Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today held a consultation with Armenia’s senior law enforcement officers, including National Security Service Director Armen Abazyan, Chief of Police Vahe Ghazaryan, Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan, Chairman of National Assembly Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs Vladimir Vardanyan, Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan, Special Investigation Service Head Sasun Khachatryan, Investigative Committee Chairman Hayk Grigoryan, Supreme Judicial Council members, candidate for President of the Court of Cassation Lilit Tadevosyan, President of the Administrative Court of Appeals Hovsep Bedevyan, President of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction Arthur Mkrtchyan and other officials.

The Prime Minister noted that in the current situation there is a growing public demand for state agencies and institutions to work accurately and effectively. “I especially refer to the law enforcement system and the enforcement of public order. I would like that during this discussion we exchanged views and shared our assessments of how well the law enforcement institutions are functioning today, what is our common approach in terms of interaction and the rule of law.

I want to cite a specific example. You know that the night of November 10 was marked by acts of violence; in fact, the Speaker of the National Assembly came under attack. 50 people have been charged under criminal proceedings, of which 42 were remanded in custody. 20 motions were rejected, 18 were complied with; 2 people remain in custody in the case of the attack on the NA Speaker, while the arrest of one person was rejected. The main question arising from the statistics I provided is whether an adequate response was given to what happened, and if we consider it adequate, let us take note of it, but if we do not consider it adequate, we should understand where the problem is, and why do we have such a situation?” Nikol Pashinyan said.

Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan and Head of the Investigative Department of the National Security Service Artur Poghosyan reported back the progress in the legal process in connection with the events of November 10, the results of investigations and the ongoing investigative actions. A substantive discussion followed their report on the course of the criminal proceedings, the identification of persons involved in criminal acts, as well as on the activities of the judicial system. Opinions and recommendations were presented during the debate.

Summing up the meeting, Prime Minister Pashinyan emphasized that the law enforcement system’s activities should ensure that every citizen of Armenia, regardless of their position, could feel fully protected, and the law enforcement system should do its utmost to live up to this crucial mission. The Premier stressed the importance of ensuring effective and close cooperation between law enforcement agencies.