Steering Committee for the "Support to Justice Reforms in Armenia — Phase II" Programme holds a regular sitting

On 23 December, the Steering Committee for the "Support to Judicial Reforms in Armenia — Phase II" Programme held a regular sitting at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia. First Deputy Minister of Justice Arsen Mkrtchyan, Deputy Ministers Suren Krmoyan and Vigen Kocharyan, representative of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia David Avagyan, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia, the Judicial Department, the Chamber of Advocates, the General Prosecutor's Office and civil society, and others participated in the sitting. Welcoming the attendees, First Deputy Minister of Justice Arsen Mkrtchyan mentioned that the Ministry of Justice is consistent with the execution of all the actions provided for by the Programme in terms of implementation of legislative and necessary actions and programmes, as well as urged the experts to work intensively on summing up the actions provided for by the current phase of the Programme and on finalising the relevant documents. According to the Deputy Minister, the report on the implementation of actions approved by Order of the President of the Republic of Armenia NK-96-A of 30 June 2012 "On Approving the 2012 - 2016 Strategic Programme for Legal and Judicial Reforms in the Republic of Armenia and the List of Actions Deriving from the Programme" will also be available very soon. Deputy Minister of Justice Suren Krmoyan presented the report on the activities that had been carried out to ensure the special preconditions for the 3^rd allocation provided for by the above-mentioned Programme. In the report, he touched upon the complex reforms deriving from the Programme. The reforms were related to the probation service, trainings for prosecutors, investigators and advocates, as well as the educational programmes for convicts, the new Criminal Procedure Code, the opening of new auxiliary buildings of "Armavir" Penitentiary Institution, the actions being taken by the Republic of Armenia for the prevention of torture, etc. According to Suren Krmoyan, such legislative regulations are being introduced that will promote development of the institute of alternative sanctions, minimisation of application of the type of punishment of depriving one of liberty, will raise the quality of medical services provided at penitentiary institutions and will solve the issues relating to the minimum living space for convicts and to the ensuring of their employment. In his speech, representative of the EU Delegation David Avagyan emphasised that the co-operation between the EU Delegation and the Ministry of Justice in this sector is successful and particularly mentioned that the visit of the Evaluation Task Group to Armenia is foreseen in March 2016. At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to set an initial deadline for activities in order to complete the activities as soon as possible.