Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

By its decision of October 28 of this year, the RA Court of Cassation refused to accept the cassation appeal of the Deputy Prosecutor General of the RA, under which conditions the decision of the RA Criminal Court of Appeal entered into force. Specifically, it states to initiate a criminal proceeding in accordance with the rules of investigative subordination and subject the case of Vanadzor Kindergarten No. 4 to a new and comprehensive examination. 

Back in January 2024, HCAV filed a crime report with the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia based on a Facebook post by Gevorg Kotanjyan, the president of the "Direct Democracy" NGO. The latter has informed 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. G. 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, even construction works have not 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. 

The General Prosecutor’s office of the RA hadn’t initiated a criminal proceeding based on the submitted report, and the Organization was not notified about it in accordance with the law. Instead, the submitted report had 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 had sent only one letter, saying that the decision of the council of elders was available and was published on the official website of the municipality. Meanwhile, the crime report by HCAV concerned the failure to carry out construction works within the framework of the approved subvention. 

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, in writing,  must immediately inform the person who submitted the report, indicating the grounds for not initiating criminal proceedings, as well as clarify the procedure and deadlines for appealing the refusal to initiate proceedings. 

On March 4, 2024, the Organization filed a complaint with the RA General Prosecutor's office against not initiating a criminal proceeding. The appeal was redirected to the RA prosecutor's office in the Lori region. On March 22, 2024, the prosecutor's office responded that the appeal was 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 have been taken as a term. 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 had 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 Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia filed a cassation appeal. By the decision of October 28 of this year, the Court of Cassation of the Republic of Armenia refused to accept the appeal for proceedings, under which conditions the decision of the Criminal Court of Appeal of the Republic of Armenia came into force, namely to initiate criminal proceedings in accordance with the rules of investigative subordination.

As a result, the case of Vanadzor Kindergarten No. 4 will be re-examined in its entirety.