ArmInfo.Publications in the Armenian media about alleged criminal proceedings initiated by the National Security Service against Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council Karen Andreasyan are gossip. On June 22, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Grigor Minasyan, who is on friendly terms with Andreasyan, told journalists.
As for the accusations by a number of political forces of the SJC of pressure on "inconvenient judges", then, as the minister noted, there are often cases when the parties to the defense of a judge in every possible way try to oppose obvious disciplinary violations. Minasyan pointed to the obviousness of the fact that the judges, against whom disciplinary proceedings have been initiated, must somehow justify themselves. <For example, an official who is accused of corrupt deals starts trumpeting about political persecution. The same thing happens with the judges against whom disciplinary proceedings have been initiated, start talking about some kind of pressure from the SJC. Nevertheless, we live in a democratic country, we listen to the opinions of everyone, but we do not deviate from our agenda>, the minister said.
He refused to answer the question why the second and third presidents of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, who have accumulated huge fortunes, have not yet been prosecuted, noting that his comment could be perceived as pressure on the law enforcement system. <For this reason, I will refrain from giving any legal assessments. My political position is that any citizen, regardless of their position, political affiliation, will be punished for committing unlawful acts>, the minister said.
It should be noted that earlier the Oragir.News website reported that, according to their information, the National Security Service initiated criminal proceedings against chairman of the Supreme Council Karen Andreasyan under the article of abuse of power. Andreasyan himself did not comment on this news. <No comment>, Andreasyan said in an interview with reporters.