This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

231347Z Feb 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000267 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, DRL AND EUR/CARC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PGOV PREL AM KTIP HSTC
SUBJECT: PROSECUTOR GENERAL LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION OF 
TRAFFICKING COMPLICITY ALLEGATIONS 
 
REF:  05 YEREVAN 257 
 
(U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) On February 17, Prosecutor General Aghvan 
Hovsepyan created a commission to investigate 
allegations against his employees including the 
investigator of his Anti-Trafficking Unit, Aristakes 
Yeremyan (see paragraph 6).  In a meeting with the DCM, 
Hovsepyan was notably upset about Armenia's Interim TIP 
Assessment released February 1 and expressed his 
determination to address these allegations so they 
would stop overshadowing his office's significant work 
in combating human trafficking.  The commission 
includes members outside of the Prosecutor's office and 
works in close collaboration with Edik Baghdasaryan, 
the president of the Association of Investigative 
Journalists (AIJ), whose publications contained the 
first public allegations of Yeremyan's complicity in 
trafficking (reftel).  End Summary. 
 
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PROSECUTOR GENERAL LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS 
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¶2. (SBU) Hovsepyan's initial reaction to the interim 
report was either to remove Yeremyan from the 
Prosecutor's Anti-TIP unit or to fire him altogether. 
Realizing, however, that the removal or dismissal of 
Yeremyan from his post without any legal basis other 
than the allegations in the media would not restore 
public trust in the activities of the Prosecutor's 
office, Hovsepyan pledged to establish an ad hoc 
commission, which would look into the allegations 
against the Prosecutor's office. 
 
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PG CREATES COMMISSION 
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¶3. (SBU) Hovsepyan created this ad hoc investigatory 
commission in mid-February.  Its members include three 
staffers from the Prosecutor's office, one person from 
the Prime Minister's Oversight Commission and a member 
from the National Assembly's Audit Chamber.  According 
to Prosecutor Boshnaghyan (who works in the 
Prosecutor's Anti-TIP unit), the commission is 
currently looking through all media publications 
containing allegations against the Prosecutor's Office, 
after which it will start verifying this information. 
The Association of Investigative Journalists is the 
author of these media publications, and Edik 
Baghdasaryan confirmed that the commission members have 
been in close contact with him in recent days 
requesting these articles, which Baghdasaryan has 
forwarded to them along with some of his interviews. 
 
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AIJ APPROACH UNCLEAR 
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¶4. (SBU) Edik Baghdasaryan told us he has not yet 
decided how he should cooperate with the commission. 
While he has told us that he would share concrete facts 
with them, we believe he is unlikely to reveal his 
sources (many of whom are trafficking victims) because 
he is concerned about their safety.  According to 
Baghdasaryan, he would formulate his final approach to 
the activities of the Commission only after he had seen 
their preliminary findings. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶5. (SBU) We welcome the Prosecutor General's decision 
to establish a commission involving people outside of 
the Prosecutor's office to conduct an investigation of 
allegations made against his subordinates.  This 
investigation has the potential for GOAM to clear its 
record on this matter and start focusing on its 
increasing, and increasingly successful, efforts to 
fight human trafficking. 
 
TEXT OF THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL'S DECREE 
--------------------------------------- 
¶6. (SBU) The Prosecutor General's office provided us 
with a copy of the decree establishing the special 
commission.  An informal embassy translation follows. 
Begin Text: 
 
February 17, 2006 
Decree on Establishing a Task Force 
 
Using the publications of certain mass media means, in 
particularly the publications of the "Association of 
Investigative Journalists" public organization as a 
source, it has been mentioned the possible involvement 
in trafficking of officials of RA Law Enforcement 
Bodies, including the Prosecutor's office and the 
Border Guards Service, which has been included in the 
US State Department's 2004 Annual and 2005 interim 
reports on Trafficking. 
 
In order to check these circumstances and based on 
Article 11, point 2 of the RA Law on Procuracy, I 
order: 
 
To create a task force consisting of the following 
persons: 
 
¶1.  Minasyan Mihran - Head of the Department against 
Corruption of the RA Prosecutor General's Office /head 
of the task force/ 
¶2.  Avetisyan Gagik - Head of the Organizational- 
Oversight Department of the RA Prosecutor General's 
Office 
¶3.  Stepanyan Hovhhanes - Senior Adviser to the RA 
Prosecutor General 
¶4.  Gasparyan Gegham - Deputy Chairman of the National 
Assembly Chamber of Control / upon agreement/ 
¶5.  Sedrakyan Ashot - Deputy Head of the Oversight 
Service of the RA Prime Minister / upon agreement/ 
 
Present the results of the checks to me: 
 
State Counselor of Justice 
   /s/ 
Aghvan Hovsepyan 
 
End Text. 
EVANS