I would like to note that the Prosecutor General did not address the issue of the investigation into the torture of Samvel Vardanyan at the plenary session of the National Assembly, although MP Taguhi Tovmasyan once again raised this issue in her speech. Lawyer Ruben Melikyan wrote about this on his page.
He noted, in particular: “Let me remind you that on April 25, at the meeting of the NA Committee, the prosecutor provided the public with incorrect information about this high-profile case, and after I presented the correct information, he did not consider it necessary to apologize or ultimately explain why the said police officers were not charged within a year. “Shifting the blame” to the expert institution did not work.
It should also be noted that from the words of the Prosecutor General in the NA committee on April 25, I got the impression that there was a sincere desire to finally effectively perform the functions of the prosecutor’s office, so on April 28, together with Varazdat Harutyunyan, we submitted a fact-based petition to the supervising prosecutor to initiate criminal prosecution against the aforementioned police officers.
So what? Nothing. Exactly two weeks have passed, and we still have not received a decision on whether to grant or reject the petition, although the law allotted 7 days for this.
Conclusions:
1) I was wrong in thinking that there was a sincere desire to effectively perform the functions of the prosecutor’s office. Nothing of the sort happened. Instead, there was a desire to hide the truth.
2) The prosecutor’s office, by its inaction, actually encourages the practice of torture and degrading treatment, which is becoming more widespread and brazen. “The Prosecutor General bears personal responsibility for all of this,” Ruben Melikyan wrote on his social media page.