Preliminary investigation of the criminal proceeding regarding the abuse of official powers in the process of allocating apartments, committed by the former Minister of Defense of the RA was completed in General Military Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee. 

In the course of the preliminary investigation of the criminal proceeding factual data were obtained on the allegation that S.O., holding the position of the RA Minister of Defense, with the support of the members of the Central Housing Commission of the RA Ministry of Defense, exceeded his official powers causing substantial damage to the rights and legitimate interests of a number of persons.  

Specifically, on July 12, 2008, M.I., Head of the Internal Security Division of the Administrative Apparatus of the RA Ministry of Defense submitted a report to the Head of the Administrative Apparatus of the RA Ministry of Defense requesting that an apartment be provided to his family, as a result of which he was included in the housing registry for military personnel in need of improved housing conditions.

In addition, on July 17 M.I. also submitted a report of the same content to S.O., the RA Minister of Defense, in which, in addition to requesting the provision of housing, he stated his wish to be provided with an apartment in the city of Yerevan on an expedited basis.

On the same day S.O., the RA Minister of Defense, despite the fact that, pursuant to the procedure approved by Decision N 384-N of the RA Government dated March 7, 2007, “On the Provision of Housing to Servicemen within the System of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia,” the processes of registering servicemen in need of improved housing conditions for housing allocation and providing housing to servicemen were vested exclusively in the Commission, and despite having no authority under the same procedure to interfere in any way with those processes, instructed the Commission to provide M.I. with an apartment on an expedited basis, motivated by a desire to accommodate the request of M.I., with whom he had a friendly relationship.

During the Commission meeting held on August 11, 2008, the Chairperson and members of the Commission included M.I. in the list of servicemen registered as being in need of improved housing conditions and then, immediately thereafter, at the same meeting, by vote, decided to allocate to him, on an expedited basis, a three-room apartment located in the city of Yerevan.

Thus, beneficiaries within the system of the RA Ministry of Defense who were genuinely in need of improved housing conditions, having been included and placed on waiting lists in the housing registration lists for years, were deprived of their lawful and legally guaranteed right to secure social protection in accordance with the procedure established by the RA legislation, namely, to obtain apartments for use free of charge. As a result, substantial damage was caused to the rights and legitimate interests of the aforementioned persons.

By the supervising prosecutor’s decision, public criminal prosecution was initiated against S.O. according to the Part 1 of the Article 441 of RA Criminal Code.

The criminal proceeding with the bill of indictment was referred to the supervising prosecutor for approval and referral to court.