On December 11, the preliminary session of the UN Human Rights Committee regarding Armenia was held in Geneva, where Siranush Sahakyan, the head of the International and Comparative Law Center and the co-founder of the Path of Law NGO, made a speech on the state of human rights in Armenia. In her speech, she touched on issues related to the judicial system: the independence of the judicial system, the visit of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and the activities of the Constitutional Court.
According to Sahakyan, although the Constitutional reforms of 2015 made radical changes in the direction of strengthening the independence of the judiciary in Armenia, the administration of the judicial system remains weak.
"This is related to limited institutional capacity, insufficient manpower, overwork of judges, untrained judicial staff, limited use of electronic tools and insufficient funding. Policy documents relating to the judiciary have not been developed in accordance with evidence-based policy principles. The new legal and judicial reform strategy lacks clear objectives, adequate and sufficient actions, and measurable results. The government and the Parliament, which represent the ruling ‘My Step’ alliance, are using huge resources to ‘subdue’ the judiciary," Sahakyan said in her speech.
In order to solve the problem, the lawyer presented a number of proposals, that is, to initiate criminal cases to identify and bring to justice those persons who on May 20, 2019 prevented the entry of judges, officials, litigants to the courts. Objectively and comprehensively investigate all cases of obstruction of justice (including Constitutional justice).To immediately revise the selection procedure of the Commission, present an open, competitive, transparent and objective selection of members, free from political interference, and form a Commission that meets international standards as soon as possible.
Referring to the activities of the Constitutional Court, Siranush Sahakyan recalled Vahe Grigoryan making himself president of the Constitutional Court.
The Venice Commission reacted harshly to this self-proclamation, stating: "The Commission was also informed that the newly elected judge of the Constitutional Court questioned the legitimacy of 7 of the 9 judges of the court who were elected before the 2015 amendments came into force. “It is disturbing that such a judge's statement was accepted in the National Assembly with applause, and there may be a risk of interference with the mandates of the existing judges," the lawyer quoted in her speech.
On October 29, 2019, the Chairman of the Venice Commission issued a statement urging the Armenian authorities to show restraint, mutual respect and constructive institutional cooperation in order to alleviate this worrisome situation and re-establish the normal functioning of the Armenian Constitution. (https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/events/?id=2837)