Edgar Melkonyan, who heads Armenia’s new corruption court’s staff, tells Hetq that 267 criminal cases have been filed since the court's creation last August.

The three-level court examines corruption crimes and the protection of property and non-property interests of the state initiated by the state prosecutor, as well as civil cases initiated by lawsuits for confiscation of property of illegal origin.

Melkonyan says the court also received 160 civil cases, 26 of which related to confiscation of property of illegal origin.

Armenia’s Judicial Code specifies the Anti-Corruption Court shall have a minimum of fifteen judges, of which at least ten must be specialized in criminal corruption crime, and at least five – in civil anti-corruption.

The recruitment of anti-corruption court judges hasn’t been completed. There are two vacant posts for judges with criminal and civil specialization in the Court of First Instance. There are two vacancies in the Appellate Criminal Court and three vacancies in the Appellate Civil Court.