Ex-General Karapetyan's Case Sent to Court for Abuse of Power

The Investigative Committee reports that the preliminary investigation of the criminal proceedings initiated on the occasion of abuse of power by the former First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, A.K. (Arshak Karapetyan), has been completed in the General Military Investigative Department.

"During the preliminary investigation of the criminal proceedings, it was clarified and substantiated that on May 12, 2021, at dawn, the enemy, taking advantage of low visibility due to foggy weather, crossed the state border of the Republic of Armenia from the inter-positional area of the combat positions located in the Sev Lich area, advancing about 3-3.5 km deep, appearing in the rear of our positions and occupying favorable heights.

In the period from May 14 to 16, 2021, the former First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, A.K., going beyond the scope of his powers, realizing that he did not have the authority to give an order to remove servicemen from a combat position and to hand over our combat position to the enemy, using the authority derived from his position, gave an unfounded verbal order to abandon the combat positions, which negligently caused severe material consequences, namely: on May 16, our units withdrew from the combat positions, and on May 17, 2021, the enemy deployed in the said combat positions, refused to withdraw from the invaded sections, from the sovereign territory of the RA, taking control of a part of the territory.

Public criminal prosecution has been initiated against A.K. under Article 549, Part 2, Point 4 of the Criminal Code (Exceeding or abusing power, which negligently caused the destruction or damage of military property, equipment, or other property in particularly large amounts, or the failure of a combat mission or military exercise or other military event, or other grave consequences).

Detention has been chosen as a measure of restraint against the latter, and a search has been declared.

A decision has been made to conduct in absentia proceedings against A.K.

The criminal proceedings with the indictment have been sent to the supervising prosecutor with a motion to confirm it and send it to the court for substantive examination," the IC statement says.

As a reminder, Arshak Karapetyan previously held the positions of First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, First Deputy Minister of Defense, and Minister (from August to November 2021). His dismissal was conditioned by the incursion of Azerbaijani troops into the territory of the Republic of Armenia in one of the eastern sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in November 2021.