The investigator should not forget that his/her signature determines the fate of a person and even a small mistake can lead to irreversible consequences. Narine Hovhannisyan, Senior Investigator of Syunik Marz Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee, said in the framework of “The Investigator Presents” series of interviews of Iravaban.net.

She told us about the risks of being an investigator, her first criminal case and working with attorneys.

– Mrs. Hovhannisyan, you worked in the police system for many years, after which you were transferred to the Investigative Committee. Waa such changes easy for you?

– Those changes did not cause any problems for me, because I held the position of an investigator both in the RA Police system and in the Investigative Committee, performing the same functions.

– What are your strengths as an investigator?

– Maybe it sounds a bit immodest to talk about my strengths, but I think my superior and colleagues question can answer that question objectively. I can simply say that I love the profession of an investigator and that love really gives me strength. You cannot do a job without loving and therefore without dedication, which is essentially a way of life. An investigator has almost no free time; you must be ready to sacrifice even your contacts with the closest people, leave the best moments of your time spent with them for the sake of work.

In addition, the investigator’s work requires constant self-education, taking into account the realities of constantly changing crimes and new methods of their execution. In this matter, regular training courses organized by the Investigative Committee not only in the Republic, but also within the framework of the European Union and the USA, where the fight against modern manifestations of crimes is at a higher level, greatly help. Such courses undoubtedly help more in daily work.

– What risks does the investigator’s work include in general?

– There are not a few situations when the wish of  a party of case to achieve its goal, is equivalent to “idea fix”, to achieve which sometimes they resort to unacceptable, as well as fraudulent methods. In such situations, the investigator must stay on top, and a professional investigator must not impersonate and give a legal solution to the situation.

In any case, the investigator should not forget that his/her signature determines the fate of a person and even a small mistake can lead to irreversible consequences.

– What problems do female investigators face?

– The work of an investigator is risky in general, but I will not agree with the statement that the work of female investigators is more risky. According to me, every investigator, while organizing the work, faces various non-standard and even regularly recurring situations where self-control and a sober assessment of the situation are important.

A woman, whether an investigator or another specialist, is first of all a mother, a housewife, and then an investigator. Taking into account the nature and complications of our work, such as going to the crime scene at night, sometimes due to the need to perform urgent procedural and evidentiary actions, returning home from work at late hours, significantly affects the organization of the life of a female investigator. As a rule, children, family members and loved ones suffer.

I have often asked myself the question, am I working at the expense of my child or am I taking care of my child at the expense of my work? In any case, that is the reality I think every female investigator faces.

– Do you remember what your first practice was?

– Naturally, I remember well, because no matter how simple the case may seem (it was related to a fight between husbands in one of the villages near Kapan), it was new to me. I remember that during the first face-to-face interrogation which I organized in that particular case, the victim staged a fainting. I was very scared at that time, I immediately called both “Ambulance” and my colleagues, I felt somehow guilty. But when I understood what was really happening, I was relieved. Of course, from the distance of years, it looks like a slight incident, which I later witnessed not only in similar, but also in more improved situations. However, the first is not forgotten.

– And what was the most memorable and significant work of your career?

– I cannot point out a specific one, however, as a rule, incidents that took lives are remembered and not forgotten. For example, accidents, incidents, murders, multi-episode cases that you spend a lot of time and effort on.

– Can you remember a case when you had to make a difficult decision?

– There was such a situation, which referred to such a crime, which was committed due to circumstances. In this case, you as a person understand, empathize with the person sitting in front of you, analyze and accept that if such an incident happened, many people would probably have behaved the same way. Still, you do your job, guided by the law.

– In your opinion, is the image of the investigator correctly perceived by the public? What would you change?

– Of course, the legally aware society understands very well the specifics of our work and it has a positive impact on the formation of the investigator’s image. The investigators themselves must conform to the high rank of a civil servant and investigator by their way of life and conscientiousness towards their work. However, there are factors that artificially negatively affect the image of the investigator.

Using the development and variety of communication technologies, the representatives of the defense side, as a rule, in the interviews given to the media about criminal proceedings on social networks, in many cases clearly one-sided, wrongly or incompletely present the circumstances of the case. In this way, they try to create an impression among the public that the investigator, based on this or that interest, made an obviously wrong procedural act in their opinion, or conducts the investigation non-objectively. In such cases, the investigator, as the body conducting the proceedings and being constrained by the confidentiality of the preliminary investigation, or in the interests of the preliminary investigation of not publicizing the nature of the planned actions, is unable and unwilling to respond in the same way on the same platform. Under these unequal conditions, a one-sided presentation can create a misconception among the public that the investigator is wrong, afraid, or has nothing to say.

I understand that this behavior is mainly a form of protection, in some cases also self-promotion, and sometimes a way to justify one’s own shortcomings under the guise of the so-called non-objectivity of the investigator, and we try to approach with understanding. However, I think that decency, professional ethics and correctness should always be primary.

– How is the work of a female investigator perceived by people, what reactions have you received?

– If I were to compare, then in the first years of my work, people perceived a female investigator differently. They wondered, the awe was more pronounced than now. Now there is nothing unusual, I don’t notice surprise anymore. And in terms of respect, people in general have become more intolerant and angry towards each other.

In any case, we shape the public perception with regard to ourselves in the long term with our behavior and work integrity. This is how the trajectory left by the investigator is formed. Regardless of whether the investigator is a woman or a man, in any case, they should not take the public opinion about themselves as a priority. They must perform their official duties well, for the sake of a person, the state and justice, and these will speak for the investigator themselves.

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.