YEREVAN. – Armenia’s former Chief of the Police Force Criminal Investigation Department, Police Major General Hovhannes Tamamyan, could be released from the courtroom before the upcoming parliamentary elections, Haykakan Zhamanak daily writes. 

“The events that unrolled in court yesterday [Thursday] point to this. Tamamyan and the other [two] defendants pleaded guilty and asked for a speedy trial. According to Armenia’s law, in the case of a speedy trial the defendants cannot be sentenced more than two-thirds of the maximum sentence specified by the given article. Tamamyan’s article specifies a maximum of six years in prison, and, in fact, this maximum now reduces by two years and becomes four years. 

In addition, since by pleading guilty Tamamyan has acquired a mitigating circumstance, his sentence might not be carried out conditionally, especially if we factor in that he has numerous state awards. In other words, it is highly unlikely that he will receive two or three years of conditional [release] and be released from the courtroom,” Haykakan Zhamanak writes.    

To note, Hovhannes Tamamyan and the other two defendants are charged with abuse of power, which has caused serious consequences.