Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan introduced to senior Police staff newly appointed Police Chief Valery Osipyan.

The Premier thanked former Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan for the work done during his tenure in the interest of the Republic of Armenia and for the sake of public security, law and human rights.

“I want to formulate the problem I put before the RA Police. The first is, of course, the complete and unconditional enforcement of law and order, as well as the protection of human rights and democracy.

In these issues, I want to highlight a few subheadings. First, criminal activity in the Republic of Armenia should reach an unprecedented low level. Next, we all have to give up the policy of penalizing citizens on a continuous basis and on all possible occasions, since we feel that this can impair the atmosphere in the country. Mr. Osipyan, it is necessary to quickly understand what decisions we should make to ensure that this problem is addressed de jure,” Nikol Pashinyan said, adding that the policy of punishing should be replaced by preventive measures. The Prime Minister added that jointly with the Yerevan Municipality the Police should take serious measures in order to keep people safe from traffic jams and inconveniences.

“The next step I want to point out is that it is a fight against corruption. In the first police system of the Republic of Armenia should be avoided any sort of corruption and here we can not ignore the policy of replacing the policy of punishment.

Corruption in Armenia should be eradicated altogether. What happened in Armenia over the past month in political terms, many considered as impossible. Consequently, if we have initiated the impossible, then we should continue the fight against corruption at the same pace, and I expect that in Armenia no more traffic inspectors will take a bribe. An official who is making corruption-prone decisions should be waiting for the prompt response of law-enforcement authorities. I have formulated such a problem before the Director of the National Security Service,” Nikol Pashinyan said, adding that the most important function of State bodies is to make the citizens’ lives more comfortable, create an atmosphere of love and solidarity in Armenia.

“In essence, it turns out that as a result of political events, the citizens and especially the oppositional-minded citizens and police have been at different points of the line. I look forward to removing those traits, considering they were erased during the last month’s political events, and I would like to thank the police for the display of maximal restraint during the past month, especially over the last 10-15 days,” the Prime Minister noted.

Former Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan thanked his colleagues for joint work and attached importance to the continuation of reforms in the police system. Vladimir Gasparyan praised Valeri Osipyan’s professional skills and wished him productive work.

For his part, Valery Osipyan thanked Prime Minister Pashinyan for confidence and expressed conviction that the problems that had been set before the police would be carried out at a high level.

Summing up, Prime Minister Pashinyan said: “In cadre policy it is necessary to exclude figuratively speaking clan approach and the principle of promoting official promotion in the police system should be professionalism, devotion to the service, the Republic of Armenia and its people.

I think all of us understand very well that many citizens of Armenia will continue to perceive the police as an entity standing on the other side of the barbed wire. Our and your most important task is to promptly show that there should be no barbed wire, shields, special means between the police and the people, and the police must serve the Republic of Armenia and its people. This is a political issue that we have to solve very quickly,” the Prime Minister concluded.