‘Syunik administration did not divulge investigation information’

The release by Syunik regional administration of a verbatim record of the video recording of the June 1 incident near the house of Syunik governor Suren Khachatrian is not a divulgence of information of preliminary investigation because the video recording was at the disposal of Khachatrian family members before investigators seized the recording. Military Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanian made that statement, according to RFE/RL Armenian service.

“The recording was at the disposal of private persons, in this case members of the Khachatrian family, before the preliminary investigatory body seized it and for that reason we cannot consider the action as a divulgence of evidence and information collected during the preliminary investigation. But I cannot assess it from the viewpoint of legal procedure,” Kostanian said.

“Nevertheless, I consider the release by a state body of information on issues not related to its authority as unacceptable and improper,” the military prosecutor said.

Asked when the recording was seized, Kostanian replied that investigators seized it several hours after the incident. Asked how Syunik regional administration employees could watch the recording and even stenograph it within a few hours, Kostanian said there was sufficient time to watch and even copy it.

A reporter asked Kostanian whether Syunik administration employees could have edited the recording, but the military prosecutor ruled out such a possibility.

“I think they could not have edited it because they had little time, and secondly, they had no technical means, “ Kostanian said.

Spokeswoman for Prosecutor General Sona Truzian considered it inadmissible that an unauthorized body spreads official information about the contents of a video recording being examined by experts.

When asked if it is a punishable act, Sona Truzian said: “When the matter concerns the dissemination by a state body of an official statement not related to its authority and functions, this is outside the competence of the prosecutor’s office. I think you should ask another state body to give explanations regarding this issue – perhaps it is the government, the ministry of territorial administration, or some other department”.