The outcomes of the activities of RA Military Prosecutor's Office of 2020 were summarized during the meeting held by the RA Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, as well as issues related to the outcomes of the fight against crime in the Armed Forces and many other criminal cases related to Artsakh war were discussed.

 

Vagharshak Harutyunyan, the RA Minister of Defense, was present at the meeting.

 

Vahe Harutyunyan, the RA Military Prosecutor, mentioned that 3016 cases of crime were recorded by the military units and other troops of the RA Armed Forces in 2020, which is more with 2087 or three times, compared with the previous year (929 cases).

 

The sharp increase in cases of crime is due to the aggressive war unleashed against the RA, Republic of Artsakh and humanity by the Azerbaijan, in particular, 1501 cases of the crimes, or about 50%, were recorded during martial law and hostilities. 55% of the 3016 cases of crime were serious and particularly serious crimes.

 

The number of deaths related to service during 2020 have not been clarified yet because of the identification of the bodies of military servicemen and civilians killed during the war, and the ongoing search for missing military servicemen. In 2020, bodies of 3389 military servicemen were identified. In the result of the hostilities, 9094 people were injured bodily.

 

Addressing the war-related criminal cases, the RA Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan noted that it is necessary to make an in-depth, comprehensive, fully objective legal assessment of starting aggressive war by the Republic of Azerbaijan with the support of Turkey, as well as the grave violations of international humanitarian law against the RA, Artsakh military servicemen, civilian population and settlements, crimes against humanity, the use of prohibited weapons, involvement in international terrorism.

 

Artur Davtyan also instructed to show the same consistency in finding out the criminal acts committed at the commanding level of Armenian Armed Forces, regarding specific cases, situations, directions of hostilities, emphasising the the catastrophic consequences of the war. To this end Artur Davtyan has noted several important areas, in particular, violations committed during conscription, recruitment, provision of armaments before the war, compliance of military procurement and acquisition procedures with the security needs of the Republic of Artsakh, possible corruption schemes, detection of criminal shortcomings and mistakes of the commanding personel and implementation of military operations.

 

The Prosecutor General considered it necessary to give legal assessments to those criminal features having impact on the outcome of the war. During the discussion, Artur Davtyan outlined that nothing may hinder the prosecution of any person regardless of his/her position, in case there are sufficient grounds and evidence. It was also instructed to continue the reception of the parents and relatives of the killed, missing, captive military servicemen at the RA Military Prosecutor's Office,  giving the necessary clarifications about their concerns.

 

The RA Minister of Defense said that the operative and objective clarification of all the circumstances of the war is an urgent necessity, especially emphasizing the full investigation of the possible causes of possible corruption in the field of arms procurement, insufficient work in the field of mobilization resources management.

 

It was recorded during the meeting that 146 criminal cases were initiated on corruption cases in the military units and other troops of the RA Armed Forces. Damage of 221.560.950 AMD was caused which is more than 30% more compared with 2019. 61.314.695 AMD was recovered by means of pre-trial proceedings.