Citizens will be freed from the duty of coming to court unnecessarily; the workload of the courts will be eased: new amendments are proposed

At the initiative of the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council, within the framework of the Council of Europe "Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Armenia" program, under the coordination of Deputy Minister of Justice Ara Mkrtchyan, members of the Supreme Judicial Council Yeranuhi Tumanyants and Hayk Grigoryan, with the involvement of judges and relevant specialists, drafts of amendments and supplements to the Criminal, Criminal Procedure and Penitentiary Codes were developed. The drafts were presented for public discussion, in which all interested agencies, lawyers-scientists of the field and Public Organizations participated.

Within the framework of the amendments, it is proposed to introduce the concept of sentencing a person to a fine according to a written procedure, which will lighten the workload of the courts, contribute to maintaining a reasonable period of investigation of the case and free citizens from the obligation to appear in court unnecessarily.

With the use of said concept, it is expected to ease the burden on the courts, because according to the preliminary calculation, about 38% of the total number of criminal cases will be subject to consideration in the order of such proceedings.

The drafts regulated the grounds for the use of bail as an alternative preventive measure, providing for clear structures regarding the measures to be taken in case the accused fails to pay it.

It is proposed to return the motion submitted by the investigator when applying detention as a preventive measure, as well as the possibility to return the complaint submitted within the framework of the proceedings of the legality of pre-trial acts, in order to correct the formal errors contained therein.

Certain procedural regulations relating to appellate, cassation and special review proceedings have also been established.

The drafts also propose to solve a number of practically encountered problems related to the execution of judicial acts, as well as the order of solving the issues that arise during the execution of the sentence, release on parole from serving the sentence, procedure for resolving complaints in court against actions, inactions or decisions taken by officials of penitentiary institutions and authorities, combining sentences imposed by different judicial acts .

As a result of the discussion, all participants agreed with the need for amendments, different opinions were voiced regarding a number of regulations; the drafts were revised and enriched in terms of content.

It was agreed to continue discussions.