Amendments to Criminal Procedure Code aim to establish effective  procedures for investigating alleged crimes

ArmInfo.  The Criminal Procedure Code, which entered into force on July 1, 2022, aims to establish an effective procedure for conducting proceedings on  alleged crimes, based on guarantees of human rights and freedoms. The  amendments to the bill submitted by MP Rustat Bakoyan are currently  being discussed in the second reading at the National Assembly.

According to Bakoyan, the document has not undergone any significant  changes by the second reading.  The draft law addresses two important  institutions of criminal procedural law. The first is the  motion for  the non- initiation or termination a public criminal prosecution, and  the second is a strictly new provision:  the controlled delivery and  procurement under secret investigative actions. Under current  regulations, if circumstances arise that preclude criminal  prosecution, the investigator submits a motion for the non-  initiation or termination of prosecution. Based on this, the  prosecutor decides whether to grant or deny the motion. Furthermore,  if the preliminary investigation confirms the need to terminate  prosecution regarding specific parts of a charge, the investigator  submits a motion to the supervising prosecutor for partial  termination.

Rustam Bakoyan emphasized that the existing regulations lack clear  procedural deadlines, which can create practical issues. A prosecutor  might delay a decision indefinitely, causing the public criminal  prosecution— and the individual subject to it—to remain in legal  limbo for an unjustifiably long period. Although the Prosecutor  General of the RA currently directs supervising prosecutors to make a  decision within seven days of a motion's submission, this is  considered a temporary measure in the absence of codified law.   Therefore, the author proposes an amendment to Article 196 of the  CPC, requiring the supervising prosecutor to decide on such motions  within a seven-day period.

Additionally, the bill defines a specific type of secret  investigative action: controlled delivery and purchase.  This  involves the monitoring of the turnover of goods and  services—including their purchase or sale—for the purpose of  identifying participants in an alleged crime.