Dataxazutyun

Taking into consideration the public interest the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia informs that Telman Hakob Mkhitaryan was arrested on August 24, 2010 by the employees of the RA Police and was taken to the place allotted for detainment of Yerevan department of the RA Police and on August 25, 2010 to the “Nubarashen” penitentiary of the RA Ministry of Justice.

On August 25, 2010 the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation was informed about the arrest of T. Mkhitaryan and on September 2, 2010 mediation was received from the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation to pass him to the law enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation with the purpose of criminal liability.

On September 7, 2010 the RA General Prosecutor made a decision to satisfy the mediation of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation to pass him to the law enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation according to the RA Criminal Procedure Code Article 479, part 1 and on September 10, 2010 the decision was given to T. Mkhitaryan by explaining to him the order of appeal. No information on the appeal of the decision has been received yet.

As for the circumstances of Telman Mkhitaryan’s arrest it is informed that he was taken to the “Nubarashen” penitentiary of the RA Ministry of Justice as he was persecuted by the law enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation according to the Russian Federation Criminal Code Article 163 part 3 point “b” (25 June 1998 edition) and Article 163 part 3 point “b” (8 December 2003 edition) and the means of restraint is arrest.

It means that he was taken to the “Nubarashen” penitentiary based on the decision of the law enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation to choose arrest as a means of restraint according to the Convention on “Legal aid and legal relations in civil, family and criminal cases” (adopted on January 22, 1993) and its Additional Protocol (adopted on March 28, 1997) and the law enforcement bodies of the Republic of Armenia are not competent to reconfirm the decision made by these bodies. In particular pursuant to the Article 61.1 of the Additional Protocol (adopted on March 28, 1997) to the Convention on “Legal aid and legal relations in civil, family and criminal cases” (adopted on January 22, 1993) a person may also be arrested if there are reasons to suspect that he or she has committed, in the territory of the other Contracting Party, an offence entailing extradition the copy of the arrest decision and the sentence etc. are attached to the request for persecution. The requested side is immediately informed about the arrest of the persecuted person or other results of the persecution.

According to the Article 62 of the above-mentioned Additional Protocol the arrested person can be kept in the Extradition arrest for 40 days until receiving the request for extradition.

The mediation was satisfied on the 14th day of his arrest thus all the actions were taken according to the terms of the Convention and its Additional Protocol.

T. Mkhitaryan was detained and taken to the “Nubarashen” penitentiary was based on the decision made on July 4, 2009 by the District Court of the Novgorod district of the Russian Federation.

It is insisted by you that there was a breach of the Article 5 of the European Convention on “Human rights and fundamental freedoms” and Article 16 of the RA Constitution it is clarified that pursuant to the point 7 of the Article 16 of the RA Constitution, the law can prevent the unauthorized entry of a person into the Republic of Armenia, as well as to deport or extradite him/her to a foreign country.

In this case the arrest of the person is stated not only by the law but by the Convention on “Legal aid and legal relations in civil, family and criminal cases”, which according to the Article 6 of the RA Constitution has prevalence.

Point 3 of the Article 5 of the Convention on “Human rights and fundamental freedoms” states that paragraph 3 of the Article 5 of the Convention states that everyone arrested or detained in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1.c of this article shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial. Release may be conditioned by guarantees to appear for trial. Point “c” of the paragraph 1 of the Article 5 states that the lawful arrest or detention of a person effected for the purpose of bringing him before the competent legal authority on reasonable suspicion of having committed an offence or when it is reasonably considered necessary to prevent his committing an offence or fleeing after having done so.

Whereas T. Mkhitaryan was arrested based on the point “f” not point “c” of the paragraph 1 of the Article 5, which, inter alia, relates to the lawful arrest or detention of a person in order to hand him with the purpose of the investigation of the case and making a final decision.

It is also informed that the decision on T. Mkhitaryan’s extradition was made taking into consideration the guarantees of the protection of his rights according to the conventions signed by the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation in the field of the protection of the human rights in the framework of the UNO, European Council and CIS.