POLICE DUCK MEDIA QUESTIONS ON RECENT HIGH-PROFILE CASES
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
June 15 2007

Senior police officials avoided talking about recent high-profile
cases on Friday as they gathered media to present details of a new
judicial reform.

Head of the Police Press Service Sayat Shirinian asked reporters in
advance to ask only questions related to the upcoming changes in the
prosecutorial system. He added that all unrelated questions would
not be answered or would be answered vaguely.

To RFE/RL’s question about the results of the internal police probe
into the death in custody of Levon Gulian last month, Shirinian said:
"The investigation has not ended yet. It is still in progress."

Police insist that Levon Gulian, 31, who died under unclear
circumstances while being interrogated as a murder witness on May 12,
tried to escape through the window of a second-floor interrogation
room and accidentally "fell down in the process." The victim’s family
and lawyers, however, do not trust the suicide version and fear a
cover-up attempt.

Another question about the dismissal of a senior police official
earlier this week was also answered vaguely.

"Let’s accept it as a fact. The police system is not stagnant and
appointments and dismissals happen," Shirinian said, adding that
Hovannes Varian is in reserve and keeps his rank as lieutenant-general.

Varian was relieved of his duties as deputy chief of police by
President Robert Kocharian’s decree on Tuesday. No official explanation
has been made since as for the reasons for firing the official regarded
as loyal to the regime.

An Armenian daily newspaper, "Hayk", claimed on Wednesday that
Varian was fired over a fistfight with his immediate chief, Hayk
Harutiunian. But the allegations have not been confirmed by any
official source.

In presenting the upcoming reform, Police Investigation Department
Chief Gagik Hambartsumian said that all investigation departments
will be removed from the prosecutorial system and transferred to
the police, the defense ministry, the customs committee and the tax
service. The three-stage reform commencing July 1 will be completed
by December of this year.

Hambartsumian hopes the reform will be successful as it will remove
the existing shortcomings in the system.

The reforms stem from the amendments introduced in Armenia’s
constitution in 2005, according to which the prosecutor’s office no
longer has powers to conduct investigations, while its functions will
be limited to oversight.

Hambartsumian said that Armenia has seen an increased number of
instituted criminal cases in the first quarter of the year. "Although
it is sad, this is a tendency currently observed everywhere in the
world," the major-general said. "Our approach is that if the number
of crimes grows, then we’ve had some omissions."