Prosecutor General reports back efforts aimed at countering crime, ensuring legality and other activities carried out in 2017 and the priorities for 2018

During a working meeting with the President of the Republic of Armenia, Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan introduced the activities carried out by the criminal investigation agencies of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of criminal justice system, the protection of citizens’ rights, the law order in the country, the reforms initiated in priority areas and the expected results. The Prosecutor General dwelled on the activities highlighted by the President of the Republic of Armenia at the July 3 solemn session of the Office of Prosecutor General.

Presenting the dynamics of crime exposure in 2017, Artur Davtyan advised that serious and especially grave crimes, such as murder, murder attempt, and intentional damage to health, robbery, house theft diminished in the period under review. The Prosecutor General added that in the meantime, the total number of crimes was up mainly due to the rise in the number of small gravity crimes. In parallel, the detection rates have increased which, according to Arthur Davtyan, was due to improved detection and registration of crimes.

The Prosecutor General also reported on the systemic legislative reforms carried out in the field of the fight against corruption, as well as the exposure of corruption crimes and the provision of criminal liability.

The legal, institutional and organizational reforms implemented during the past year have created serious preconditions for improving the efficiency of preventing, detecting and prosecuting corruption crimes. In this context, Arthur Davtyan singled out the standards of corruption crimes to comply with the standards set by the international treaties ratified by the Republic of Armenia, the improvement of the quality of prosecution in criminal cases, the standards for corruption offenses based on the Criminal Code and the extensive studies on search operations for persons escaping criminal responsibility, as well as the steps taken on the basis of their findings.

With reference to the priorities highlighted by President of the Republic at the aforementioned ceremonious meeting, in which the President considered problematic the detention of detainees as well as the law-enforcement practice of ensuring the right to a counter-claim for one of the most important components of the right to a fair trial in the criminal justice system, the Prosecutor General noted that the detention as a precautionary measure (prolongation of detention period), a single criterion was developed to ensure the validity of petitions. He presented the steps taken to improve the efficiency of prosecutorial supervision in this area, ensuring legal certainty and predictability, and the proper implementation of Armenia’s international commitments.

According to the Prosecutor General, procedural steps have been taken to ensure the right of the accused to pursue a counter-claim before the pre-trial proceedings based on the legal positions expressed in the ECHR judgments on the criteria for ensuring the right to a counter-claim. The criteria for evaluating the admissibility of evidence and the satisfaction of the case in the context of securing the right to a person to challenge the issue, as well as the criteria for evaluating the prosecution’s procedural conduct in order to ensure the right to a counter-claim at the stage of the proceedings and to justify the accusatory position in that context.

Highlighting the positive indicators in the fight against crime, President Serzh Sargsyan stressed that there is still much to be done in the field of the rule of law and in terms of protecting citizens’ rights. The President emphasized the need for planning and implementing continued efforts to prevent high-risk crimes and ensure their disclosure. From the perspective of ensuring proper awareness of criminality in the country, the Head of State highlighted the publicity of crime statistics, the statistical data on the dynamics of specific offenses and the results of their analysis.

The President considered it necessary to continue implementing measures to enforce the best possible mechanisms for the protection of the rights of the individual in the criminal-procedural process. Serzh Sargsyan emphasized the need for the prosecution system to smoothly harmonize with the constitutional amendments, as well as with the new law on the Prosecutor’s Office.