Fake videos aimed at inciting hatred against Archbishop Arshak – lawyer

Several states have yet to deliver their expert conclusions, but the three reports already received are sufficient to address the issue, said attorney Arsen Babayan, legal representative of Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, speaking to reporters.

Babayan noted that after he announced the existence of three foreign expert examinations, he was surprised by a statement from the Criminal Investigation Department claiming that examinations conducted outside criminal-procedural frameworks have no evidentiary value.

“They also stated that the examination commissioned by them confirmed that the person in the video was Archbishop Arshak. It is surprising that the Criminal Investigation Department appears unaware that a lawyer is entitled to commission an expert examination. What does the Criminal Procedure Code have to do with the examinations ordered by us? Nothing at all. In any case, we have neither the intention nor the need to prove anything within criminal proceedings. These examinations were not conducted to be submitted as evidence in a criminal case. Within the ongoing proceedings, Archbishop Arshak – although formally a witness – is in fact a victim,” Babayan said.

He also addressed why the Archbishop holds witness rather than victim status. “It was proposed that he be recognized as a victim under the article on violation of the privacy of personal and family life. However, from the very first day Archbishop Arshak stated that he had nothing to do with the acts depicted in the video; therefore, his personal or family privacy could not have been violated. If it was not him, then his personal secret was not breached. The real issue is different: by disseminating those fabricated videos, certain individuals sought to incite hatred toward Archbishop Arshak. The investigation should proceed in that direction – to identify those who created the falsification and then spread it.”