Օn 10 April, the court hearing in the case of the former Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council of the Republic of Armenia Ruben Vardazaryan continued in the Anti-Corruption Court.
Ruben Vardazaryan is accused of obstructing justice. According to the indictment, the latter, having held the position of the president of the SJC since 19 July, 2019, being a leading employee of the judicial authority, interfered with the administration of justice by Andranik Simonyan, judge of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Lori region. Andranik Simonyan, who was later appointed Deputy Head of the National Security Service, submitted the report on Vardazaryan about 2 years after the alleged incident.
According to Simonyan’s report, Vardazaryan approached him related the case of Vahagn Abgaryan, known as “Vahagn from Alaverd”. Vahagn Abgaryan is accused of organizing the murder of Kamo Piruzyan, a resident of Alaverdi, as well as of paying a bribe to carry out actions in his favor in the murder case. There is also a recording in the case. According to the indictment, the latter contacted Andranik Simonyan through the Signal application and, in the form of a request, demanded from the latter to change Abgaryan’s detention.
Vardazaryan does not accept the accusation against him.
According to Iravaban.net, the defendant’s defense attorney Aram Orbelyan presented a challenge motion to the Presiding Judge Vahe Dolmazyan at the beginning of the session. According to him, in the decision to reject the motion to stop the criminal prosecution against Ruben Vardazaryan presented at the previous session, there were such evaluations of the court by which the court went beyond the limits of the accusation, interpreting the law in such a way that in any case it is unfavorable for Ruben Vardazaryan.
“The court is obliged to examine and resolve the criminal proceedings submitted to it, exclusively within the limits of the indictment.” The court cannot express itself on the side of the accusation, and in this case, by expressing its position on the norm of the criminal code, the court goes beyond the boundaries of the accusation,” he said in the court.
After returning from the deliberation room, Vahe Dolmazyan rejected the motion of the defense side.
Aram Orbelyan announced that he has a new motion to submit regarding terminating the proceedings of the criminal case and stopping the criminal prosecution against Ruben Vardazaryan. The lawyer insisted that the criminal prosecution against his client should not be considered in the context of the fight against crime, but as a political prosecution. The lawyer mentioned the statements made by the ruling elite.
The judge wondered what significance the politicians’ statements have for this trial. “In which clause of the first part of Article 35 of the Criminal Procedure Code is it provided that the statement made by a representative of a political body, an official to someone can be used as a basis for excluding criminal prosecution?”
Aram Orbelyan referred to the Constitution. Any process that violates fundamental rights is illegal. He recalled the criminal case against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
“After the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Cassation acquitted Nikol Pashinyan in a month and a half on the grounds that he committed a crime, but the trial disrupted the process of free expression of his will, his freedom of speech and the opportunity to hold a rally,” the lawyer noted, claiming that the decision of the Court of Cassation is also applicable within the framework of Ruben Vardazaryan’s case.
According to him, if it is justified that the criminal prosecution does not have the objective of bringing a person to criminal responsibility, that is, to fight against crime, then the criminal prosecution, no matter how well-founded it may be, should be stopped as soon as possibl.
“Any person who does not stop this process will be considered a criminal in the future.”
Aram Orberlyan tried to prove in court that the criminal prosecution initiated against Ruben Vardazaryan was not the result of legal, but political processes. “Let’s go out to the street and ask, are we punishing Ruben Vardazaryan so that the courts work better or are we punishing so that Gagik Jhangiryan would become the acting head of the SJC at that time?” 99 out of 100 people will say that there should be no Vardazaryan, instead of Jhangiryan, the 100th would be Gagik Jhangiryan.”
The defender claims that the political authorities tried for a long time to remove Ruben Vardazaryan from exercising his powers. Aram Orbelyan notes that many illegal processes were initiated by the latter (the powers), which threatened the independence of the judiciary, the irreplaceability and immunity of the judge. “Ruben Vardazaryan is the only judge in the Republic of Armenia against whom, when initiating a criminal case, the prosecutor did not apply to the Supreme Judicial Council.”
