Why the Chief Prosecutor Has Taken Control of the NSS and Anti-Corruption Committee

The actions of the Republic of Armenia's Chief Prosecutor Anna Vardapetyan continue to raise eyebrows. According to the "Haykakan Zhamanak" newspaper, Vardapetyan had initially assigned the oversight of five departments of the Prosecutor's Office to her deputy, Artur Poghosyan. However, months later, the situation has changed.

According to information received by the media, she has taken the authority to oversee the National Security Service (NSS) and the Anti-Corruption Committee away from Poghosyan and is now personally supervising these agencies. This means that the Chief Prosecutor is exercising direct oversight over these two investigative bodies.

The question arises: why does she not trust her deputy Poghosyan? To get an answer, the "Haykakan Zhamanak" newspaper contacted the RA Chief Prosecutor's Office, which provided a document published on the official website of the Prosecutor's Office on June 19, 2023, detailing a division of labor between the Chief Prosecutor, deputies, senior prosecutors, and prosecutors.

The Prosecutor's Office stated that this is a work process aimed at evenly distributing the workload. This implies that they have not denied the information reported by the media.