MP on abuse of arrest institution 

ArmInfo. <Why does the investigator petition for arrest if, within the framework of this case, he can potentially limit himself to a fine? The institution of arrest is widely abused in our country>. Arsen Torosyan, a member of the ruling faction of the National Assembly <Civil Contract>, addressed this question-remark to the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee Artur Nahapetyan on May 13 in parliament, touching upon <the case of the arrest of a doctor for illegal remuneration>.

<A doctor was recently arrested, who, according to the media, is  accused of illegally receiving a monetary reward. Meanwhile,  according to the sanction of the relevant article of the Criminal  Code, a fine is imposed for this. At the same time, according to the  same media, the doctor took money for a procedure that is not  included in the state order and it may be his fault that he should  have issued a cash receipt, but did not. And you petitioned for a  2-month arrest, which the court granted, - Torosyan noted.

Artur Nahapetyan did not share the details of the case, since,  according to him, a preliminary investigation is underway at this  stage. <But we have a person who reported a crime, stating that the  doctor illegally demanded monetary compensation from him for the  operation,> - he noted.

As for the preventive measure, as the head of the Committee stated,  the investigation cannot be limited to just the sanction of a  specific article of the Criminal Code - the preliminary investigation  body takes into account various circumstances that may become an  obstacle to the investigation. If the investigator believes that the  accused, while at large, can obstruct the investigation, then he  submits a petition to the court for arrest, he explained.

Torosyan, in turn, inquired on what grounds the investigation had  such concerns, whether the investigator took into account the  background of this person. In addition, he noted, having examined the  statistics, one can conclude that the number of people arrested in  our country exceeds the number of people convicted.  "This shows that  arrest is being used unlawfully in our country and the institution is  being abused," he concluded.