Movses Hakobyan accused of disclosing state secrets - he faces up to  7 years in prison

ArmInfo. Former Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, former head of the military control service, Colonel-General Movses Hakobyan has been  brought in as a defendant in a criminal case of disclosing state  secrets, which is being investigated by the National Security Service  (NSS).

As reported by the press service of the RA NSS, the preliminary  investigation of the criminal case has been completed. During the  investigation, it turned out that Hakobyan, thanks to his many years  of service, and having the right to access information constituting a  state secret, on November 19, 2020, during one of his public  interviews, published documents containing top-secret information. In  particular, he published information revealing the directions of  long-term forecasts of programs for the development of weapons and  military equipment, as well as programs for the use of the armed  forces, other troops, civil defense forces, operational and other  programs.

<Due to the sufficient evidence obtained in the framework of the  criminal case, the former high-ranking military man was prosecuted as  accused of committing a crime under Part 1 of Art. 306 of the RA  Criminal Code (disclosure of state secrets), and a preventive measure  was chosen in relation to him.  On June 29, 2021, the criminal case  with the indictment was sent to the prosecutor's office, which  controls the lawfulness of the preliminary investigation, for its  further transfer to the court, "the RA NSS reported.

At the same time, the National Security Service called on persons  entitled to access state secrets to strictly observe requirements of  the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On State and Official Secrets",  since they are protected by the state and their dissemination may  have serious consequences for the security of the Republic of  Armenia.

It is also recalled that Article 306 of the RA Criminal Code provides  for criminal liability for intentional or careless disclosure of  state secrets, and the aggravating part of the same article provides  for imprisonment for a term of three to seven years.

It should be reminded that the grounds for initiating a criminal case  were the statements made by Hakobyan at a meeting with journalists  immediately after the end of hostilities in the zone of the  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Then, a high-ranking military man spoke  about the mistakes and omissions made during the war. Based on the  materials prepared at the press conference of the former head of the  military control service of the Ministry of Defense Movses Hakobyan,  a criminal case was initiated in the Prosecutor General's Office  under Article 308 Part 2 (Abuse of Official Powers, Involving  Negligently Serious Consequences) of the RA Criminal Code.