New Details Regarding 'Surmalu': Exclusive Documents Found by 'Zhoghovurd' Newspaper

'Zhoghovurd' newspaper reports that an exclusive document has come into its possession. It appears that safety regulations at the 'Surmalu' shopping center have not been upheld since last year, forcing many individuals concerned for their safety to leave the center.

According to the document, on April 6, 2021, a lawyer for one of the affected businesses from the fire at the 'Surmalu' shopping center, Tigran Muradyan, submitted a motion to Yerevan Prosecutor Sevak Hovhannisyan, recording several gross violations and urging the cessation of operations at the 'Surmalu' shopping center. Prosecutor Sevak Hovhannisyan has not responded to the motion.

For a year, the Prosecutor General's Office, represented by Yerevan prosecutor Sevak Hovhannisyan, has been inactive regarding this case. The Investigative Committee of Armenia has also been inactive for about a year since the investigation into the fire at the 'Surmalu' shopping center on April 6, 2021, is still ongoing. The Expertise Agency has shown questionable sluggishness, as it took them a year to deliver the expert conclusion, which was only received a month ago. The professional conclusion confirmed that the management of the shopping center did not comply with safety regulations.

If a year ago the Prosecutor General's Office had not shown negligent disregard and properly examined the lawyer's motion, which highlighted numerous violations, and moreover, if the investigator did not lay a soft pillow under the lawyer's head, saying that the matter would be discussed after receiving the investigation results, we would not have had 16 casualties today.

We attach the document that justifies why it was necessary to close 'Surmalu', which the incorruptible state circles of Nikol Pashinyan did not act upon.

For more details, see today's issue of the newspaper.