Honorable Prime Minister,

Dignified employees of the RA Investigative Committee,

I am glad to greet You on the occasion of the 7^th anniversary of the establishment of the Investigative Committee and the day of the employee of the Investigative Committee.

This day is an opportune occasion to sum up and value the achievements recorded by the Investigative Committee, to appreciate the work done by it, and why not, to refer to the omissions and shortcomings, as well.

Now, when we look back at the period between September, 2020 and these days, we involuntarily face the hardest days of the war. Due to the logic of war events the investigators of the Committee have been unbelievably overloaded. The overload is currently going on due to the great number of initiated criminal cases and objective difficulties in the organization and conduction of preliminary investigation. 1558 criminal cases on 12593 people have been initiated and investigated in the subdivisions of General Military Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee on crimes against the order of military service, as well as other crimes related to military actions committed during the war unleashed by Azerbaijan, as well as during the martial law declared in the whole territory of the Republic of Armenia by the RA Government’s decision of September 27, 2020. Within the mentioned criminal cases 724 people have been involved as a defendant, large-scale investigative and other procedural actions have been conducted, over 15.000 people have been questioned.

Respectable investigators, I cannot help emphasizing the significance of the work done by you in that period. The ordeal of the war was an occasion to prove that we can resist the hardest difficulties. And you – the RA IC investigators proved that you are able to conduct investigative actions in that hardest situation, in the cities under bombardment, in terrifying conditions participate in the processes of finding, identification and forensic medical examination of the bodies of our eternal heroes. Moreover, you participated in the defense of the Motherland with weapon in your hands. During the war unleashed by Azerbaijan 149 employees were voluntarily drafted from all the subdivisions of the RA Investigative Committee; a rifle battalion was formed of the staff of the Committee which took part in the defense of the Motherland borders in accordance with the relevant order of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces.  

Currently you are investigating criminal cases on crimes against the order of military service during the war. You have taken up that mission realizing that it is not just a service, work but it is an unspeakable responsibility to the society and generations. Due to the need to conduct a complete investigation, currently the mentioned criminal cases, based on identical crimes and similar factual circumstances, have been combined according to protective areas and military operations developed and carried out during the war preliminary investigation of which is conducted by the Department of Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the RA IC General Military Investigative Department. We realize that the society has expectations on the reasons of losing the war, the circumstances that contributed to defeat and disclosure of those guilty and we are able to provide the comprehensive, complete and objective investigation within the mentioned criminal cases.

Along with it, preliminary investigation of the criminal case initiated on September 29, 2020 on the facts of unleashing and waging a war against the Republic of Artsakh by the military leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan, crimes against peace, human security and other war crimes is ongoing in the mentioned department of the Committee. In the framework of the mentioned criminal case targeting civilians of peaceful settlements of the Republic of Artsakh for systematized, deliberate and intentional attacks, making historical monuments, works of art, churches considered cultural heritage of Artsakh object of attacks and inflicting great damage to them caused by the attacks, using prohibited weapons, as well as involvement of foreign mercenaries and international terrorist groups, international terrorism financing, cases of serious violation of international human right committed by the servicemen of the Armed forces of Azerbaijan against Armenian servicemen and civilians were the subject of investigation.

The investigative body made a decision to involve 31 citizens of Syrian Arab Republic among them the paramilitary leader of one of the terrorist groups involved in the act of aggression as a defendant for mercenarism, international terrorism, serious violations of international human right. Detention was chosen as a pretrial measure against them and international search was declared. Within the mentioned cases a decision was made to find 3788 people killed during the military acts as a victim. Investigation is conducted to find out the location of 224 servicemen and 22 civilians. All cases of capturing the Armenian servicemen and civilians by the armed forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan were also made a subject of investigation in the framework of which the investigative body cooperates with the Armenian Office of International Committee of the Red Cross, other international structures, diplomatic missions of several countries.

It is important to refer also to the post-war realities in the Republic of Armenia when the whole society was in a psychologically hard situation and disseminating words of hatred in society, attempts were made to provoke artificial turmoil. Internal political tensions caused by the post-war developments, the atmosphere of unjustly generated hatred and intolerance in the country caused some difficulties for state management and ensuring the normal work of law enforcement bodies, among them the RA Investigative Committee. Respectable investigators, even in these conditions you revealed yourselves as professional servants showing will and restraint. There were many cases when you were targeted, unjustifiably marked, however you did not pay tribute to all that continuing to serve the Motherland tirelessly. In spite of the mentioned realities we could overcome the situation with honor together with our partners of law enforcement bodies and with the utmost efforts we carried out and are going on carrying out our service duties.

I consider it necessary also to refer to another important event that took place in 2021 – snap elections of the National Assembly. The subdivisions of the Investigative Committee have done large-scale work during conduction of preliminary investigation of criminal cases initiated on criminal breaches recorded in the process of preparing and holding the relevant elections on June 20.

During the snap elections of National Assembly held in the republic 177 materials on electoral breaches were prepared on 23 of which criminal cases were initiated.

And after all, it is necessary to refer to the fact that even in epidemic conditions the Investigative Committee ensured proper conduction of preliminary investigation within criminal cases of great volume. In the first term of 2021 the IC subdivisions conducting investigation have worked with unprecedented workload. It is enough to mention that about 93.3% of criminal cases investigated in the proceeding of investigative bodies authorized to conduct investigation in the republic was investigated in the proceeding of the Investigative Committee. The number of criminal cases investigated by the investigators of the Committee has increased by nearly one third, as compared with the previous reporting period. During the 9 months of 2021 totally 32814 criminal cases have been investigated in the proceeding of the subdivisions of the RA Investigative Committee.

It was possible to achieve the results recorded by the subdivisions of the Committee in the organization and implementation of pretrial proceeding due to the effective combination of highly professional preparedness, devotion, collective efforts of the system. Today also the main guarantee of the efficiency of the activity of the Committee is still the investigators carrying out their service duties professionally and with high sense of responsibility. We will continue the policy to replenish the system with high-quality staff using the principles of stability of the investigative service, unity of requirements for investigators, their legal and social protection. With consistent steps we will achieve the full provision of procedural independence of the investigator, creation of necessary conditions for unhindered implementation of the investigator’s hard work.  At the same time, we will be consistent to ensure the purity of our ranks, to multiply the success achieved over the years related to which I would like to remind that the benchmark of the requirements for the employees of the Committee is remaining high, the requirements – strict and any act inappropriate for the title done by anyone will have its proper response.

Realizing the significance of the investigator’s profession each employee of the system must carry out his everyday duties refusing the unacceptable manifestations in terms of public perception of his working style, based on the traditions of the system. We will be proud of those investigators who adequately perceive these realities, for whom serving the law wholeheartedly, devotion to work and state thinking are not just words but guidelines of everyday work.

Honorable Prime Minister,

Respectable Partners,

Summing up my speech I would like to state that the Investigative Committee definitely stands in the position of establishment of legality and strengthening the rule of law in our country, the rooting of the universal perception of equality before the law. All of us remember very well that some months ago the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia voiced in this hall that he expected more efficient and decisive actions from the Investigative Committee and we should make consistent efforts to achieve the expected results.  

I assure that we have sufficient potential to carry out our authorities easily and we are full of determination to take consistent steps to enhance the efficiency of the pretrial proceeding.

Respectable investigators, I have the honor to serve with you during this crucial period for the Motherland. I again congratulate you on the professional holiday and let God bless our people, our statehood and the RA Investigative Committee.