On the Catholicos and His Arrested Nephew: A Call from the Prosecutor's Office

As we reported earlier, today the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia announced the arrest of the deputy prosecutor of Shengavit on charges of bribery. According to 'Hraparak', the arrested prosecutor K. N. is the nephew of Catholicos Garegin II.

In a statement on Facebook, the adviser to the Prosecutor General, Gor Abrahamyan, commented on the matter, stating: 'Respecting the presumption of innocence, I would like to make several observations regarding the unhealthy and unfounded speculations that have arisen around the information released today by the Prosecutor General’s Office about a prosecution for receiving a bribe by the prosecutor. Certain media outlets are evidently and stubbornly attempting to connect the incident with the personality of His Holiness the Catholicos, trying to give a political or other hue to it. Moreover, news outlets are attempting to lead the narrative in the direction that certain processes are being 'woven' around the Pontiff through the initiation of criminal proceedings against his relatives, thus trying to create the impression of targeting him. Such claims, insinuations, and assumptions have no basis and are merely a blatant demonstration of folly and absurdity aimed at cheapening and obscuring the ongoing anti-corruption struggle with fabricated intrigues.'

'The familial connection to the Catholicos or any other well-known or unknown person bears no influence and cannot bear any influence. Everyone is equal before the law, and there can be no exceptions. Instead of rooting for this approach and encouraging its continuation, specific media outlets, by nature, divert everything towards cheap intrigues and personal rivalries. Meanwhile, both within and outside the prosecutorial system, it is well known that the Prosecutor General has an absolute intolerance, strict and consistent stance towards such phenomena among prosecutors, and any similar manifestation will receive the most severe backlash. Therefore, I urge the cessation of the unfounded and unnecessary speculations that have begun.'

'Secondly, clearly false 'details' about this case are leaking into the information field, which bear no relation to reality and aim to generate certain sentiments. Specifically, it is mentioned that the criminal case was initiated as a result of wiretapping in the prosecutor's office, creating the impression that a targeted approach was adopted. This is not the case. Not only was there no such targeting, but also such an operation was not conducted at all. Information regarding the authorities preparing to submit a request to the Supreme Judicial Council today for permission to initiate criminal proceedings against judges has also proven to be false. We hope that the media will not fall for these informational traps,' Abrahamyan wrote.

Earlier, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that, as a result of extensive operational-intelligence activities undertaken by the National Security Service of Armenia in conjunction with the Prosecutor's Office, factual data were obtained indicating that K. N., acting as a public official in the Shengavit administrative district of Yerevan, had received a bribe amounting to 2,500,000 AMD from N. D. to facilitate a lenient sentence in a criminal case being heard at the first instance general jurisdiction court of Armavir Province, with the assistance and mediation of G. G. and N. A.

On June 8, 2022, the acting Prosecutor General decided that a criminal case had been initiated under part 4 of Article 311, part 3 of Article 312, and part 1 of Article 313 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, and it was forwarded to the Anti-Corruption Committee for preliminary investigation. On June 9, 2022, a decision was made to involve K. N. as a defendant under part 4 of Article 311 of the Criminal Code, and the decision was sent to the investigator conducting the case to bring charges.

Based on the investigator's decisions regarding the arrest, K. N. and the other individuals involved in the alleged offense were detained by officers of the National Security Service of Armenia.

Note: A suspect or defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia, by a legally binding court decision.