The RA Investigative Committee has been created on the base of the law and is authorized to conduct preliminary investigation of the apparent crimes within the limits of its competence envisaged by RA Criminal Procedure Code.

General Military Investigative Department is one of the subdivisions of the RA Investigative Committee.

General Military Investigative Department organizes and conducts preliminary investigation on avoiding term military service or alternative service, training sessions or mobilization, crimes against the order of military service, as well as crimes committed at the area of the unit, crimes related to conscripts or people performing service in the state authorized body and organizations in the field of defense (the authority of management of shares of which is transferred to the state authorized body in the field of defense).

The subdivisions of General Military Investigative Department are the departments of General Military Investigative Department, garrison investigative units, professional support units.  

The Head of General Military Investigative Department is also an ex officio Deputy Chairman of the RA Investigative Committee.

The independence of the Investigative Committee is guaranteed by RA Law “On RA Investigative Committee” according to which interference into the activity of its employees is impermissible.

The authorities and duties of the investigator are defined by RA Criminal Procedure Code.

According to it, the investigator is a state official who is authorized to conduct preliminary investigation of the criminal case within the limits of his/her competence.

The investigator is particularly authorized

-          prior to the initiation of the criminal case, to conduct the inspection of the scene, to take samples and to commission expert examination,

-      to interrogate the suspect, the accused, the injured, the witness, to commission expert examination, conduct inspections, searches, confiscations and other investigatory actions, undertake measures for the compensation of the damage caused to the injured,

-          to request documents and materials, which may contain data on cases and the persons involved in it,

-       to make a decision on conduction of revision, inventory, institutional expert examination, other check up actions if there are sufficient data that a number of circumstances subject to be proved within the criminal case can be refuted or confirmed by the above-mentioned actions. The investigator sends the copy of the mentioned decision to the prosecutor the legality of which is to be verified within 7 days,

-        to receive from the body of inquiry, in connection with the prepared materials and the case under investigation, data on the implementation of operative-investigatory actions and the measures undertaken for disclosure of the crime, finding disappeared persons and lost property,

-       to give the inquiry body mandatory written assignments on implementation of operative-investigatory measures in connection with prepared materials and proceedings of the criminal case,

-          to assign the fulfillment of decisions on detention, apprehension, arrest, conduction of other procedural actions to the body of inquiry, as well as to receive without delay facilitation at the execution of investigatory and other procedural actions from the body of inquiry,

-         receiving a report about a committed crime from the body of inquest, to go to the scene and to get involved in the investigation of the case by means of initiation of a criminal case or accepting the initiated case in his proceedings , 

-          to assign the conduction of separate investigatory actions to the body of inquiry,

-          to summon persons as a witness,

-          to involve witnesses to the search, interpreters, translators, specialists and experts for participation in the actions,

-          to arrest the person suspected in crime commitment and within 24 hours send the copy of the decision to the prosecutor,

-          to make a decision to involve a person as a defendant within criminal case, press charge and to inform the prosecutor within 24 hours,

-          to find respective persons as the injured (victim), civil plaintiff, civil defendant,

-         to ensure the appointment of lawyers as defense attorneys within the criminal case and to permit persons to participate in the proceeding of the criminal case as representatives,

-        to dismiss defense attorneys and representatives from the participation in proceedings of the criminal case, if circumstances are revealed which exclude their participation in the criminal proceedings, as mentioned in the article 93 of this Code,

-          to exempt respective persons from the payment for the legal counsel,

-          to resolve challenges declared to the witness to the search, the translator, the interpreter, the specialist and the expert,

-          to resolve motions of persons participating in criminal proceedings, as well as the applications and requests submitted by other persons,

-          to resolve the complaints of the persons participating in criminal proceedings, within the limits of his/her competence,

-        to make a decision on the selection, alteration, cancellation of  pretrial measures and on implementation of other measures of procedural compulsion, with the exception of detention; to release upon his/her decision the accused kept in detention after expiration of the prescribed period,

-         to make a decision on suspension of the criminal proceedings and within 24 hours send the copy of the decision to the prosecutor,

