Investigator in March 1 Case Altered Police Testimonies and Attached Fake Documents, Investigative Phase Concluded

The investigation conducted within the framework of the criminal proceedings in the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia has revealed that A.H., who served as an investigator in the criminal case examined by the Special Investigative Service of Armenia regarding the events of March 1 and 2, 2008, in Yerevan, acted under the influence of G.K., who held the position of assistant to the President of Armenia, and G.M., who served as the Deputy Chief of Police of Armenia. From June 23, 2008, to January 11, 2011, A.H. abused his official powers to alter the factual circumstances of the case, including concealing the involvement of the Armenian Armed Forces in the aforementioned events and creating procedural documents containing inaccurate information.

Specifically, pursuant to illegal instructions received from G.K. and G.M., based on a prior agreement, during the forensic examination assigned in this criminal case, investigator A.H. and the head of the investigative group, V.H., invited a senior officer from the police to the Special Investigative Service in July-August 2008, indicating that to conceal the actual circumstances of the illegal use of firearms by the Armed Forces during the discussed events, it was necessary to replace around 1000 cartridges found in various areas of the crime scene with cartridges from firearms of the same caliber that belong to the police units. They also organized to amend the documents relating to the internal police inquiry on the use of blank ammunition by the special unit of the police during the events of March 1, 2008, to align them with the altered testimonies of police personnel.

Subsequently, several officers of the police shot the required number of rounds at a combat training ground in the village of Getazat in the Ararat region, collecting around 1000 cartridges, which they then delivered to the Special Investigative Service, handing them over to investigator A.H. Following this, the cartridges were provided to the expert A.H. from the forensic division of the Armenian Police to be replaced with the actual cartridges seized from various parts of the crime scene.

During the process of replacing the cartridges found at the crime scene, A.H., along with V.H. and others, prepared and attached procedural documents containing inaccurate information to the criminal case. Specifically, at V.H.'s direction, separate investigators in the group, including A.H., took reports from police officers who had used blank ammunition during the events of March 1, 2008, claiming they had fired combat cartridges from their assigned firearms on that day, attaching these reports to the criminal case. Furthermore, the leadership of the police unit crafted a final decision stating the use of combat ammunition was justified, following V.H.'s instructions and backdating it to align with the amended reports.

At the same time, under V.H.'s orders, the investigators altered witness interrogation records to reflect false new testimonies that police officers used combat ammunition on March 1, 2008, thus concealing the use of firearms by the armed forces and distorting the objective reality in the criminal case materials. After recording the false testimonies, the 24 self-loading rifles assigned to the police were provided to the expert A.H. conducting the forensic examination assigned on March 5, 2008. On August 12, 2008, comparative research was conducted by the expert on the 24 rifles, resulting in bullets and cartridges from experimental shots, and the findings regarding the falsified evidence were documented in the expert's conclusion from December 29, 2008, which was attached to the case materials on December 30, 2008.

Thus, until January 11, 2011, A.H., while conducting the investigation and having the obligation to undertake all necessary measures for a thorough and objective examination of the circumstances of the case, abused his official powers, which negligently led to severe consequences, considering that many self-loading rifles registered with the Ministry of Defense and the Police of Armenia were damaged, destroyed by melting, lost, or otherwise taken out of circulation over time, obstructing the investigation of particularly serious crimes by removing cartridges containing traces of the crime from the criminal case.

The former investigator A.H. has been charged under the second part of Article 308 of the former Criminal Code of Armenia. The investigative phase regarding him has concluded, and the materials of the proceedings have been submitted to the supervising prosecutor with a request to present it to the court.