YEREVAN, May 11. /ARKA/. Valery Osipyan, the newly appointed Armenian police chief, outlined today top-priority focuses of the police department’s activity.
On Friday, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, confirming Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s nominations, appointed Valery Osipyan as the country’s police chief and Arthur Vanetsyan as national security chief.
“As Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said earlier, we will begin our activity by struggling against criminality and corruption,” he told journalists after the first government session. “We must root out corruption and similar phenomena. You will see steps in this direction very soon.”
Osipyan said that he intends to make certain changes in the police.
Asked about possible dismissal of Levon Yeranosyan as police troops commander, he said personnel replacement will be carried out, and as for Yeranosyan, if it is proved that he has breached the law, then punishment will come immediately.
On April 23, Serzh Sargsyan, who was appointed by the Armenian parliament as prime minister amid widespread disaffection for him, resigned under the pressure of mass protests against his premiership. On the same day, Armen Sarkissian, Armenian president accepted the government’s resignation.
On May 8, the National Assembly elected Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister by a majority of votes – 59 MPs voted for him and 42 voted against him. -0—