Lilit Tadevosyan

During a debate today in Armenia’s National Assembly regarding proposed changes the judicial code, HAK MP Gagik Jahangiryan ( a former deputy prosecutor general of Armenia), noted that in Armenia, in the early 1990s, the country’s 120 judges were able to handle all criminal, civil, family and administrative court cases in a country whose population was close to four million, while today, judges are overburdened.

“Now we have more than 230 judges in a country of some two million, and a backlog in criminal and administrative cases,” said Jahangiryan.

 He noted that while the police claim that the number of crimes is dropping yearly, the number of criminal cases being heard in the courts is on the rise. How can this be? he asked.

“If we add the fact that the official number of people leaving the country is 50,000-60,000, mostly the young and most prone to committing crimes, how can criminal cases be on the rise?” he asked.

Jahangiryan said that people should not have to wait four to five months until their trials get underway.

As a solution, Jahangiryan said that Armenia needs an independent judicial system that works. “We do not have such a system today,” he said.

“Sadly, we have initiated changes to the constitution, disregarding the Venice Commission’s advice not to change the system of governance given that we do not have an independent judicial system,” concluded Jahangiryan.