Everyone is equal before the law and is equally protected by the law without discrimination. This is the approach of Gevorg Aghababyan, Head of the Department of Investigation of Crimes against Humanity, First Class Advisor of Justice of the RA Investigative Committee.

Iravaban.net spoke with him within the framework of series of interviews “The Investigator Presents”.

– Mr. Aghababyan, the name of the Department of Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity naturally arouses great interest among the public. I would like to talk about the main emphasis of the operations of this department.

 – The Department of Investigation of Crimes against Humanity of the General Department of Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Republic of Armenia is authorized to conduct a preliminary investigation in connection with the alleged crimes assigned to its authority by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia. In our department, the most large-scale, complex in terms of investigation and having public resonance crimes against humans are investigated in criminal proceedings of our department.

– In the constantly changing and transforming world, naturally, crimes against humans acquire new shades and qualities. What kind of features can we talk about in this sphere?

– Naturally, the developments recorded at the current stage of the development of public relations, science and technology could not but leave their mark on the process of investigation of crimes against humans, complicating the methodology of the investigation, making it more difficult to identify crimes. It mainly refers to the organization and execution of crimes against a person using information technologies, the possibilities of the Internet, the methods of committing cybercrimes, concealing the traces of crimes, thereby related to the evasion of criminal responsibility by the persons who committed the crime. Along with all this, we are naturally trying to improve the tactics of detecting crimes in this field, based on the consideration that the above facts should not be an obstacle in the processes of prevention or detection of crimes against people.

– Which types of crimes dominate the statistics?

– The majority of the criminal proceedings examined in the Department of Crimes Against Humanity refer to murders, attempted murders, and cases of serious harm to health, which have public resonance and are complicated from the point of view of the investigation.

– Basically, in the case of which types of crimes is recidivism recorded, and in your opinion, what is the reason for this?

– As a rule, recidivism is recorded most frequently in the case of committing similar crimes. for example, in cases of crimes related to illegal drug trafficking, robberies and other similar crimes. Although relapse related to various crimes is recorded. The main reasons for relapse can be very different and have specific features. It is simply necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the conditions and reasons contributing to the crime in each individual case.

– Mr. Aghababyan, what is the main principle of the department you head?

– One of the main principles of the unit I lead is the honest and impartial exercise of judicial powers by the public participant in each proceeding for the sake of strengthening the legal system and fighting crime.

– The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia enshrines an important provision: “The human being shall be the highest value in the Republic of Armenia. What kind of approach is taken to this norm in the framework of investigative functions carried out by your department? 

– In the course of investigative and procedural actions, each investigator accepts the private participants of the proceedings, supporting persons as equal subjects with procedural rights and carrying certain responsibilities, regardless of their position, social origin, property status and other circumstances. Our basic approach to the above-mentioned issue is that everyone is equal before the law and is equally protected by the law without discrimination.

– What are the future tasks of the Department of Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity, are there program priorities?

– Among the upcoming tasks of the Department of Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity are to deepen the knowledge of the RA criminal and criminal procedure in the process of applying the provisions of the newly adopted codes, to improve the professional knowledge of the department’s employees, especially in terms of studying the use of information technologies, Internet opportunities, methods of committing cybercrimes, fighting crime even more effectively..

– Is it possible to implement corrective justice instead of punishment in RA?

– In the theory of criminal law, some authors consider one of the goals of punishment to be a person’s correction, reintegration into the social environment, which is naturally also applied in the RA. In practice, there have been many cases when the person who committed the crime really regretted his act, realized the wrong step he made and, leaving the penitentiary, began to live a completely different life. I remembered a case when a person in custody agreed to cooperate during the pre-trial proceedings, and after being released from custody, expressed sincere appreciation to the investigator for stopping him from the wrong and deviant path he had chosen, and for giving him the opportunity to live an exemplary life.

–Արդի հասարակարգում ինչպիսի՞ սկզբունքներ են պահանջվում մարդու դեմ ուղղված հանցագործությունների բացահայտման գործում ներգրավված իրավաբան–քննիչից:

– In modern society, what principles are required of a lawyer – investigator involved in the detection of crimes against a person?

– One of the main principles required of every investigator involved in the detection of crimes against humanity is to possess professional approaches, to be dedicated, honest, impartial and disciplined, to have the best human qualities, to fully participate in team work, in order to ensure the most effective and cooperative work in the full investigation of crimes, in order to identify, find out the contributing conditions and causes and eliminate them.

This initiative, implemented in cooperation with the RA Investigative Committee and the Iravaban.net website, aims to properly present to the public the main directions of the work carried out by the preliminary investigation body , to reflect on the peculiarities of pre-trial proceedings and other issues of public importance.