ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT REGULATIONS OF INTERPOL IS NON-POLITICIZATION OF CRIMES
Mariam Levina

ArmInfo
2010-05-06 16:14:00

Interview of Head of Armenian National Central Bureau of Interpol,
Colonel of Police Vardan Yeghiazaryan, with ArmInfo news agency

Mr. Yeghiazaryan, would you tell us a little about the organization
and Armenia’s participation in it?

Interpol is a universal and, one can say, unique organization. After
the UN, it is the biggest international organization by the number
of its participants; currently it has a total of 188 participant
countries. Armenia has been a member of Interpol since 1992, and I can
say that we are normally cooperating with all the member countries. It
cannot be otherwise, as everything is controlled by the Regulations,
rules and standards that are to be observed by all the participants.

We are most actively cooperating with 97 countries, particularly,
Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Iran, the United Arab
Emirates, the United States, etc. One can say these are the countries
we have common "interests" with.

How many people are wanted on the Armenian party’s inquiry?

At present, on the Armenian law enforcers’ inquiry, there are 272
people on the Interpol international wanted list, 185 of them being
on Red Corner Notices, and 87 – on Diffusion Notice. However, these
figures are changing constantly, some people are detected, and some
are put on the wanted list.

How many citizens wanted by the Armenian law enforcers have been
detected in foreign states?

In 2008 a total of 95 Armenian citizens wanted by Armenian law
enforcers were detected in other states, 20 of them were on the
international wanted list. 54 of the wanted persons were arrested,
and 20 were extradited. In 2009 a total of 99 citizens were detected,
44 of them being on the international wanted list. 84 of the wanted
were arrested, and 18 were extradited. In Q1 2010 a total of 41 persons
were detected, 12 being on the international wanted list. 24 of the
wanted persons were arrested, 8 were extradited.

Taking into account Armenia’s active cooperation with the rest of
Interpol member states, how many persons wanted by foreign states
have been detected in Armenia in 2010?

Over Q1 2010 Armenian law enforcers detected 9 persons, 3 of them
being on the international wanted list. Just for comparison: in 2008
our law enforcers detected 16 persons in the territory of Armenia,
7 of them being internationally wanted. In 2009 a total of 29 persons
were detected, 13 of them being on the international wanted list. That
is to say, we are searching for not only the persons internationally
wanted, but also those wanted at the national level.

Are there any data on search of Armenian citizens by other states?

Certainly, there are, like our search of other states’ citizens, who
have committed a crime in our country’s territory. There are few of
them, at present we are searching for around 250 internationally wanted
persons – they are either citizens of Armenia or persons of Armenian
nationality, as very often we are guided by the surname ending "-yan"
peculiar to most Armenians. This mainly concerns Russia, Germany,
Poland, France, the United States, as well as around 200 persons
wanted at the national level.

Vano Siradeghyan, former interior minister of Armenia, is also wanted.

Are there any data on this issue?

Vano Siradeghyan is also a wanted person, like the rest. He is still
on the international wanted list.

Does the National Central Bureau of Armenia have any problems when
contacting the Turkish National Central Bureau?

We have no problems with Turkey. The Turkish party accurately
implements all our inquiries. The interaction mainly concerns
identification of persons, register verification, as well as
anti-trafficking fight. For example, in October 2009 Armenian law
enforcers detected and extradited Turkish citizen Sayid Cakmak,
who had been on the international wanted list.

What about contacts with the National Central Bureau of Azerbaijan?

As regards Azerbaijan, there is certain cooperation within the
organization. For instance, when responding to inquiries from other
countries, we also inform the countries the inquiry has been sent to.

If Azerbaijan was among them, consequently, we inform Azerbaijan as
well; that is to say, we communicate with it somehow. But there are no
direct "affairs" with Azerbaijan. There are no inquiries from them –
and no responses from us either. Actually, if we receive an inquiry
from them, we will respond to it within our competence and legislative
acts. We have made no inquiries due to the lack of a common ground.

