Valery Osipyan Files Criminal Report Against Vladimir Gasparyan, Lawyer Says

Former Chief of Police of Armenia, Valery Osipyan, has filed a criminal report against his former superior, former Chief of Police Vladimir Gasparyan. In an interview with 24News, lawyer Alexander Kochubayev stated that the case relates to actions taken during the years 2018-2019, when Osipyan served as Chief of Police and reported that Gasparyan had abused his powers.

"The report pertained to the allocation of housing to military personnel who did not require improvement in their living conditions. During the investigation, it was confirmed that Gasparyan had awarded apartments to 64 servicemen. None of them were relatives or close associates of Gasparyan. Awards were given from rank-and-file officers to directors of departments. It was a natural process. Among those who received apartments was Deputy Head of the Department, Valery Osipyan himself. However, Osipyan ignored his own housing situation, and three out of the 64 were singled out as instances of abuse of authority. Naturally, the courts were required to follow through on these directives. Unfortunately, we have a verdict stating that Vladimir Gasparyan abused his powers by providing housing to three officers. The state did not seek to recover those apartments but decided to recover the value of the apartments from Vladimir Gasparyan instead," said the lawyer.

Regarding why Valery Osipyan only filed a report concerning three out of the 64 cases, the lawyer was unable to provide an answer. "For instance, there is a person named Garegin Gasparyan, who has no familial relationship to Vladimir Gasparyan; it was merely necessary to mention the name Gasparyan. There is also Khnarika Sasunyan, about whom a false thesis circulated during the trial that she is the producer of Angelina Gasparyan. This is false, as she was not a professional singer and had no need for a producer. Meanwhile, Khnarika Sasunyan and her husband were good officers in the system, and her husband was a participant in the war, having given everything, meaning they were deserving officers. The last one mentioned is the department head Rafik Zakaryan, who was said to be a friend of Gasparyan. They attempted to link them through dirty tricks," highlighted Alexander Kochubayev.

According to him, the funds Gasparyan allocated were neither taken from his own pockets nor from the police budget, as the budget had been approved by the government. "If there was a crime here, it was composed of 64 instances, and the government was an accomplice as well. It does not happen that Gasparyan would allocate awards and, in doing so, commit abuse of authority. Why did Osipyan not mention that he also received a housing benefit and lived there until becoming the chief of police? He received it for conscientious service. Mr. Osipyan became part of the government and chose this path," said Alexander Kochubayev.

He pointed out that the state's behavior is also unclear, as instead of recognizing these transactions as illegal and recovering the property, the state attempted to present it under the guise of the confiscation of illegal properties. "Vladimir Gasparyan states that no good deed should go unpunished. Essentially, he was punished for rewarding loyal system members," the lawyer concluded.