The National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia, as a result of operational and search measures and investigation activities undertaken within the framework of the implementation of its functions aimed at the fight against corruption, detected a number of cases of abusing power and taking a bribe by officials of penal institutions of the RA Ministry of Justice.

According to the obtained preliminary data, the head of the precinct of the “Armavir” penal institution of the RA Ministry of Justice, having allowed the prisoner to use a mobile phone, to leave the doors of the cell open and to have freedom of movement, in May-July 2019, through the prisoner’s relatives, demanded and received, as a bribe on a major scale, different types of construction materials costing in total 300 000 AMD, which he used for personal needs. For conducting similar illegal activities in favor of another convict serving his sentence in the penal institution, the official demanded from the convict, also as a bribe, a construction material.

On another case, the officials, conducting state service in ʺArtikʺ penal institution of the RA Ministry of Justice, during April-May 2019 did not take proper measures to prevent the cases of violation of the regime, to detect the forbidden items, to make records of the violations and to allow the action to proceed legally, on the contrary, instead of conducting searches in convicts’ cells, they came to a mutual agreement with the convicts and received from them 20 mobile phones of different types, registering them as the result of the searches conducted in the cells and thus drawing official documents containing false information. 

Besides, the employees of the same penal institution received from the convict 100 000 AMD as a bribe in order to pass on forbidden items, including mobile phones, and while knowing that the juice in the latter’s parcel contained psychotropic substances, they didn’t take measures to take it away and to start criminal process, on the contrary, permitted its illicit turnover in penal institution.

On another case, the officials of “Vanadzor” penal institution of the Ministry of Justice of RA, having made a criminal deal with several convicts considered as so-called criminal lords, from September 2018 to June 2019, in exchange for different sums of money, brought forbidden items, including drugs, into the territory of the penal institution, passing them on to some convicts.

In the Investigation Department of the NSS of RA, criminal cases have been initiated in connection with apparent crimes, according to corresponding articles of the Criminal Code of RA.

The preliminary investigation goes on. 

Note: The suspect or accused of an alleged crime is considered innocent as long as his guilt is not proven in a manner prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure of RA - by the court decision entered into legal force.