Ex-head of Criminal Search of Armenia is under threat of 2-6 years of imprisonment

Major- General Ovannes Tamamyan, ex-head of the Chief Department of the Criminal Search of the Police of Armenia, is accused of abuse of power duties. The officer is under threat of imprisonment for the term of 2-6 years. On March 24, the Court of Yerevan ruled to arrest him for tow months.

Mr Tamamyan, as well as Varazdat Adamyan, head of the Arabkir Division of the Police, are accused of wilful distortion of factual circumstances of inquiry into a murder, committed on May 12, 2010, in the Arabkir District; as a result of their actions the citizen who had committed the crime was summoned as a witness only and escaped criminal responsibility.

On petition of the General Public Prosecutor of Armenia, Alik Sarkisyan, Head of the Police, on February 26 signed an order about dismissal of Tamamyan and Adamyan.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, when speaking at the sitting of the Collegium of the Police of Armenia, severely criticized the police, quoting Tamamyan's case as an example. "All the public know who committed the crime; they know the gunman, but the police turns the cased over in such a way that some other person is guilty, while the actual criminal remains at large," said the President.