Sargsyan on the Case of the 1-Year-Old Child

When we received a report from the hospital, the signal or report from family members was such that, in essence, we were not dealing with a crime; it was a standard process, the child felt unwell and as a result was transferred to the hospital, but we immediately set to work on operational-investigative tasks. This was stated by Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan to journalists in the National Assembly.

According to her, a case has been initiated on the grounds of murder, as they received information that the intervention of the woman living with the child's father was involved in the general process regarding the abuse of the child.

The minister reported that they are currently continuing work with the investigative committee, and there is also a preventive measure against that individual. “We continue our work to provide a legal assessment of situations related to other family members as well. At this moment, issues regarding the status are being clarified,” said the minister.

According to Sargsyan, the newly implemented system for the protection of children's rights is based on the logic that the first information receiver should not be the police. “The signal should come from the community, it should come from the social workers and others there. I am confident that our partners are also examining this issue within their jurisdiction to understand whether there has been an objective signal or not in such situations. For our part, I am also considering the situation with community police to understand whether it was possible to receive such information from the perspective of our toolset or not,” Sargsyan noted.

It should be reminded that recently a one-year-old child transferred to the “Arabkir” medical center is assessed to be in extremely critical condition, remaining in a deep comatose state with severe brain damage after clinical death and resuscitation efforts.

The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia has initiated public criminal prosecution against the second wife of the child's father for cases of unlawfully depriving the child of life.