YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: As it is known, the 19 servicemen detained by the NSS [(National Security Service)] are accused of providing information considered confidential to foreign special services, for a fee.

The NSS reports that the persons who carried out espionage activities created fake personal pages, with data and photos of Armenian women, on social media. After that, the representatives of the foreign special services who are fluent in Armenian established acquaintances with the persons holding various positions in the RA Armed Forces.

The people involved in the spy network have held various positions in the RA Armed Forces and have had the opportunity of access to information and documents containing state and official secrets, assures the NSS.

The NSS also reminds that the article "High Treason" of the Criminal Code envisages up to life imprisonment.

At the same time, Article 299 of the RA Criminal Code also provides for an incentive norm: a person who has committed high treason or espionage is exempt from criminal liability if he/she has voluntarily informed about it.

According to our information, one of the 19 accused is G. G., a resident of Aygehovit community of Tavush Province. He is not married; he was living with his parents. However, our sources in Ijevan [city] noted that those in the province are very skeptical in connection with this accusation—many claim that G. G. was not capable of treason. We tried to get some information also from the community leader of Aygehovit, but he was quite scared and did not want to talk to us.

We studied the [social media] page of the accused from Ijevan, and found out that all the posts of the 29-year-old young man are dedicated to the homeland and the army.