"Zhoghovurd" daily writes:
"On February 27, 2024, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, referring to the criminal prosecution of his brother's wife, Ani Gevorgyan, declared that what happened was a "mistake" and that his relative had nothing to do with the act attributed to him. However, just a few months later, it turned out that the reality was completely different.
The General Prosecutor's Office officially confirmed that the criminal prosecution against Ani Gevorgyan was stopped not because of innocence, nor because the accusation was groundless, but on the basis of active remorse. In other words, the daughter-in-law confessed to her crime and, through her lawyer, mediated the application of the effective institution of repentance.
This means that months ago the public statement of the President of the National Assembly that the accusation against his brother's wife was just a "mistake" did not actually coincide with the legal facts later recorded in the same criminal proceedings. According to the Armenian Criminal Code, the termination of criminal prosecution based on active remorse is applied in cases when a person cooperates with the body conducting the proceedings, accepts the factual circumstances attributed to him, and other conditions stipulated by law are present.
At the same time, in the same criminal proceedings, the criminal prosecution against only one person was stopped on the basis that the act was not committed by him. Such a basis was not applied in the case of Ani Gevorgyan. Let us remind you how the scandalous case began. On January 31, 2024, the National Security Service and the Investigative Committee conducted large-scale searches in the Ministry of Economy of the RA and more than 15 addresses. The Investigative Committee announced that the investigation revealed that during the competition "Creation of the Bank of Public Investment Projects", officials of the Ministry gave preference to their desired participant, and created obstacles for the other participant. As a result, the winner of the competition was the company that submitted a price offer three times higher, more than 392 million drams. Ani Gevorgyan, the wife of the brother of the President of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, was also arrested in the scope of the case.
He remained in custody for only 11 days. Already on February 12, 2024, the supervising prosecutor changed the restraining order against him on his own initiative, eliminating the arrest. Even though the CP faction also gave a personal guarantee for the bride, and today the case has reached a dead end.
According to the information of "Zhoghovurd" daily, the trial of the case has actually stopped. The reason is the temporary absence of Anti-Corruption Court judge Mary Mosinyan. "Zhoghovurd" daily learned that the judge is pregnant and will not administer justice for the next six months according to the law. Although the law allows the case to be reassigned to another judge, the parties to the case demanded that Mary Mosinyan continue the trial. As a result, the trial was actually frozen.
This means that Ani Gevorgyan, who already has the status of a witness in the case, who gave a confession during the preliminary investigation and against whom the criminal prosecution was stopped on the basis of active remorse, will give her testimony in court no sooner than 6 months later.
Details in today's issue of "Zhoghovurd" daily.