According to the lawyer, there is a clear connection between the powers of Ruben Vardazaryan, their normal implementation and the criminal prosecution against him. Aram Orbelyan believes that Ruben Vardazaryan is being targeted not only as a judge, but also as the Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, whose authority was to guarantee the independence of the judiciary.
According to him, the representatives of the political power did not hide their goal, they conveyed their “message” to the public through the mass media. Then, Aram Orbelyan addressed the Presiding Judge and said: “Respectful Court, you, as the Presiding Judge, should not allow the Judicial Power to become a blunt political tool.”
The lawyer emphasized once again: both the legislative power and the executive power directly expressed the opinion that Ruben Vardazaryan should not occupy the position of the Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, and the Council and judges should show themselves “in a different way”.
Aram Orbelyan continued: the case should be terminated at the stage of recording the violation of the right. “A criminal case was initiated based on political motives, based on the motives of dismissal from office, that case should be closed the moment it becomes known about it.”
The lawyer reminded that the person who submitted the report is currently an official. Also, there is no gap between submitting a report and transferring to the executive power. “At the time of submitting the report, the representative of the executive authority, having clear evidence that, in his opinion, there is a crime, did not submit the report about the crime until the right moment came.”
Then Ruben Vardazaryan’s lawyer read Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statements regarding the judiciary, judges, including “whimpering judges” . He also spoke about the case of alleged intervention in a criminal case by Anna Vardapetyan, who is now the Prosecutor General and previously held the position of Assistant to the Prime Minister.
After this reference, the Senior Prosecutor of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Ashot Zhamkochian, announced that the court investigation into the case of apparently illegal interference by Anna Vardapetyan in the case of Rubik and Rafik Hayrapetyan was conducted and there is a final judicial act that has entered into force.
Let’s remind that a video recording of apparently illegal intervention by Anna Vardapetyan in the case of former President of the FFA Ruben Hayrapetyan and his son Rafik Hayrapetyan was distributed, according to which the investigator investigating the case sent the preliminary versions of the trial decisions to Anna Vardapetyan, who edited them and sent them to the investigators again. In connection with the circulating video, materials were prepared in the NSS, on the basis of which the NSS refused to open a criminal case, arguing that Pashinyan’s assistant, got acquainted with the investigator’s decisions as an expert and edited them.
This was followed by another recording spread on telegram channels, according to which Arman Abrahamyan, Deputy of the Head of the Division of Investigation of Grave Crimes of the Yerevan City Investigation Department, Armen Margaryan, sent a voice message to the investigators investigating the criminal cases against former officials, informing them that Anna Vardapetyan, Nikol Pashinyan’s advisor, would go to the investigation body again. The NSS rejected the initiation of a criminal case on this episode as well. Hayrapetyan’s lawyer, Amram Makinyan, first filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office, demanding the cancellation of the decisions, and after the complaint was rejected, he appealed to the court.
“There is a decision that the action is legal, that is, the actions to the extent that they are not recognized as illegal, we must claim that it is a legal action. Therefore, it is not appropriate to interpret a lawful action in such a way that it is unlawful, or to give people the impression that it is unlawful. Please refrain from such an approach,” Ashot Zhamkochian said.
Aram Orbelyan mentioned that he is recording the fact: the Assistant to the Prime Minister, not having such powers, carried out consultations in a private status. Then the lawyer drew attention to the meeting called in the Government building with the participation of judges and Artur Davtyan, who held the position of the Prosecutor General at that time. “During that meeting, the question of why there were no detainees was being discussed. We are talking about the Syunik greetings, as well as the rallies, political processes, and the investigation of Ararat Mirzoyan’s case. There were people who were arrested and then released.”
According to the defender, he gives primitive examples to show that the Government considers that it can call the judges to the Government building and ask why there are no detainees. “It does not have the right to directly or indirectly interfere with criminal proceedings.”
Ruben Vardazaryan did not participate in that meeting.
Aram Orbelyan did not manage to present the motion in its entirety due to the judge’s workload. The presentation of the petition will continue during the next court session, which will take place on 25 April.
Yevgenya Hambardzumyan
