The fate of civil and criminal cases in the proceedings of the Artsakh law enforcement bodies, as well as the courts, is unknown due to the forced displacement of the entire Artsakh population, and the defendants involved in them have been acquitted of charges.
Davit Hovhannisyan, a lawyer from Artsakh, says that these criminal cases are not being investigated at the moment, and most of the materials of the cases have remained in Artsakh.
“It’s not that they didn’t think to bring them: it wasn’t possible to do so, because, in order to discuss the issue of bringing them, it was necessary to consider the effective possibility of carrying them through the border on the Hakar bridge. It is possible that they [the Azeris] could consider them secret documents and the Turks [mans the Azeris] would capture both the person who brought them and those documents,” says Hovhannisyan in a conversation with Forrights.am.
The accused in various cases in Artsakh cannot be prosecuted in Armenia for the simple reason that the RA Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes are in force in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, which means that these documents have no effect outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia. “We know that Artsakh has not been declared a territory of the Republic of Armenia,” Davit Hovhannisyan adds.
Around a dozen criminal cases under investigation by the Artsakh law enforcement officers were related to the accusation of state treason. Those criminal cases were not brought to Armenia either. “Criminal cases related to state treason could be of interest to Azerbaijan, and in fact it would turn out that these cases could be left on the road and not reach the destination. For that reason, bringing them to the Republic of Armenia was associated with serious risks,” the lawyer notes.
To the observation that, actually, it appears that there are accusations, but the accused do not receive final punishments or acquittal, the lawyer responds: “Yes, it is not possible to continue those cases. In fact, it turned out that the entire base proving the guilt of those persons remained in Artsakh. We just have to hope that these people will repend for their actions and change their morals.”
For example, a charge of treason was filed against Samvel Balayan, the former chairman of the board of the Artsakh public television and radio company, who was also under arrest. Now he is free. The hero of Artsakh, the former secretary of the Security Council, Vitaliy Balasanyan, was charged with several other charges: robbery, illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, as well as drugs, and violence against a representative of the government. However, after the forced displacement, these accusations are also being dismissed. Rafael Martirosyan, a lawyer involved in these and other scandalous cases, says that the criminal proceedings regarding the crime that took place in Artsakh cannot be continued in Armenia, and emphasizes:
“Proceedings regarding a crime committed in another state can be continued in Armenia, if the crime was committed against a citizen of the Republic of Armenia or the interest of the Republic of Armenia. In these cases, there is no basis for continuing the proceedings in RA, which means that their issue is resolved.”
However, the lawyer regrets that there will be no court hearings in these cases, and he will not be given the opportunity to show the law enforcement officers that they made a big mistake by bringing such accusations.
“I am very sorry that this case did not go to court, I am very sorry. I am sure that Samvel Balayan would be acquitted, because the facts that were laid as the basis of the preliminary investigation do not contain elements of state secrets at all. I will not present the observations of Samvel Balayan in a petition, and in fact, I have been deprived of the opportunity to do so, because the investigation is not continuing. I would unequivocally assert and prove in court that he performed his professional activities better than anyone else. This case showed the lack of experience of the Artsakh security service. The same is the case with Vitaly Balasanyan,” lawyer Rafael Martirosyan notes.
He states that the fact of initiating criminal proceedings does not mean that the person is guilty. “In what case is a person found guilty? When the judicial act enters into legal force.” And as long as there is no legally effective judicial act, no one can judge whether a person has committed a crime,” he clarifies.
Note that the military criminal cases are an exception, because, based on the interstate agreement, the criminal cases related to the military were brought before Armenia, not Artsakh.
We should add that on October 19, Artsakh’s information headquarters announced that some officials of Artsakh, including judges and the chief prosecutor, will continue to serve in Armenia on a public basis, and from October 1, the documents given by them on behalf of the Republic of Artsakh will be considered valid.
Hasmik Hambardzumyan
