NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs Sitting
20 May 2021
National Assembly
of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)
the 7th convocation • Official website
May 20, the Chair of the Artsakh Republic National Assembly Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, Sevak Aghajanyan convened a regular sitting.
Activities of the Human Rights Defender of the Artsakh Republic 2020, as well as questions on the state of protection of human rights and freedoms and the annual reports on the activities of the Prosecutor's Office of the Artsakh Republic in 2020 were included in the agenda.
"Since September, the ombudsman's staff has been mainly involved in fact-finding work on the aftermath of the war, and therefore the work on the ombudsman's main activities has slowed down," said Gegham Stepanyan, ombudsman of the Artsakh Republic.
Nevertheless, during the reporting period, the Defender performed his most important function: the study and discussion of individual applications. The ombudsman's staff received 377 applications from 481 people, not counting the hundreds of applications received during the fighting. Compared to 2019, the number of applications has increased by 143.
In 2020 the Human Rights Defender's Office monitored the entire process of campaigning, voting and summarizing the results of the national elections held on March 31 and April 14, 2020. On its own initiative, it initiated a discussion procedure and submitted 18 reports to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The ombudsman's staff paid monitoring visits to the penitentiary department, the pre-trial detention center and the military police.
Following the war unleashed by Azerbaijan, the convicts held in the "Shushi" penitentiary were transferred to the "Nubarashen" penitentiary in Armenia.
On September 27, 2020, due to the large-scale aggression launched by the Azerbaijani armed forces, the Human Rights Defender of Azerbaijan has initiated a fact-finding mission in order to document human rights violations, as a result of which two interim reports on Azerbaijani atrocities against the population of Artsakh were published, the report on the violation of the rights of the children of Artsakh as a result of the aggression of Azerbaijan, Report on the Azerbaijani attacks on the Ghazanchetsots Church in Shushi, the report on the vandalism of the Armenian cultural heritage in the occupied territories and the threat of the destruction of the Armenian monuments, as well as a special report on targeting of journalists by Azerbaijan in cooperation with the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, Extraordinary report on the use of weapons of mass destruction by the Azerbaijani armed forces in Artsakh, containing chemical elements, hostility towards ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan, as an Extraordinary Report on the Essential Causes of Ethnic Torture and Inhuman Treatment by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.
Of particular importance are the six closed reports on the atrocities committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces against ethnic Armenian prisoners and bodies of victims, published jointly with the RA Human Rights Defender. The Defender has also taken active steps to expand foreign cooperation. More than 200 letters were sent to international governmental and non-governmental organizations outlining the post-war humanitarian situation.
In accordance with the functions defined by the Law of the Artsakh Republic "On the Prosecutor's Office" and in accordance with the requirements of the Rules of Procedure of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Artsakh, in 2020, the Prosecutor's Office carried out work on protection of state interests, corruption, property and economic activities. Improving the quality and legality of the investigation of cases of crimes against humanity and general crimes, as well as for the consideration of applications, organizational-supervisory, international cooperation, legal support and improvement of work in other areas.
In 2020, 4 sessions of the board և 16 operative consultations were held in the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the most important issues during the organization of the activities of the Prosecutor's Office, as well as during the management of criminal cases.
"In 2020, 1281 cases of crimes were registered in the territory of the Artsakh Republic, of which the number of crimes counted as a percentage of detection is 1261. Compared to the same period last year, the number of crimes increased by 329 cases or 34.5%. Crime movement analysis shows that by nature and degree of danger to society in 2020, 18 (2019: 10) especially serious crimes were registered, 147 cases of serious crimes (56: 2019), 473 cases of medium-gravity crimes (279 in 2019) 6 623 cases of minor crimes (592 in 2019) ", the Prosecutor General emphasized in his report:
In 2020, the following cases were registered in the Artsakh Republic area:
The total crime detection rate in 2020 has significantly decreased compared to the previous year and amounted to 76.6% / in 2019 - 95.3% /.
In 2020, the number of crimes committed by minors decreased by 7 cases.
In 2020, in the field of protection of state interests, the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan carried out 30 inspections in state bodies, local self-government bodies, state non-commercial organizations and other bodies, found 330 violations and voluntarily restored AMD 1,760,600 to the state budget.
The Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Artsakh has done some work to ensure public awareness and publicity of its activities.
During the reporting period, by the orders of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Artsakh, 10 prosecutorial investigative employees were awarded ranks, 9 were appointed to higher positions, and 4 employees were transferred to relevant positions.
The Prosecutor General answered the questions posed by the deputies.
NA Vice-President Gagik Baghunts, deputies were present at the sitting.
