14:09, 11 July 2008

Ombudsman of Armenia: instruction to prosecute Ter-Petrosyan's supporters was illegal

The order issued by Andranik Mirzoyan, head of the Special Investigatory Service of the Republic of Armenia, and sent to Prosecutor of maraz (region) Vayots Dzor, instructing him to prosecute supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosyan after opposition rallies is a violation of the country's Code of Criminal Procedure.

"An investigatory assignment can't be issued to public prosecutor, only to bodies of preliminary or additional investigation," Ombudsman Armen Arutyunyan has stated today.

We remind you that A. Mirzoyan's order was announced during the press conference held on July 1 by the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan. This document had instructed the public prosecutor of the region Vayots Dzor to interrogate all the heads of Ter-Petrosyan's pre-election offices and supporters, to find out their telephone numbers, data on property, to interrogate their neighbours and relatives, to interrogate the drivers who brought people to the rallies of the National Movement, and to clear out what people were talking about during the rallies, etc.

Author: Lilit Ovanisyan, CK correspondent