6 Criminal Proceedings Initiated Regarding Elections: Prosecutor's Office

The head of the Pre-Trial Supervision Department of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office, Edgar Arsenyan, presented the activities carried out by the Task Force established by the order of the Prosecutor General of Armenia during the period from August 23 to September 15, 2023, at a press conference held today at the Central Electoral Commission.

Arsenyan noted, “Before summarizing the results of the continuous monitoring conducted from 08:00 to 14:00 on election day, I would like to provide brief information about the activities of the Task Force created by the order of the Prosecutor General in anticipation of the Yerevan City Council elections.”

The purpose of the Task Force is to register, account for, study, verify, and submit reports concerning apparent electoral crimes, as well as publications and alerts made through media or social networks, and to enhance the effectiveness of the prosecutorial supervision over the investigations initiated based on these reports.

In cases where reports concerning apparent crimes related to the electoral process contained abstract, general, and unclear information, the Prosecutor General instructed the Task Force to ensure that all such reports be sent to the appropriate territorial units of the Police for verification actions to be undertaken.

In this context, reports, complaints, and announcements received concerning Articles 218-221 and 231-232 of the Criminal Code have been sent to the relevant division of the Anti-Corruption Committee for verification according to the procedure established by the Law on Operational-Intelligence Activities. These articles relate to the giving and receiving of electoral bribes, mediation in bribery, violations of the prohibition of charity during the election, as well as evading the prohibition of soliciting large illegal donations on behalf of a party or exceeding the legally established limits for party donations from unauthorized sources.

In those cases where the report initially contained sufficient information regarding a crime or this information was obtained as a result of verification actions based on the report, the issue of initiating a criminal proceeding has been promptly addressed by redirecting the report to the competent investigative body.

The Prosecutor General also instructed that following the initiation of a criminal proceeding, necessary evidential and procedural actions related to the case should be ensured immediately.

During the pre-election campaign, that is, from August 23 to September 15, the Task Force factually examined 17 publications, alerts, and reports of apparent crimes concerning 17 incidents.

Based on the reports of apparent crimes received, 6 criminal proceedings have been initiated, of which 4 are concerning cases of coercion to carry out or refrain from carrying out election campaigning or otherwise obstructing election campaigning.

Another ongoing case involves threats or blackmail against a person or their close relatives to participate or refrain from participating in a legal or illegal assembly, as well as coercing participation in such an assembly by materially incentivizing individuals.

The last ongoing case pertains to obstructing the implementation of electoral rights or the execution of rights or duties by persons involved in the work of electoral commissions.

Out of the received reports of apparent crimes, 1 has been sent to the preliminary investigation body, the Investigative Committee's Yerevan Investigation Division, to decide on the initiation of a criminal proceeding concerning the charge of receiving payments for election poster placement services without actual placement.

No record for initiating a criminal proceeding has been created regarding one report concerning a violation of the prohibition of charity during elections.

7 of the alerts, complaints, and reports received have been sent to the relevant territorial divisions of the Police for verification actions based on the information indicated in them.

Of the aforementioned 7 cases, 5 relate to coercing participation in legal or illegal gatherings through threats of violence against a person or their close relatives, as well as other related instances. 1 case involves violations of the prohibition of charity during elections by a party, and 1 case pertains to violations of the rules regarding the compilation of voter lists and their provision to citizens or parties.

In addition, 2 reports concerning violations of the prohibition of charity during elections have been sent to the Anti-Corruption Committee for verification through relevant operational-intelligence measures.

As of today, at 14:00, the Task Force has examined 4 cases containing publications, alerts, and reports of apparent crimes. Out of the received reports of apparent crimes, 2 have been sent to the preliminary investigative body to decide on the initiation of a criminal proceeding—one concerning multiple or proxy voting, and the other concerning other violations.

Out of the 4 alerts, complaints, and reports received, 2 have been sent to the competent divisions of the Police for verification actions based on the information indicated in them; these relate to coercing participation in gatherings.