YEREVAN. - The Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia has provided clarifications on its petition with the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for the latter’s consenting to launching of criminal proceedings against Judge Davit Grigoryan on three counts, and along the lines of the criminal case being investigated under the Criminal Code article on official fraud.

In particular, the clarification states that on July 26, the acting Prosecutor General filed the aforesaid petition with the SJC, and on July 27, the SJC decided to approve this petition on two counts of committing official fraud.

As per the clarification, the preliminary investigation into this criminal case is still in progress, and the relevant procedural decisions will be made in the near future—and in the manner prescribed by law.

And proceeding from the principle of not damaging the standing of the judges’ institute with excess publicity, the Prosecutor General’s Office continues to provide the least amount of information that is permitted in the said criminal case.

At the same time, it reminds the principles of equality before the law and of the inevitability of criminal accountability that are specified under the Criminal Code of Armenia, and which apply unconditionally to any person who has allegedly committed an offense.

Davit Grigoryan is the judge presiding over the criminal case involving Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan and several other former senior officials, and he had commuted Kocharyan’s pretrial measure of custody and ruled for his release from custody. And based on the abovementioned SJC decision, his powers have been suspended by force of law.