RA Police responds to Ombudsman.

In the RA Ombudsman's evaluation of the activities of the RA Police in 2011 it is mentioned that citizens of the Republic of Armenia have been denied passports for groundless reasons by the Department for Passports and Visas and territorial subdivisions.

We inform that we don't agree with the Ombudsman's evaluation and clarify the following:

According to Article 7(1) of the RA law "On State Register of the Population", to be included in the state register, a resident of the Republic of Armenia must provide the local register with the address of permanent residence (hostel) by the order and in the timeframe established by the RA law "On State Register of the Population". Liability for living without registration is established by Article 195 of the RA Code of Administrative Violations of the Law.

According to Sub-point 2, Point 14 of the clarifications on the order of passport operations confirmed by decree 12-N of the RA Chief of Police dated 18 August 2008, the operation of granting and exchanging passports are denied, if the applicant is not registered in the state register of the population.

This means that administering registration and granting passports are legitimate procedures that help fulfill the obligation of registering citizens in the state register as prescribed by the law.