Wednesday, December 29 2021 12:51

ArmInfo.The criminal prosecution against head of the "I Have Honor" parliamentary faction, chairman of the Motherland party and former director of the National  Security Service of Armenia Artur Vanetsyan was terminated for lack  of corpus delicti. The statement of Vanetsyan's lawyers Lusine  Sahakyan and Yervand Varosyan reads.

The defense side recalled that the criminal prosecution against Artur  Vanetsyan lasted 1 year, 1 month and 10 days. "From the very first  day of the investigation of this criminal case, it became obvious  that we are dealing with far-fetched accusations that have no basis,"  the statement said.

According to the source, on December 24, 2021, by the decision of the  investigator of the Investigative Department of the National Security  Service of the Republic of Armenia, the criminal prosecution against  Artur Vanetsyan, carried out under Articles 35-300 and 35-305 of the  RA Criminal Code, was terminated due to the absence of corpus  delicti. At the same time, the preventive measure against him was  canceled. 

"The adopted decision stated that there was no preparation for the  assassination of Nikol Pashinyan (the Prime Minister of Armenia -  ed.) And for the usurpation of power," the message says.  On November  14, 2020, the National Security Service of Armenia  announced the  suppression of the attempt to assassinate Armenian  Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan. The service revealed that a group of  citizens  illegally acquired and stored weapons, ammunition and  explosives to  seize power in Armenia.  According to the service, the attackers, who  did not agree with the domestic and foreign policy of  the state,  intended to seize power by killing the head of government.  Minasyan  was arrested on suspicion of committing crimes under  Articles 35-300  (Usurpation of Power - ed. note), 35-305 (Preparing a  murder in  order to stop the activities of a state, political or  public figure  - ed. note) and 235 (Possession of illegal weapons,  ammunition - ed.  note) of the RA Criminal Code. As part of the case  on the  preparation of the murder of Nikol Pashinyan, former director  of the  National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan, former RPA MP Vahram  Baghdasaryan and member of the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" Ashot  Avagyan  were detained. All of them were released.  However, on December 1 of  this year, the Court of Appeal granted the investigator's motion  dated November 15, 2020 for the arrest of Ashot Minasyan (he was  detained on suspicion of committing crimes under Articles 35-300  (Usurpation of Power - ed. note), 35-305 (Preparation of an  assassination in order to terminate the activities of a state,  political or public figure - ed. note) and 235 (Possession of illegal  weapons, ammunition - Ed.) of the RA Criminal Code. On December 28,  it became known that the preliminary investigation of his case had  been completed. "Within the framework of the criminal case under  investigation by the NSS Investigation Department on the episodes of  the preparation of the assassination of the Prime Minister and the  usurpation of power, as well as the storage of weapons and ammunition  by a group of persons, the criminal prosecution against Ashot  Minasyan was terminated. That is, the body carrying out the  proceedings finally came to the conclusion that the actions described  in the charge are not a crime and Ashot Minasyan has the status of  acquitted on this part. Now Ashot Minasyan is accused only of grounds  under Part 1 of Article 235 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (a crime  of medium gravity , up to a maximum of three years in prison), "said  lawyer Mihran Poghosyan.