Appeal Filed Against Rejection of Arresting Deputy Director of 'Surmalu'

An appeal has been filed against the decision not to apply detention as a preventive measure to the deputy director of the 'Surmalu' shopping center. This information was reported by Gor Abrahamyan, an advisor to the Prosecutor General of Armenia.

As the prosecutor's office has already stated, criminal proceedings have been initiated in connection with the explosion and fire that occurred at the 'Surmalu' shopping center on August 14. The supervising prosecutor has brought charges against four individuals: two for violating fire safety regulations under part 2 of Article 357 of the Armenian Criminal Code, which caused death or other serious consequences due to negligence, and two for causing the death of two or more persons due to negligence under part 2 of Article 165 of the same code.

Charges have been brought against the specified individuals for committing the aforementioned criminal acts, and motions have been submitted by the prosecuting body to the first instance court of general jurisdiction in Yerevan to apply detention as a preventive measure against them.

Abrahamyan noted that the court has approved detention measures for three out of the four individuals involved but rejected the motion concerning the deputy director of the shopping center. “The complete court decision regarding him has been received at the Yerevan Prosecutor's Office, and the reasoning has been analyzed. Based on the unfounded nature of the judicial act, an appeal has been filed today against it,” emphasized the advisor to the Prosecutor General.

He assured that the criminal proceedings are continuing extensively. Under the diligent supervision of the prosecutor’s office, all necessary measures are being taken (including written instructions to the investigative body for conducting specific procedural and evidential actions) to clarify all circumstances surrounding the tragic incident, identify the full range of responsible individuals, and completely uncover the causes of the fire and explosion.

To eliminate the causes of criminal acts and contributing factors, relevant requests are being sent from the prosecutor's office to the competent authorities to assess fire safety and the potential violations of safety regulations in similar facilities, and to take effective measures to eliminate such violations if identified.