Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

On April 26, 2019, during the conversation with journalists, Director of NSS of RA Artur Vanetsyan was asked a question about fabricating a case against D. Sanasaryan and answered that after the famous incidents that took place in April 2018, there were “no fabricated cases”.

By this, A. Vanetsyan indirectly recorded that such cases previously existed.

On May 3, 2019, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor applied to the Director of NSS to find out when and on what incidents exactly those cases were fabricated, what purpose they pursued and if there had been criminal cases initiated, what outcome they reached.

On the same day, HCA Vanadzor filed a crime report to the RA Prosecutor General’s Office claiming to find out persons who fabricated cases and bring them to liability.

Answers dated May 15, 2019, were received from both structures. Head of Staff of Director of the National Security Service of RA G. Poghosyan stated that those questions were raised due to the NSS Director’s misunderstanding and incorrect interpretation and what NSS Director said could not serve as grounds upon which to conclude that there had been such cases before 2018.

Nevertheless, Head of Staff of the NSS of RA assured that in case of having any information on the questions raised by the note, they would initiate appropriate processes.

Whereas, the RA Prosecutor General’s Office responded that there were no crime features in the report.

G. Sargsyan – senior prosecutor of the Department for Supervision over the Investigation of Crimes Against Public Security – qualified the arguments presented in HCA Vanadzor report as abstract and a result of their own interpretation. He thus did not find a reason for initiating a criminal case.