It is proposed to establish an Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal and separate the Civil and Criminal courts of General Jurisdiction of the city of Yerevan

Deputy Minister of Justice Armenuhi Harutyunyan has submitted to the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly the Law “On making supplements and amendments to the Constitutional Law “Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia””. The aim of the draft is to ensure organisation of appeal of judicial acts rendered under cases of anti-corruption civil crimes and corruption-related crimes by the specialised Anti-Corruption Court. Adoption of the draft will lead to the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Court, which will comprise 12 judges, 6 of whom will deal with cases on corruption crimes, and the other 6 judges will deal with the examination of appeals against the judicial acts rendered under anti-corruption civil cases. Armenuhi Harutyunyan stated that the amendments will not entail the need to increase the number of new judges. The draft will regulate the arrangements with regard to the list of candidates for judges subject to promotion in the Court of Appeal. The Lead Committee on State and Legal Affairs gave a positive opinion on the draft following the activities jointly carried out with the Ministry of Justice, taking into account the extensive recommendations made by Deputy Arpi Davoyan.

Thus, in the draft package, one of the major amendments is the separation of civil and criminal courts of general jurisdiction in the city of Yerevan in order to overcome the workload of the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of the city of Yerevan. All the recommendations submitted and the amendments and supplements proposed in the package are aimed at making the current legal regulations more clarified, filling some gaps of legislative regulations, easing the workload of courts and ensuring the principle of examination of cases within a reasonable time limit.