes. Public calls to affect the course of investigations based on any factors outside the legal field are unacceptable. These do not stem from the constitutional principles of the rule of law and the interests of criminal justice,” the Prosecutor's Office reported.