Srbuhi Galyan: "The draft of the new Criminal Procedure Code will be forwarded to the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia this year"

Today, Deputy Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan attended a public discussion on the draft of the new Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia held with the participation of representatives of state, international and non-governmental organisations.

The discussion was organised through the combined efforts of the Ministry of Justice and the "Supporting the criminal justice reform and harmonisation of application of European standards in Armenia" Project, which is financed within the scope of the Council of Europe/European Union Partnership for Good Governance mechanism.

Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan Natalia Voutova attached importance to the organising of such discussions and expressed confidence that the Draft, developed with the support of interested parties, will be in line with European and international standards.

Deputy Minister Galyan greeted the participants of the discussion and expressed gratitude to the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan, to the European Union for the ongoing support, to Project Officer Gayane Hovhannisyan, as well as to all the members of the Working Group for their hard work and efforts.

Srbuhi Galyan informed that the Draft is currently being revised and finalised and will be forwarded to the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia this year after it is revised and finalised.

Head of the Co-operation Section of the Delegation of the European Union Gonzalo Serrano De La Rosa stated that Armenia clearly recorded advancement in the activities for judicial and legal reforms, reforms in the anti-corruption field and in human rights protection this year. In this context, the representative of the Delegation of the European Union also attached importance to the reforms in the criminal procedure sector and the development of the Draft.

Afterwards, Head of the Working Group developing the Code Hrayr Ghukasyan and international expert of the Council of Europe Lorena Bachmaier presented to the participants the issues on the agenda and touched upon the rights and responsibilities of private participants of proceedings and persons assisting in proceedings, the guarantees for lawfulness of arrest and application of preventive measures, the ensuring of competition in court proceedings and the additional guarantees for protection of the legitimate interests of certain vulnerable groups.

During the meeting, the stakeholders raised a number of issues related to the draft of the new Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia and made recommendations.

The Project contributes to the progress of reforms in the criminal justice sector, providing support for legislative, methodological and institutional capacity building. The Project also provides expert assistance during the whole process of development and enforcement of criminal legislation. This also includes actions for training judges and judicial servants at the Academy of Justice, as well as for institutional capacity building of institutions in the criminal justice sector.