On December 9, 2024, Mher Mkrtchyan, Head of the Department of Organization, Supervision and Legal Assistance of the Prosecutor General's Office, participated in the presentation of a research report in terms of the project “Justice Barometer: Evaluating the Judicial Response to Corruption”.

The report addressed the results and status of the investigation of civil and criminal cases in the Anti-Corruption Court.

The Head of the Department presented the new legal tools aimed at increasing the efficiency of investigating corruption cases, discussed the challenges in the field, and also touched upon the achievements recorded by the Prosecutor's Office in the areas of protecting state (community) interests and confiscating property of illegal origin. In this context, Mher Mkrtchyan reported that from September 2023 to November 2024, the market value of the properties, as well as the funds returned to the state within the framework of the Prosecutor's Office's powers to protect state interests and confiscate property of illegal origin, exceeded a total of USD 30 million.

Referring to the statistics of criminal proceedings related to corruption crimes investigated by the Anti-Corruption Committee, the Head of the Department noted that between January 1 and October 30, 2024, 131 criminal cases involving 287 individuals were sent to the court. According to Mher Mkrtchyan, during the same period, 91 criminal cases involving 146 individuals were completed in the courts. Of the aforementioned criminal cases, judgments of conviction were rendered in 88 cases, and a judgments of acquittal were rendered in 3 cases against 6 defendants (appeals were filed).

Siranush Sahakyan, Head of the “International and Comparative Law Center” NGO and Adelaida Baghdasaryan, AUA LL.M. Program Chair delivered welcome speeches during the event.

During the presentation of the report, it was noted that the amount of funds recovered through state interest protection claims in 2018-2022 generally did not exceed even one percent of the damage caused to the state (on average, it amounted to 0.25% per year). However, in 2023, a significant increase in the effectiveness of this legal mechanism was observed: the recovered damage now amounts to more than 5% of the damage caused.

The joint program of the Legal Resource Center of the American University of Armenia and the International and Comparative Law Center” NGO was implemented with the support of the “Noubar and Anna Afeyan Foundation”.