The Human Rights Defender studied the wiretapped telephone conversation between the Heads of National Security Service and Special Investigation Service in detail. The clarifications of the officials regarding the fact of wiretapping, telephone conversation and its publication were studied as well.
First of all, any illegal wiretapping of a telephone conversation is unacceptable. The RA Constitution highly guarantees the right to communicate, including the right to confidentiality of telephone conversations. Freedom of communication and confidentiality can be restricted solely by the law, exclusively for the purposes prescribed by the Constitution and in compliance with its guarantees. The Human Rights Defender took into consideration the initiation of criminal case and investigation by the RA Prosecutor General’s Office regarding the illegitimate interference with confidentiality of phone conversation between the Heads of National Security Service and Special Investigation Service. The investigation of this case will be under the Defender’s close attention.
Furthermore, during the examination of any criminal case, one of the most important guarantees for ensuring the person’s rights is the objectivity of the investigation and restraint from any illegal influence. In this regard, statements of criminal prosecution bodies regarding the attempts to influence them and the investigation of recent criminal cases have been recorded. Such phenomena are concerning. Any such case should be a subject of separate investigation and persons implementing them shall be subjected to liability.
The judiciary is independent from any institution or person. A judge must demonstrate independence from anyone, and must make every decision exclusively guided by his own convictions, based on the proper examination of the presented evidence.
According to the information of the phone conversation, it was the judge himself who applied to the law enforcement body and asked to guide his work within a particular criminal case. This was announced by the criminal prosecution bodies also after the publication of the wiretapped conversation. This phenomenon is very concerning and condemnable, this practice endangers the authority of the judge and country’s judicial system. Judge should not be illegally related with law enforcement body and take steps undermining his independence. The part of the wiretapped telephone conversation which is related to the interference in the judge’s work is also very concerning.
As regards to the detention, it should be considered that it has an exhaustive framework of the application basis and legality conditions, which, in each case, must be a subject to judicial review. The deprivation of liberty should not aim at receiving information, but be the consequence of the information obtained.