Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

In January 2024, Gevorg Kotanjyan, the chairman of the “Direct Democracy” NGO, made an announcement on his Facebook page that on December 14, 2022, the Vanadzor Council of Elders had approved the subvention of the construction of Vanadzor cabin kindergarten number 4, and on November 29, 2023, the second application of the second stage of the kindergarten construction. Kotanjyan noted that there was no record related to this kindergarten in the decisions of December 14, 2022, on the official website of Vanadzor Municipality. Moreover, Kotanjyan has attached kindergarten pictures from different periods, which vividly show that no construction works have been done. According to the decision, in the first stage, the kindergarten should have been demolished, and in the second phase, the foundation of the new kindergarten to be laid. 

Based on the announcement, HCAV has submitted a crime report to the General Prosecutor’s office of RA. The latter hasn’t initiated a criminal proceeding based on the submitted report, and the Organization was not notified about it in accordance with the law. Instead, our submitted report has been redirected to the Taron Department of the Lori Regional Department of the Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia for investigative actions to be carried out. As a response, the department of Taron has sent only one letter, saying that the decision of the council of elders is available and is published on the official website of the municipality. 

It should be noted that the report on the crime referred to the failure to perform construction works within the framework of the approved subvention. In other words, the Taron department of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs did not provide proper information about the investigations they carried out regarding the fact. Besides, it is mentioned that the recordings are now published, but it is the second decision that is published, and the decision of the first phase, by which the subvention amounting to AMD 80,682,780 is defined, is missing. 

No proper investigation was done based on our submitted report; it was not found out on what grounds the second phase of the kindergarten subvention was approved while no work was done by the approved first stage. In addition to the above-mentioned, the fact that the RA Investigative Committee has not notified the Organization about not initiating criminal proceedings with this case has significant importance. 

On March 3, 2024, the Organization received the decision of not initiating proceedings from the Taron department, while according to Article 179, Part 3 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code, the investigator must immediately inform the person who submitted the report in writing, indicating the grounds for not initiating criminal proceedings, as well as the procedure and deadlines for appealing the refusal to initiate proceedings. 

On March 4, 2024, the Organization filed a complaint to the RA General’s Prosecutor's office against not initiating a criminal proceeding. The appeal was forwarded to the RA prosecutor's office in the Lori region. On March 22, 2024, the prosecutor's office responded that the appeal is subject to refusal on the grounds of being out of date and that the date of the letter addressed to the Taron Department of the police of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs should be taken as a date. Meanwhile, the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia establishes a mandatory legal requirement that the notification must be carried out by the investigator. 

As a result, the public participants of the proceedings, including the prosecutor and the investigator, have acted in significant violation of the law and have demonstrated illegal behavior not preserving the requirements of the criminal procedure code. 

On April 25, 2024, the Organization filed a complaint to the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction. On May 20, 2024, the court rejected the complaint of the Organization, considering the decision of the prosecutor’s office not to initiate criminal proceedings to be legal.

HCAV filed an appeal against the decision of the first instance court. The Court of Appeal completely satisfied the Organization's complaint, stating that, in accordance with the rules of investigative subordination, the Lori Region Prosecutor's Office should have forwarded the Organization's report to the head of the competent investigative body in order to resolve the issue of initiating criminal proceedings. Thus, the court of the first instance has significantly violated the law of the criminal procedure, which is a basis to annul the judicial act. 

On August 16, 2024, the deputy general prosecutor filed a complaint with the court of cassation. The decision on whether to accept or reject the complaint for proceedings has not yet been made.