“Support to the Implementation of Judicial Reform in Armenia” Project launches

Today, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Artak Zeynalyan participated in the launch of the “Support to the Implementation of Judicial Reform in Armenia” Project, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the framework of co-operation in "Good Governance".

The ultimate goal of the Project is to strengthen the independence of the judiciary, the effectiveness of legal procedures and access to justice, as well as to enhance the application of arbitration and conciliation in Armenia, in accordance with the Council of Europe standards and recommendations.

Minister Zeynalyan expressed his gratitude to the Council of Europe Office in Armenia for the event and noted that after the events of the spring 2018, the judicial system in Armenia has entered into a new stage of reforms. "After the revolution, the malpractice of exerting influence on the rendering of decisions by judges was eliminated, thus, excluding the practice of unlawful intervention into the activities of the judges by state or any other circles," — the Minister noted and added that however, institutional and comprehensive reforms are needed for fully-fledged development of the judiciary in Armenia, where the sense of justice and the principle of equality of everyone before the law will be ensured, internal and external independence of judges, the transparency and accountability of the judiciary will be guaranteed. According to Artak Zeynalyan, the concept aimed at implementation of such reforms has been currently developing by the Working Group composed of the representatives from the Ministry of Justice and non-governmental organisations. This concerns the draft Judicial and Legal Reforms strategy for 2019-2024 and the Action Plan deriving therefrom, which will include measures for ensuring access to and efficiency of courts, with a view to contributing to the realisation of goals of the justice system through innovative solutions.

Within this context, Minister Zeynalyan noted that the international experts of the Council of Europe have already assessed the draft of Judicial and Legal Reforms Project, analysing the main goals, targets, time-period set for implementation of actions of the Strategy, financial liabilities, as well as compliance of measures included in the Action Plan to recommendations presented by the Assessment Group of the European [l1] Union. "Attaching great importance to the activities carried out by our counterparts, I am confident that the recommendations included in the submitted document will be stipulated in the Judicial and Legal Reform Programme of Armenia for 2019-2024," — the Minister of Justice said and touched upon the “Support to the Implementation of Judicial Reform in Armenia” Project of the Council of Europe completed in December of the previous year and a number of achievements recorded in the course of implementation thereof.

"The Council of Europe Office in Armenia, being one of the most important partners assisting in the implementation of reforms in the field of justice in our country, keeps on providing its support to the implementation of judicial and legal reforms. This is evidenced by the new “Support to the Implementation of Judicial Reform in Armenia” Project being launched today, the main goal of which is to contribute to the strengthening of independence, transparency and accountability of courts in Armenia, increasing of public confidence in courts and justice, reduction of overloading of courts," — Artak Zeynalyan noted, once again expressing his gratitude to the Council of Europe for providing assistance to radical reforms being implemented in our country.

Director General of the Directorate for General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Christos Giakoumopoulos, Chairperson of the Supreme Judicial Council Gagik Harutyunyan, Chairperson of the Court of Cassation Yervand Khundkaryan, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan Natalia Vutova, Chairperson of Chamber of Advocates Ara Zohrabyan, Rector of the Justice Academy Sergey Arakelyan and others participated in the launch of the Project as well.