The number of murders committed in Yerevan last year is worrying. Their study allows us to come to certain conclusions. Yerevan City Prosecutor Sevak Hovhannisyan mentioned this in an interview with Iravaban.net conducted within the framework of the “Prosecutors of Armenia” series detailing why the number of murders has increased and how they can be prevented.
– Mr. Hovhannisyan, before becoming the Prosecutor of Yerevan, you held the position of the Prosecutor of Ararat and Kotayk Marzes. The volume of cases in Yerevan is certainly bigger. How is your workload now?
– If we compare with the regions, it is incomparably overloaded, although both Kotayk and Ararat regions are again the most overloaded compared to other regions. Only in 2021, we had about 20,000 cases in the entire administrative districts of Yerevan. Due to the peculiarities of Yerevan, there is very large number of cases of serious and especially serious crimes. However, we do not complain about the workload. We carry out our powers to the full extent, and it turns out that we succeed.
– Do you consider the index of revealing corruption crimes sufficient?
– The indicators of revealing corruption crimes can never be considered sufficient, as long as corruption phenomena continue to exist in our lives. If we talk about the registration of corruption cases in general, they are always continuous. As for the detection indicators, as a rule, corruption crimes are classified as latent crimes, and in this case, too, we have some problems in terms of revealing the whole scheme of corruption crimes in some cases, as criminal cases do not always provide evidence, which will allow us to say that the corruption scheme has been exposed. The task set before the law enforcement agencies is to be carried out to the maximum.
– Information on abuses in the field of alienation of various premises of state or community property in Yerevan in the past have been published. What such problems are in the sight of the Yerevan City Prosecutor’s Office today?
– There are many such problems, because in addition to our daily activities, the Yerevan City Prosecutor’s Office also conducts regular studies in terms of state interests, especially in the relationship between, alienation of the state estate, state property and donations. In 2021, we conducted such a study in the process of allocating state property by the State Property Management Committee, from the point of view of the legality of these legal relations, I must say that the picture did not differ much from the general picture we had.
The main issue is the value of state property, be it building, land, construction, their value. First, they either do not value the property, or value it much cheaper than the market price, or it is valued by unlicensed organizations. Even if it is valuated, the property is sold at a much cheaper price than its market value.
– There were many murders last year. What preventive measures are taken?
– In fact, that number is worrying, if in 2020 we had 11 murders, in 2021 we had 26 cases, 15 more, which, if we turn it into a percentage, will be about 130% more. Naturally, it is worrying. The case of the reasons and conditions of this crime has been investigated by the Yerevan Prosecutor’s Office in each of such murders. Throughout 2021, the underlying causes and conditions of homicides, attempted murders, and serious bodily harm were investigated.
I will not say anything new if I mention that the vast majority of them were mainly due to previously tense relations with each other, the process of settling accounts with each other, revenge killings and jealousy motives. We have had cases of such murders being committed by mentally ill people who were found insane during the investigation.
Examining the cases of murders, it becomes obvious that the values that are at a certain level in the human life of a citizen with normal behavior, at the mentioned subjects, they are simply at zero level.
– Mr. Hovhannisyan, you regularly address petitions to various relevant bodies on various issues. What kind of criminal manifestations are they mainly aimed at eliminating? In case of Yerevan, to what extent do they work?
– The process of submitting petitions is one of the most important functions of the Prosecutor’s Office, also in eliminating the causes of crime. When the prosecutor finds out the cause of this or that crime during his/her activity, it should be brought to the attention of the relevant body, which is authorized by law to solve the problem and respond to the question raised within one month.
There are many such cases, in 2021, only in Yerevan, 58 such petitions were addressed to various state bodies by the Yerevan City Prosecutor’s Office. Of course, the state bodies are diverse; I will try to point out some important targeted crimes, especially burglary.
In 2018, the Prosecutor General’s Office declared the fight against burglary a priority and developed a number of measures that could have a positive impact on preventing burglary. Among other things, it was mentioned that in more than 12 thousand apartment buildings in Yerevan we have a very depressing picture of doors with encrypted locks. When the process began, the number of apartment buildings equipped with such doors was few. Since 2018, when the process started, after the prosecutors showed due diligence, after resolving the case after each burglary, after the prosecutors submitted a petition, the issue was raised: to provide the building with doors with coded locks. 4700 such doors have already been installed. We have not seen an increase in burglary in recent years.
I attach great importance to our petitions, especially regarding traffic accidents, because they have been a very big problem in Yerevan for a long time. In 2021 alone, we had more than 600 accidents that caused damage to human life and health, 64 of which resulted in death.
– Is there any cooperation with Yerevan Municipality and the offices of administrative districts? I think it was the first time that the Mayor of Yerevan participated in summarizing the work of the Yerevan City Prosecutor’s Office.
– Yes, you are right, this was the first time that the Mayor of Yerevan participated in summarizing the work of the Yerevan City Prosecutor’s Office, and I attach great importance to that fact, because being a local self-government body, the Yerevan Municipality already has many functions by law and regulatory functions and can significantly contribute to that work. Prior to that, the cooperation naturally took place in terms of certain document circulation or certain live contacts in the administrative districts. However, I consider the level of this cooperation to be sufficient, because there was no question that it was registered by the prosecutor’s office as a problem and the document was transferred to the local government and there was no adequate response. At least the participation of the Mayor of Yerevan in these works presupposes a new level of cooperation, because in that summary session the process of the crime committed in Yerevan, the analysis of their causes and conditions, the struggle against them, the scope of cooperation between law enforcement bodies and local self-government bodies were discussed. And I believe that participation in the event was useful for the mayor of Yerevan.
– What legislative gaps have you noticed in your work practice, which you would like to correct?
– From the point of view of legislative gaps, they occur regularly. I do not know whether they will be legislative gaps or certain settlement issues, which would provide a fuller opportunity to fully ensure this regulation, at least in the case of corruption in cemeteries, we have a situation where land grabs and non-response by the state is considered an administrative offense. Administrative offense itself is a type of responsibility, but given the current involvement of this crime in the capital, its public significance, social significance, for example, I think that in these circumstances we should propose that citizens be prosecuted instead of administratively responsible, which, I think can be very important.
– Have there been any recent cases when the violated rights of the trial participants have been restored as a result of the intervention of the Prosecutor’s Office?
– When it comes to the restoration of procedural rights and the restoration of rights in general, of course, there are many such cases, if we take into account the fact that the functions of the prosecutor’s office are related to human freedom and a number of other fundamental rights, we are very careful in the issues of deprivation or non-deprivation of liberty in each case.
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Hasmik Sargsyan
