Criminal case opened against Seyran Ohanyan

The preliminary investigation into the criminal case against former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan has been completed in Armenia.

By a decision of the supervising prosecutor, public criminal prosecution has been initiated against the former head of the defense department on the fact of abuse of official powers.

As reported by the Main Military Investigative Department of Armenia's Investigative Committee, the investigation revealed facts of unlawful interference by the ministry's former leadership in the process of distributing housing for military personnel.

According to the case materials, in July 2008 the head of the internal security division of the administrative staff of the Ministry of Defense submitted a report requesting that his family be provided with housing in Yerevan out of turn. At that time, the procedure for registering and distributing apartments was within the exclusive competence of the Central Housing Commission, and the defense minister had no legal authority to interfere in this procedure.

Despite this, Seyran Ohanyan, who was related to the applicant, gave a direct instruction to the housing commission to allocate him real estate out of turn. As a result, in August of the same year, the members of the commission put the official on the register and on the same day voted to allocate his family a three-room apartment in the capital.

The investigative agency emphasized that such actions grossly violated the rights of the real beneficiaries of the social protection program. Military personnel who had been on the waiting list for years and genuinely needed improved housing conditions were deprived of their legal right to receive free housing.

At present, the criminal proceedings, along with the indictment, have been sent to the supervising prosecutor with a motion for its approval and transfer to the court for consideration on the merits.

Source: news.am