Report on activities of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia in May-November 2018

The following are the activities carried out by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia in May-November 2018:

Thus:

(1)    Administrative amnesty was granted, as a result, amnesty was applied for 108 916 people, and 1 259 177 enforcement proceedings were dismissed;

(2)     Criminal amnesty was granted, as a result, as of 14 December, 553 convicts were released from penitentiary institutions, and in the Probation Service, amnesty was applied for 1012 beneficiaries;

(3)     4 medical centres in Yerevan will have special divisions designed for detained persons;

(4)     The institution of release on parole, which had not been properly applied for years for persons sentenced to life imprisonment, is actually being applied; a life-sentenced prisoner has been released from punishment on parole. Generally, as a result of reforms carried out in this sphere, today, 236 people are released from punishment on parole, there are also pending cases in court proceedings;

(5)    For the purpose of ensuring proper exercise of the right of convicts lacking the opportunity for short visits with close relatives, as well as of convicts having citizenship of a foreign state to visit, they will be provided with an opportunity to benefit from an up to twenty-minute video call twice a month during the month instead of a short visit;

(6)     the number of short-term and long-term visits for persons convicted to imprisonment for a certain period or to life imprisonment for a particularly grave crime has been multiplied, an opportunity of granting at least six short visits and two long visits during the year has been provided;

(7)    As a result of effective co-operation with the Human Rights Defender, the practice of prohibiting, without a good reason (or voluntarily), the detained person to have a visit with a close relative or legal representative on the basis of preliminary investigation secret by the body conducting criminal proceedings will be ruled out;

(8)    While being in the place of imprisonment, detained citizens of the Republic of Armenia will have the right to receive provisional certificates that will enable them to exercise their right to participation in civil law transactions;

(9)     Funds have been allocated from the State Budget of the Republic of Armenia for the purpose of capital repair for maintenance of the penitentiary system for the first time in the past ten years. The Government has granted AMD 270 million 858 thousand for improving the living and household conditions of the convicts and detained persons being kept at "Nubarashen", "Vardashen" and "Sevan" Penitentiary Institutions;

(10)  From 1 January 2019, www.azdararir.am electronic platform is going to be operated, with the help of which citizens will have the chance to whistle-blow corruption crimes;

(11)    The list of operators performing the functions of the service offices of state administration bodies has been expanded, besides the 9 active operators, Unibank Open Joint-Stock Company has also been provided with the opportunity to perform the functions of the service offices of state administration bodies;

(12)  Based on the new Law "On pardon", the Ministry of Justice drew up and submitted to the Office of the Prime Minister 196 personal files to ensure further processing of pardon petitions.

(13)  As a result of the activities carried out in the e-justice sector, the www.e-request.am unified portal for online requests has been introduced and launched by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia; with the help of the portal, citizens can electronically submit their requests, applications and complaints to the state and local self-government bodies disposing of information;

(14)  Activities are being carried out for the purpose of ensuring online transfer of contracts concluded between the e-notary system of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia and the electronic system of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia through an electronic digital signature electronically ratified by a notary;

(15)  The functions of the e-notary electronic system and the scope of the services provided to citizens by electronic means have been expanded;

(16)  The unified www.e-verify.am website for checking the validity of official documents provided by state bodies of the Republic of Armenia has been developed by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia and is in the pilot stage; it will provide an opportunity to check the validity of the documents provided by state bodies;

(17)  A new Anti-Corruption Strategy and its Implementation Action Plan for 2009-2012 have been developed by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia and will be submitted for public consideration in the nearest future.

Legislative acts

1.     The scope of persons receiving free legal aid will be expanded by the amendment made to the Law "On advocacy";

2.     The pledge institution will be improved by the amendments made to the Civil Code, which will have a positive impact on the position of the Republic of Armenia in the rating list of the Doing Business Report;

3.     Legal regulations of the institution of simplified proceedings have been reviewed under the draft Law "On making an amendment to the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia", as a result of which the workload of courts is expected to be reduced.

4.     By the draft amendments to the Law "On state pensions":

• it shall be possible to submit the application for assigning pension through an authorised person as well;
• when receiving pension by credit transfer in case of being absent from the Republic of Armenia or if it is impossible to appear at a bank, an opportunity will be given to continue payment of pension on the basis of the document confirming that the pensioner is alive and certified by the relevant official of the notary public or consular institutions;
• payment of terminated pension may be restarted on the basis of an application submitted by an authorised person as well;

1.     The efficiency, professionalism and accountability of the activities of bankruptcy managers will be improved by the draft amendments to the Law "On bankruptcy", the efficiency of bankruptcy proceedings will be increased, and the terms and expenses of the proceedings will be reduced;

2.     The need for the application of seals has been excluded by the draft amendments made to a number of decisions of the Government.

1.     Within the scope of the main issue concerning prevention of tortures, a draft law providing for amnesty for persons having committed torture, releasing persons having committed torture from criminal liability or punishment based on expiry of statutes of limitations, as well as prohibition on applying adequate measures leading to impunity for that act, has been developed.

For the complete report, please visit. http://moj.am/legal/view/article/1198/: