On April 2, 2017 in the investigative division of the administrative district of Avan and Nor-Nork of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia a criminal case has been initiated under Art. 34-153 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia on the fact of an attempt to re-vote during the elections to the RA National Assembly. With a sufficient body of evidence obtained during the preliminary investigation, it has been confirmed that in the morning of election day, citizen H. KH. has visited the territorial polling station N 2/19, located in school No. 159 of Yerevan, and has presented his identity card and left after registering and voting in the prescribed manner.
A few minutes later, however, returning to the polling station with the intention of re-voting once again he presented his identity card to a specialist who is engaged in the technical registration of voters. However, the technical device recorded the fact that the latter attempted to register twice for the elections.
H. KH. has been charged under Art. 34-153 of the RA Criminal Code, and on April 11, 2017, the criminal case has been sent to the court of first instance of the administrative districts of Avan and Nor Nork with an indictment.
As a result of the trial, according to the verdict from October 10, 2017 the mentioned person has been found guilty and has been sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment.
The court, however, conditionally did not apply the punishment imposed in the form of imprisonment in accordance with Art. 70 of the RA Criminal Code and he has been assigned a probationary period of 3 (three) years.
The judicial act issued by the court of first instance was appealed by the prosecutor to the RA Court of Appeal. As a result of the appeal, the Criminal Court of Appeal of the Republic of Armenia by decision of February 1, 2018 it has been satisfied, the decision of the court of first instance has been eliminated and amended.
The RA Court of Cassation made a decision to reject the appeal of the defensive side and leave in force the decision of the RA Criminal Court of Appeal in the case of defendant H. Kh.
This decision of the RA Court of Cassation may have precedential value to implement a stricter criminal policy for such crimes.
