YEREVAN.— Armenia-Iran cooperation in legal field is more active than collaboration with our neighbors, Armenia’s Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan said.

On Tuesday the prosecutors of Armenia and Iran signed a memorandum on cooperation. The document envisages cooperation in the fight against cross-border crime such as drug trafficking, trafficking of people.

The Armenian side files about 20 inquiries a day to the Iranian law enforcers, Hovsepyan said. At this point 10-12 citizens of Iran are serving their sentence in Armenia’s penitentiaries.

In 2012 and this year, 25 offenders, citizens of Iran, were transferred to the Islamic Republic.

“Previously, all these issues were resolved through diplomatic channels. Now, after the signing of the memorandum, the contacts will be direct,” Hovsepyan assured.

In this context, he noted increase in number of cases of drugs import from neighboring countries - Iran and Turkey.

“Iran is holding serious struggle against criminals. Law enforcers are fighting with the arms in their hands, and, unfortunately, every year dozens of colleagues are killed at the hands of criminals,” he said. 

In his turn, Iranian Attorney General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei noted at the moment there are no Armenian convicts (citizens of Armenia) in the Iranian prisons. Responding to a question about the punishment envisaged  by law in respect of Iranian drug dealers, he said this depends on the type of drug and the amount, up to the death penalty. According to him, at present, 44 percent of inmates in the Iranian prisons are serving sentences for drug trafficking.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am