-       to apply to the court with motions on selection of detention as a pretrial measure against the accused, on prolongation of the period of his/her detention, on imposing arrest on telephone conversations, postal, telegraph and other communications, on wiretapping, on the permission for search in the apartment,

-        to cancel the arrest on telephone conversations, postal, telegraph and other communications and wire-tapping, in case the necessity for such actions ceases to exist,

-        to submit written objections to the superior prosecutor on the written instruction or decision of the prosecutor, without suspending their execution,

-       to submit written objections to the superior prosecutor on the instructions of the prosecutor without executing them in case of disagreement with the instructions on involving the person as accused, qualifying the action, the volume of charge, initiating proceedings for the application of coercive medical measures, completing preliminary investigation or terminating criminal prosecution,

-      to make a decision on abatement of the criminal proceedings, on termination of criminal prosecution and within 24 hours to send the copy of the decision to the prosecutor to verify the legality of it,

-       to prepare and present the bill of indictment for the approval of the prosecutor, as for criminal cases with respect to persons who committed actions forbidden by criminal code in the state of insanity or has fallen into such state after the accomplishment of the action - the final act.,

-      in case alleged feature of illegal acquirement of property is revealed during preliminary investigation to submit a proposal to the prosecutor to take necessary steps to start examination in accordance with the RA Law “On Confiscation of Property of Illegal Source”

• The investigator is obligated to fulfill the legitimate instructions of the prosecutor.
• The decision made by the investigator within his/her competence during pretrial proceeding of the criminal case is subject to mandatory execution by all organizations, officials and citizens.
• The investigator also carries out other authorities envisaged by this Code.

How to appeal the decisions

• The actions and decisions of the investigative body can be appealed by the participants of trial in accordance with the order defined by law. The actions and decisions of the investigator and the official of the inquiry body can be appealed to the respective prosecutor. The actions and decisions of the criminal prosecution body can be appealed to the court, in cases provided by law,
• The complaints can be written, in case their written form is not provided by law, they can also be oral. The investigative body includes the oral complaint in the protocol of the procedural action in process or makes a separate protocol,
• The decision on dismissal of the criminal proceeding or termination of criminal prosecution, within 7 days from the moment the copy of the decision has been received, can be appealed to the superior prosecutor by the suspect, the accused, the defendant, their defense, the injured, his/her representative, the civil plaintiff, the civil respondent or their representatives, as well as the representative of physical person or legal entity when a criminal case was instituted on the ground of their statement, 
• The complaints against the illegal and ungrounded decisions and actions of the official of the inquiry body, the investigator, the prosecutor, the bodies implementing operative-intelligence actions defined by the Criminal Procedure Code can be submitted to the court by the suspect, the accused, the defense, the injured, the participants of the trial, as well as other persons whose rights have been violated by these decisions and actions and in case their complaints have not been sufficed by the prosecutor,
• The suspect, the accused, the defense, the injured, the participants of trial and other persons have also the right to appeal to the court the rejection to receive the report, to institute a criminal case by the inquiry body, the investigator and the prosecutor, as well as the decisions on suspension, dismissal of the criminal proceeding or termination of criminal proceeding, in cases provided by law,
• The decision of the investigator and the inquiry body on using, altering the pretrial measure can be appealed to the respective prosecutor by the suspect, the accused, their defense and legal representatives, as well as other interested participants of trial, the decision of the prosecutor can be appealed to the superior prosecutor,
• The decision on rejecting to institute a criminal case can be appealed within 7 days from the moment the copy of the decision has been received, in the order defined by law,
• The investigator makes a reasonable decision on full or partial rejection of the motion. The copy of the decision is handed to the applicant within a day from the moment the motion has been filed. The case cannot be handed to the prosecutor until the motion is resolved. When the investigator rejects to suffice the motion filed on the case which he intends to send to the prosecutor with the bill of indictment, he/she can appeal to the prosecutor within 2 days from the moment the copy of the decision on rejecting to suffice the motion has been handed to the applicant.