The Azerbaijani party regularly disseminates "information" on search of
internationally wanted several dozens of Armenians, who are allegedly
accused of crimes against humanity. The Azerbaijani party has recently
stated about the search of internationally wanted Georgian citizen
of Armenian origin Mardun Gumashyan accused of mass murder at the
Azerbaijani State Oil Academy in Baku. How would you comment on this?

Each National Central Bureau has the right to put any person on the
international wanted list if there is a relevant criminal case and
the accusation meets the national legislation. However, the Interpol
Regulations, to be more precise, the third article of the Regulations
envisages non-politicization of crimes (Interpol does not deal with
political, religious, military or race-related cases). If something
contradicts Article 3, the Interpol General Secretariat conducts
extra investigation of circumstances and afterwards puts the case
into circulation.

At present "Armenian criminals" and Gumashyan are lacking on
this Interpol wanted list consisting of around forty persons. As
regards Gumashyan, I can say that the process of putting him on the
international wanted list is delayed. If the Azerbaijani party states
that this person is put on the Interpol wanted list but he is lacking
on this list, it does not mean that he will also be lacking on the
list tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Probably, the process
is underway. We are keeping a close watch on the situation on the
above-mentioned lists as well. However, we are sure that these are
political insinuations; moreover, this is not the first case, earlier
we also had such "experience" and exerted big efforts to suppress
the process.

For instance, we have received no inquires on these lists, so we have
nothing to respond. If this happens, I will immediately send a return
inquiry to find out the validity and legality of putting them on the
international wanted list. That is another matter whether they will
respond or not.

To be back on our own problems, what level is Armenia at by the number
of Interpol inquiries?

We are in one of the most favorable situations in all senses. This
is, first of all, thanks to our countries’ law enforcers. But one
should not rule out the national mentality. There are a lot of types
of crime, which are not peculiar to Armenia. In this respect, we
are advantageous unlike many other countries. For instance, sexual
crimes against minors are not peculiar to Armenia, drug addiction
and computer crimes are at a lower level here.

As regards international search, Armenia’s approach to this issue is
quite reasonable – a person is put on the international wanted list if
he/she has committed a grave crime and there is reliable information
that he/she is outside the country. By the way, many countries put
people on the wanted list because of "inessential" crimes, such as
theft, unsanctioned sale of CDs or violation of copyright, etc. I’d
like to say that not the whole information about the internationally
wanted persons is available at the Interpol website. On the contrary,
most part of the information is closed for simple visitors and it is
wrong to make conclusions on the basis of the Internet data.

How do you assess the work of your structure?

The Armenian National Central Bureau of Interpol is by right considered
one of the best bureaus, and this is proved by both figures and
results of surveys conducted by the General Secretariat. Our staff is
small, and the young employees annually participate in short-term and
long-term training courses in Lyon. We accurately pay the membership
fees – around 14 thsd EUR per year. It should be noted that membership
fees in Interpol are differentiated, and Armenia pays by the lowest
rates. Thanks to the I-24/7 system, i.e. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
we work online with our foreign colleagues. The incoming information
is processed, analyzed and provided to competent bodies.

That is to say, the Bureau mainly operates as an analytical department
contributing to prevention and detection of crimes. In this respect,
the films about Interpol on TV make us smile. Our task is not running,
shooting or jumping with parachutes, but providing information and
analyzing. Certainly, some country’s authorities may involve their
foreign colleagues in special operations, but this participation will
be restricted to coordination of actions with the police structures
of other countries, provision of information and up-to-date forms
and methods of working.

As regards the activities held by the General Secretariat of Interpol,
Armenia takes an active part in both General Assembly’s sittings and
regional conferences. For instance, in November 2009 the Heads of
Interpol National Central Bureaus of CIS States held their 4th annual
meeting in Armenia, and I am going to participate in the meeting of
Heads of Interpol National Central Bureaus of Europe in late May 2010.

We also take an active part in all start-up activities of the
organization.