‘Haykakan Zham’. Has a Decision Been Made to Detain Vitaly Balasanyan?

‘Haykakan Zham’ reports that the Special Investigative Service has made a decision to detain Vitaly Balasanyan, the former Secretary of the National Security Council of Artsakh, and has sent this decision to the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office for execution.

It should be recalled that he is involved in the disconnected part of the ‘March 1’ case and has so far been invited to Yerevan for questioning twice as a witness but did not appear.

We contacted the Special Investigative Service to inquire how a decision can be made to detain a citizen of another state. The Special Investigative Service responded, “We do not comment on the information.”

We then tried to reach the Prosecutor's Offices of the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh. A representative from the RA Prosecutor's Office listened to our question but did not respond. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office, Kim Gabrielyan, promised to clarify and inform us, but thereafter he was unresponsive to our calls. By the end of the day, he sent the following brief message: “The Artsakh Prosecutor's Office has not received a decision regarding the detention of Vitaly Balasanyan. I will definitely inform you of any updates on this matter.”

Legal experts explained to us that the RA Special Investigative Service cannot detain a citizen of Artsakh; if such a decision has been made, it is illegal. They can only issue an international search request and appeal to the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office for the extradition of an individual who has committed a crime on their territory. However, for this, Balasanyan must first be formally charged and an international search warrant issued.

Details can be found in today's edition of the newspaper.