“The law has many shortcomings from the point of view of its proportionality, even from the point of view of the component of the pursuit of the goal. It is an unconstitutional law for – this is how the specialist in the constitution and international relations, Vardan Poghosyan, assessed the RA law “On the confiscation of property of illegal origin” during Aravot’s “Areresum” (“Confrontation”) program- in practice, it is an exceptional means of combating crimes with a particularly high public danger.
– It is not an exclusive means and not intended to combat only a few very dangerous crimes, and they are straightforward crimes by European and world standards: trafficking, narcotics, bribery, corruption in the public sphere, and money laundering. Now we are looking at how many types of crimes the law contains in Armenia when it is possible to initiate that procedure. They have nothing to do to confiscate illegal property without a conviction.”
During the program, a detailed reference was made to the constitutionality of granting such functions and powers to the prosecutor’s office and several other controversial law provisions. However, along with all this, we recalled the assurance of RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in his address on the occasion of RA Constitution Day. “We have significant progress in the judicial system, which is expressed as follows. Today, no innocent person can be convicted, arrested, or detained unnecessarily. Today, no one can consider himself above the law. All people are truly equal before the law.”
The other program guest the specialist in international law, former Deputy Minister of Justice Aram Orbelyan, said, “During the history of Armenia, the only proven case of interference in judicial processes is his guilt.” Let’s remind that in 2018 recordings of intercepted telephone conversations were distributed in which the Prime Minister of Armenia, the Director of the National Security Service, and the Head of the Special Investigation Service discussed the arrest of former President Robert Kocharyan in the March 1 case, the criminal cases against CSTO General Secretary Yuri Khachaturov and former Minister of Defense Mikayel Harutyunyan.
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Aram Orbelyan also recalled as a proven case the intervention of Chief Prosecutor Anna Vardapetyan, still in the position of the prime minister’s assistant, in the preliminary investigation of the criminal cases against the businessman, former president of the Football Federation of Armenia Ruben Hayrapetyan and his son Rafik Hayrapetyan, making corrections in the case materials. And about the counter-argument that Anna Vardapetyan provided “professional advice,” Mr. Orbelyan said: can he find out from the general prosecutor which of the judges he is providing “professional advice,” changing the documents of the prosecutor and the investigator on his computer? “This is said by a person in front of whose eyes all this happens, with whose participation, and these are proven cases. Not to mention the deaths in court and prisons, the detention of Armen Ashotyan, torture in police stations, two cases of violence against lawyers in the last few months…”
In this context, Aram Orbelyan considers the claims mentioned in the Prime Minister’s address to be at least a mockery.
Anna ISRAYELYAN
