Armenia`s former Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan will be charged

ArmInfo. Former Armenian  Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan will be charged in a criminal case  for abuse of power by officials of the Ministry of Defense and the  armed forces, the press service of the Investigative Committee  reports.

Thus, according to the source, the Department for the Investigation  of Particularly Important Cases of the of the Investigative Committee  of Armenia in the course of the investigation of the criminal case  instituted under Part 1 of Article 308 (Abuse of official powers) and  Part 1 of Article 309 (Excess of authority) of  the Criminal Code of  Armenia obtained sufficient evidence to attract the former Minister  of Defense of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan as an accused on the fact of  abuse of authority. The case was opened on the fact of violation of  the procedure for providing apartments in an apartment building in  Yerevan at Hasratyan, 25/6 in January 2018, established by the  government decision of March 7, 2007 "On Housing for Servicemen of  the System of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia".

In particular, the criminal case justified that by the decision of  March 7, 2007 and by order of the head of the Defense Ministry from  of March 19, 2013 the powers to discuss the issue of granting, with  the right of gratuitous use, to servicemen who need to improve their  living conditions, territories that are on the balance of the  Ministry of Defense, with the exception of territories included in  the list approved by the Minister and not subject to provision of  property rights, were entrusted to the central housing commission of  the Ministry of Defense.

Meanwhile, the decision to provide 29 of the 71 apartments in the  building at Hasratyan 25/6 was made by the Minister of Defense of  Armenia, and the commission did not discuss the issue of providing  these apartments at all. At the same time, as a result of the  commission's discussions, a number of apartments in this building, by  order of the head of the Ministry of Defense, were provided in  violation of the procedure specified by the government's decision. As  a result of this, substantial damage was inflicted on the rights of  military personnel of the Ministry of Defense who need permanent  housing and the legitimate interests of military personnel and the  state.

"Considering that according to part 6 of Article 190 of the (Criminal  Investigation) Code of Criminal Procedure of Armenia, the  investigation of crimes related to the official position of senior  officials of the legislative, executive and judicial authorities,  persons in the public service, or committed investigators of the  Special Investigation Service carry out these crimes, in order to  continue the preliminary investigation, the criminal case was sent to  the CCC, "the SC IC reports.

To note, Vigen Sargsyan for many years was in the immediate  environment of Serzh Sargsyan. In 2000- 2003 he was a referent for  the then Minister of Defense Serzh Sargsyan. In 2003-2009, he was the  Assistant to the President of Armenia - Robert Kocharyan, from  January 2009 - as Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration. In  2009, he was appointed deputy head of the office of the President of  Armenia, worked in this position until October 2011, after which he  headed the office of the President of Armenia and remained in this  post until October 2016. From October 3, 2016 to May 8, 2018 he was  Minister of Defense of Armenia. At the parliamentary elections in  December 2018, he led the proportional list of the Republican Party  of Armenia.