No Proceedings Will Be Initiated Against Simonian Following Report by the Union of Informed Citizens

No proceedings will be initiated following the report from the Union of Informed Citizens. On April 3, this organization submitted a report to the Prosecutor General regarding an alleged incident where the Speaker of the National Assembly, Alen Simonian, allegedly spat on a citizen's face.

The Prosecutor's Office forwarded the report to the Investigative Committee to resolve the issue of initiating proceedings. Gor Abrahamyan, spokesperson for the Investigative Committee, informed Azatutyun that no proceedings will be initiated.

The organization submitted a request anticipating that proceedings would commence under the article for hooliganism for the reported spitting on the citizen's face, and under the article for abuse of power by an official for the allegedly illegal detention of a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), said Daniel Ioannisyan, coordinator of the Union of Informed Citizens.

Dashnaktsutyun member Karen Mkrtchyan claimed during a Facebook live broadcast that Simonian’s bodyguards first grabbed his hands for calling the National Assembly Speaker a “traitor”, after which Alen Simonian approached and spat in his face. Simonian denied only that his bodyguards had held his hands.