The current prosecutor-general, Artur Davtian, will complete his six-year term in office on September 15. He was appointed in 2016 by the country’s former parliament dominated by then President Serzh Sarkisian’s loyalists.
Pashinian and his political allies, who control the current parliament, decided not to appoint Davtian for a second term.
Their pick for the post, Anna Vardapetian, served as a deputy minister of justice in 2019 and became Pashinian’s assistant on legal affairs in March 2020. She was elected by 70 members of the 107-seat parliament. They all represent Pashinian’s Civil Contract party.
Speaking on the parliament floor before the vote, Vardapetian, pledged to ensure proper oversight of law-enforcement agencies combatting and investigating crimes. She said she will tackle favoritism within those agencies as well as what she called excessive delays in criminal investigations and a broader “lack of justice” in the country.
“If the prosecutor is consistent about a criminal case, the citizen will not come to the gates of the government or the National Assembly to demand a [fair] investigation of their case,” she said.
Vartanian, 36, herself was accused of breaking the law last year after an Armenian media outlet published purported evidence of her interference in a criminal investigation into a fugitive businessman critical of Pashinian’s government.
The online publication, 168.am, posted what it described as screenshots of an e-mail sent by Vardapetian to a senior law-enforcement officer leading the investigation. The letter contained instructions regarding businessman Ruben Hayrapetian’s indictment.
Hayrapetian’s lawyers seized upon the report, saying that Vardapetian committed a crime and must be prosecuted. The Office of the Prosecutor-General cleared Pashinian’s aide of any wrongdoing, however, saying that she advised, rather than pressured, the investigator.
Vardapetian, who has never worked as a prosecutor before, did not comment on the scandal when she addressed the National Assembly on Wednesday. And she again declined to talk to reporters.
Nor did any of the pro-government lawmakers ask Vardapetian to comment on the scandal. Their opposition colleagues did not participate in the election of the new prosecutor-general because of a continuing opposition boycott of the parliament’s sessions.