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The outcome of the Prosecutor’s Office operative activities will be yet one more claim against Armeniasent to the European Court of Human Rights.

Human rights activists, Artur Sakunts, Avetik Ishkhanyan and advocate Hayk Alumyan claim that the RA General Prosecutor’s Office violated the presumption of innocence by accepting a report on a “crime” (receiving illegal compensation), filing a criminal case and immediately disseminating a message stating that Tigran Postanjyan was a criminal. According to Tigran Postanjyan’s advocate, Hayk Alumyan, this case is a sequence of violations and the case trial will be of great interest.

H. Alumyan stated, “On February 18, 2011 the General Prosecutor’s Office disseminated a message … according to which, the Prosecutor’s office found that Tigran Postanjyan, being a public servant, committed a crime by Article 311 of the Criminal Code. As it became known later, the General Prosecutor’s office also filed a criminal case on that same day. Imagine that the General Prosecutor’s Office can label a person a criminal immediately after filing a criminal claim against him?  This is incomprehensible and anyone who can be guided by such methods should be considered a criminal.” 

One of the violations, according to the advocate, is that the case was presented for investigation to SIS of the General Prosecutor’s Office, which, pursuant to Article 190 of the RA Criminal Code, is not authorized to investigate cases with aforementioned accusations.  “But the General Prosecutor’s Office directly violated the law by appointing SIS for the investigation of the case”, mentioned the advocate.  Although the case was small and simple, it was presented to five interrogators of SIS.  If three witnesses were involved in the case, it can be assumed that each interrogator carried out interrogations with over 1.3 people.  Consider this fact: someone is involved as an accused party and then excluded from the investigation activities because of objecting to the legality of activities of the investigative group!

There is another situation that is of great interest.  On February 18, 2011, two individuals, independent of one another, suddenly decided to report a crime to two different law-enforcement agencies: The RA General Prosecutor’s Office and SIS regarding a “crime” committed a few months prior by Tigran Postanjyan.  It was claimed that the latter had received illegal compensation.  Then on the same day, without inviting Tigran Postanjyan in for questioning, a criminal case was immediately initiated based solely on the RA General Prosecutor’s Office who had earlier disseminated information that Postanjyan had committed a crime.

“A more extensive violation of presumption of innocence cannot be envisioned. Certainly, the fact whether Tigran Postanjyan is a criminal or not will be resolved by the judge and we’ll prove that there is no crime in his activities”, notes H. Alumyan. Avetik Ishkhanyan stated, “I know that such illegal compensation cannot be proved unless the money was marked beforehand and then later identified. First, it would be especially difficult since such a long time has passed and this, in fact, itself is very suspicious behavior because such cases cannot be proved solely based on the disseminated message of bribery and the RA General Prosecutor’s office is well aware of it. Secondly, a preventive measure comes in question:   “what serious crime has been committed to apply detention as a means of restraint”? Thirdly, the NSS is investigating this case as a direct prosecution and to be frank it could be called unfair prosecution or what could be called a political prosecution”. 

Artur Sakunts expressed his astonishment regarding the operational activities performed by the Prosecutor’s Office.   In most cases, when an organization reports on the crimes committed by public officials, the 10-day term defined by the Criminal Code and one year passes and “they run about” in courts to oblige the Court to file a criminal case against law-enforcement bodies. As to the necessity of choosing detention as a preventive measure, the investigation justified it with the fact that both the accused and the witnesses were residents from the same community. Artur Sakunts was also surprised that Tigran was denied the chance to meet with his relatives, particularly, the NA lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjyan, though the law allows each lawmaker to have a meeting with detained and arrested persons.

“I have the impression that they do their utmost to seclude him and deprive him of correspondence with the outside world. It is a severe psychological prosecution with the main goal of exerting pressure on Zaruhi Postanjyan.     

The Republic of Armenia, in the name of the Special Investigative Service, “has taken Tigran Postanjyan captive to compel his sister, who is actively involved in social and political activities in the field of human rights protection, to decrease her activities and become passive. This is the conclusion I have come to in this situation”. The human rights activists consider this an order given by the presidential residence at Baghramyan 26.

Source: “Zhamanak” daily