On June 7, 2023, the ECHR made a decision to apply rules 40 and 41 of the court regulations in the case of 8 judges. In other words, it urgently notified the Armenian government about the complaint and gave priority to the investigation of these cases.
Judge Naira Mkhitaryan of the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Lori Region, Judges of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan Anna Pilosyan, Zaruhi Nakhshkaryan, Sima Iskandaryan, Ruben Vardazaryan, Alexey Sukoyan, Judge of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Tavush Region Rafik Melkonyan and Judge Suren Antonyan of the Court of Cassation have appealed to the ECHR of Armenia. The powers of the mentioned judges were terminated by the decision of the Supreme Judicial Council.
Under normal circumstances, when the priority rule does not apply, communication with the Government begins 3-4 years after the complaint is filed. Meanwhile, in the case of judges, given their status, communication began within months.
Judges Z. Nakhshkaryan and N. Mkhitaryan's representative, Siranush Sahakyan said in a conversation with "Hetq" that these cases were not consolidated in the ECHR, simply taking into account the similar content of the cases, the same rule was applied to all of them.
Zaruhi Nakhshkaryan submitted her fourth complaint to the ECHR. The judge appeared four times in front of the Supreme Judicial Council demanding disciplinary action. Two proceedings were dismissed. In one case, according to Siranush Sahakyan, a severe reprimand was announced due to a severe violation of the voting procedure, and in the last proceeding, the powers of the judge were suspended, based on the severe reprimand already received.
“Even the dismissed proceedings had problems, and we raised institutional issues in that regard. All those proceedings were connected to achieve the termination of order of political powers. Nakhshkaryan was the judge who rejected the Prime Minister's daughter’s claim,” - said Siranush Sahakyan.
Update:
The ECHR complaints were also submitted on behalf of the judges of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan, Davit Harutyunyan, the Judge of the Civil Court of Appeal, Astghik Kharatyan, the judges of the Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, Artak Barseghyan and Tigran Petrosyan. The latter's powers were terminated by the Judicial Supreme Council on July 3, 2023.