Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia Anna Vardapetyan participated in the 36th session of the Coordinating Council of Prosecutors General of the CIS member States in an online format today.

As part of the first issue on the agenda, the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, Anna Vardapetyan, delivered a speech on "Modern challenges and new solutions in the field of the return of illegal property from abroad."

Anna Vardapetyan noted that the cross-border nature of modern crime creates new challenges for states: assets (property) acquired illegally can be moved to different countries, registered in the name of affiliated persons and transformed into other types of property.

"In these circumstances, asset recovery should be considered as a complex process, from their detection and tracking to freezing or confiscation, judicial proceedings, confiscation, management and actual return," the RA Prosecutor General emphasized and added that the impossibility of criminal prosecution should not automatically mean the impossibility of returning property acquired illegally. In this context, the Prosecutor General of the Republic referred to the mechanism of (non-conviction based asset forfeiture).

Anna Vardapetyan presented the Armenian experience, noting that with the adoption of the Law on Confiscation of Property of Illegal origin in 2020, a legal framework was formed for the use of an independent civil law mechanism for the return of illegally acquired property.

Stressing in this context the importance of effective international legal assistance, the RA Prosecutor General stressed that international cooperation should begin at the stage of asset detection and tracking, making it possible to promptly freeze, seize and store it until the completion of the National Judicial Process.

Anna Vardapetyan also touched upon the importance of the Warsaw Convention of the Council of Europe and its Additional Protocol, adopted in 2026, stressing that representatives of the RA Prosecutor General's Office were directly involved in the development of the protocol.

The RA Prosecutor General also presented the problems that arise in the course of international cooperation related to the existing differences between the legal systems of different states, the lack of similar mechanisms for civil confiscation, as well as restrictions on the further use of information obtained informally as evidence.

Anna Vardapetyan stressed the importance of further developing international cooperation in this area, highlighting the rapid exchange of information on assets, improving mechanisms for the prompt freezing and confiscation of property, ensuring the possibility of international legal assistance before a final court decision, mutual recognition and enforcement of judicial acts, as well as effective management of confiscated assets.

Summing up, Anna Vardapetyan noted that asset recovery is no longer a matter of confiscation of property only after the completion of the criminal process.

"This is a complex process that begins with the discovery of an asset, determining its location, tracking, and ends with the actual return of the asset. Our common goal is to ensure that there is no legal vacuum between the discovery of the asset and its actual return," the RA Prosecutor General noted.