Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

During the preliminary investigation, victim E.M. demanded the ATM video recordings from the bank and presented them to the investigator. The wallet and the face of the person who had stolen the bank cards could clearly be seen in the video recordings. Despite having the cash withdrawal video recordings and the appearance data of the person who had committed the crime, a decision was made on suspending the criminal case proceedings.   

E.M. applied to Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor and stated that on June 27, 2019, she reported to the Police that on the same day at around 11:30-11:40, in No. 4 microbus, an unknown person secretly stole a wallet worth about AMD 2,500 from her backpack, which contained 3000 drams, an identification card, a social card and 3 bank cards. Using of them, he withdrew AMD 450,000 in parts from ACBA-Credit Agricole bank ATM and tried to do cash withdrawal with the other cards from the same ATM. As a result, material damage of up to AMD 455,000 was caused to E.M. 

Based on the aforementioned, on July 4, 2019, a criminal case was initiated pursuant to Article 177 § 1 of the RA Criminal Code (Theft, i.e. clandestine appropriation of somebody’s property in significant amounts), Article 177 § 2 and Article 177 § 3 of the RA Criminal Code (Theft by illegally entering a warehouse or facility) and Article 324 § 1 of the RA Criminal Code (Theft of a citizen’s passport or other important document). 4 days later the criminal case was sent to the Investigative Division of Arabkir administrative district of Yerevan and a preliminary investigation was conducted. E.M. was involved as the victim. During the preliminary investigation, E.M. demanded the ATM video recordings from “ACBA-Credit Agricole” bank and presented them to the investigator. By the way, the video recording of ATM cash withdrawal and cash withdrawal attempt is also at Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor’s disposal.  

The face of the person who stole the wallet and the bank cards can clearly be seen in the video recordings. Having the ATM cash withdrawal video recordings and all the appearance data of the perpetrator, on August 5, 2019, nevertheless, a decision was made on suspending the criminal case. It is mentioned in the decision that alongside the investigative actions, different hypotheses were brought forward and discussed, however, operative intelligence measures did not entail any positive result.  

It turns out that E.M. presented the video recordings of the perpetrator, performed law enforcement body functions, whereas the law enforcement body actually failed to fulfill its obligations.

Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor records that such an ineffective work style has become ordinary and oft-recurring for law enforcement bodies and this impedes the implementation of justice and the protection of citizens’ rights. Based on the aforementioned, it can be concluded that despite having video recordings with apparent evidence, H. Gasparyan, investigator at Arabkir administrative district investigative division, 3rd class advisor, displayed an improper work style and the Police did not take the necessary steps to discover the person who had committed the crime. 

We expect from the superior bodies to take the necessary measures to eliminate this kind of work style in the system, ensure proper quality investigation and guarantee human rights protection.