Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center NGO (TI NGO) has applied to the Ethics Commission of High Ranking Officials with request to consider the relevance of the behavior of Mr. Andranik Mirzoyan, Head of the Special Investigative Service of the Republic of Armenia with the Code of Ethics of the High Ranking Officials.
On 18 February, 2013, Narine Esmaeli, an American citizen carried out observation mission during the RA presidential elections, representing the Armenian Non-Governmental Organization Europe in Law Association in polling station 17/5. A criminal case concerning ballot-box stuffing in this polling station was initiated by the SIS and Ms Narine Esmaeli was invited as a witness of the crime.
On 1 March, 2013, on the day of cross examination of Narine Esmaeli with the secretary of the precinct electoral commission, the investigator Hovakimyan started an argument with Tigran Yegoryan over the necessity and lawfulness of recording the proceedings. Narine’s representative substantiated his right under Armenian law. However the investigator prohibited recording. After arguing with him for about 40 minutes the investigator went out of the room and came back with the Head of the Service, Andranik Mirzoyan who prohibited the representative to record the interrogation in very rude terms by telling one of his investigators (there were 5 of them in the room) to throw his recorder into the toilet. He then did not even wait for his order to be carried out but he himself snatched the recorder from Tigran Yegoryan’s hand and threw it into the shelf in that room. Later, it turned out that someone managed to erase the record during that period.
The Europe in Law Association and Transparency International Anti-Corruption Centre deplore the unlawful actions of the investigators of the Special Investigative Service and particularly those of Andranik Mirzoyan, the Head of the Special Investigative Service in mass and electronic media (www.hetq.am, www.news.am).
On March 6, the SIS disseminated a statement through its official website and in mass media, where it referred to the Criminal procedure law trying to justify lawfulness of the acts of SIS Head and the investigator. At the same time SIS openly qualified our information about the pressure on witness and the unlawful prohibition to record the cross examination as outright lie. However the criminal procedural norms which they mentioned (Article 201 and Article 206), do not include provisions on prohibition to record.
The RA Law on Public Service provides the norms of ethics of the public servants and High officials, these include provision “to respect the law and to abide to the law; to contribute to the development of trust and respect towards the position and the body that the official represent; to show respectful attitude towards all persons during communication with them and implementation of the authorities.” (Article 28, Part 3 Clauses 1, 3, 4 and 5).
Obviously, M. Mirzoyan’s behavior is gross violation of the ethical rules of the high-ranking official, which threaten the establishment of trust and respect towards the body he represents, that is the Special Investigative Service of the RA, and specifically from the terms of objective examination and investigation of the electoral violations.
“Transparency International Anticorruption Center” NGO
Source: Iravaban.net
