Anna Vardapetyan Makes Noteworthy Confession: 'Hayots Ashkharh'

“Hayots Ashkharh” newspaper reports that yesterday, Armenia's Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan presented a petition to initiate public criminal prosecution against Seyran Ohanyan, the head of the National Assembly's “Hayastan” faction.

During the discussion, either intentionally or unintentionally, Anna Vardapetyan confessed that the criminal prosecution against Seyran Ohanyan was initiated also because he did not petition for the dismissal of the case based on the statute of limitations. Specifically, Civil Contract faction MP Hovik Aghazaryan posed a question to Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan, asking, “If Seyran Ohanyan were to present himself to you or the body concerned and acknowledge his guilt, let’s say, requesting the application of the statute of limitations, what would happen?”

“We certainly would not have initiated criminal prosecution against him on the grounds of the statute of limitations, but we would continue the investigation, already having this fact in our materials regarding other individuals, because this is not just one person; it's not only Seyran Ohanyan,” said the Prosecutor General.

This means she admitted that the pursuit of Seyran Ohanyan in parliament was solely because he did not ask for the application of the statute of limitations. Moreover, this issue and phrasing were expressed differently throughout the discussion. Notable thoughts were also voiced by the MPs of the Civil Contract party. For instance, former Republican Party of Armenia member and now Civil Contract MP Gevorg Papoyan remarked during his speech, “Can you imagine what kind of outcry certain paid journalists, scribes, and editors would raise if it suddenly became clear that a military unit was closing down in Armenia or being sold?”

It is worth recalling that last year, on April 15, 2022, under the leadership of Nikol Pashinyan, 72 immovable properties belonging to the Ministry of Defense were put up for sale in Yerevan and the regions, including the former building of the Ministry of Defense, military units, and land plots. Moreover, Armenia, in a difficult post-war situation, decided to sell military properties attached to the Ministry of Defense also in regions bordering Azerbaijan. Specifically, two military units put up for sale are located in Gegharkunik Province. However, yesterday, Seyran Ohanyan was accused of having sold the military unit located at the border with Nakhchivan.

It should be noted that the Prosecutor General mentioned in her speech that the territory of the Ministry of Defense sold during Seyran Ohanyan's tenure was not an operating military unit and, moreover, was not a usable military unit; however, this did not prevent Vardapetyan from entering the National Assembly regarding Ohanyan's case.

For more details, refer to this morning's issue of the newspaper.