On April 3, 2025, the Prosecutor General transferred the criminal proceedings with the confirmed indictment against the judge accused of official negligence to the Court of First Instance of Ararat and Vayots Dzor Regions.

Let us recall that on January 21, 2025, in a closed session, the Supreme Judicial Council, based on the decision of the Supreme Judicial Council No. BDKh-7-O-K-1 of January 21, 2025 on granting the petition No. 36/13-25 “On granting consent to initiate public criminal prosecution against Judge G.S. of the Criminal Court of Appeal of the Republic of Armenia” submitted by the Prosecutor General on January 20, 2025, and guided by Part 1 of Article 94, Part 1 of Article 165 of the Constitutional Law “Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia”, and the Resolution of the Supreme Judicial Council of October 20, 2020 By paragraph 86 of Appendix 1 to Decision No. BDKh-68-N-15 of 22, it was decided to suspend the powers of Judge G.S. of the Criminal Court of Appeal until the end of the criminal proceedings.

The criminal proceedings examined by the Anti-Corruption Committee revealed that during the court session held on December 1, 2022 in one of the court cases, the judge of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Ararat and Vayots Dzor Regions had announced that he had made a decision to appoint an additional forensic and technical examination. On December 14, 2023, the citizen's lawyer addressed a letter to the presiding judge and asked to inform him what measures had been taken to obtain the expert opinion. On the same day, the lawyer also sent a letter to the "Expertise Center of the Republic of Armenia" SNCO and asked to inform him of the stage of the examination in the mentioned case and the reasons for its delay.

On December 21, 2023, the "Expertise Center of the Republic of Armenia" informed that there is no expert examination in the mentioned criminal case.

On February 7, 2024, the lawyer again addressed a letter to the same judge, asking to provide information on the expert examination. The lawyer was told by the judge’s staff by phone that, due to some problems, the decision made on December 1, 2022 was not sent for execution, but measures were being taken to receive the expert’s conclusion in a short time.

In the letters addressed to the court, the lawyer also noted that the statute of limitations for bringing the defendant to criminal liability in this case expires on June 6, 2024.

On June 6, 2024, the conclusion of the additional forensic technical examination was received from the “Expertise Center of the Republic of Armenia” SNCO, the study of which revealed that the decision to appoint an expert examination made by the Court on December 1, 2022 by the “Expertise Center of the Republic of Armenia” was received at the “Expertise Center of the Republic of Armenia” SNCO on April 12, 2024.

On January 22, 2025, the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia initiated public criminal prosecution against the judge under Part 1 of Article 446 of the Criminal Code (Official negligence).

Notice:  A person charged with any crime shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty in the manner prescribed by the RA Criminal Procedure Code—by the judgment came into legal force.