Armenia’s Independent Observer alliance may appeal a decision not to launch criminal proceedings over alleged election-related charity violations.
“Sometimes we are forced to fight just to have criminal proceedings initiated,” said Daniel Ioannisyan, coordinator of the Union of Informed Citizens NGO and the Independent Observer civic alliance, according to Pastinfo.
The Independent Observer mission submitted a crime report concerning alleged social assistance distributed during the election period by Talin mayor and Civil Contract representative Tavros Sapeyan. However, Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee did not launch criminal proceedings.
Ioannisyan said the organization assessed that there were apparent elements of an act prohibited under Article 221 of Armenia’s Criminal Code and therefore filed a report. According to him, they learned through media reports that the initiation of proceedings had been denied, though they have not yet received a written response. Once received, they will consider appealing the decision.
Asked about a similar case involving another observer mission, Witness Observer, which had filed a report concerning alleged misuse of administrative resources by Civil Contract in Bagratashen, Ioannisyan said he was unfamiliar with that specific incident but sees apparent problems in general.
“For example, when there was an apparent crime during the Vagharshapat election campaign in favor of the Civil Contract party, we had to go all the way to the Court of Cassation in order to get criminal proceedings initiated. We only recently succeeded — we fought for six months just to achieve the opening of proceedings. Literally six months of struggle. Yes, we do see problems here,” Ioannisyan said.
In response to remarks suggesting that during the election campaign criminal proceedings appear to target only opposition representatives, Ioannisyan repeated that they do see problems and are forced to fight.
Asked whether it could be concluded that law enforcement bodies are also being used as an administrative resource in the election campaign, Ioannisyan refrained from making such an assessment, saying only that Armenia’s judicial system still appears to face independence-related problems.
Commenting on a lawsuit filed against the My Step charitable foundation, which was returned by the court, Ioannisyan said lawyers are dealing with the issue and that the claim will be resubmitted.
The mayor decided to provide social assistance just one month before the elections, at a time when the election date was already known and the ban on charitable activities was already in force, while Article 221 of Armenia’s Criminal Code предусматривает criminal liability for violating the charity ban.
