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20
04, 2011
President Serzh Sargsyan invited a meeting on several issues related to the reforms undergoing in the judicial area
Today, President Serzh Sargsyan invited a meeting on several issues related to the reforms undergoing in the judicial area. This meeting at the President’s Office commences a series of discussions which will be conducted with a precise timekeeping. The objective is to tackle problems in the judicial area, find concrete solutions to the long-standing wicked practices, reveal circumstances which create problems, rectify and eliminate them and, most importantly, rule out the repetition of such occurrences in the future. The list of the participants will be changing according to the topic at hand, and if necessary, a third party may be invited as well as experts.
Present at the meeting were the RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian, Minister of Justice Hrair Tovmassian, President of the RA Court of Cassations Arman Mkrtumian, President of the Criminal Chamber of the RA Court of Cassations David Avetissian, Head of the RA National Security Service Gorik Hakopian, Head of the RA Police Alik Sarkissian, Deputies of the RA Prosecutor General Mnatsakan Sarkissian, Aram Tamazian, Gevork Kostanian, Head of the RA Special Investigation Service Andranik Mirzoyan, Head of the Main Investigation Department of the RA Police Gagik Hambardzumian, Head of the Investigation Department of the RA National Security Service Mnatsakan Marukian.
President Serzh Sargsyan spoke also about the investigation of the 2008 March 1 events. “I have said it on many occasion and will repeat now that expectations are high and, first of all, with regard to the March 1 events. I expect new drive and singular vigor in the investigation of the mentioned events. I am aware of all issues and objective problems that we all had, I mean the law enforcement bodies. I believe nobody knows these problems better than me. However I would like to stress again that the issue is of paramount importance for our state, for our society and for standing clear of any guesswork. This is another significant issue. For me personally, it’s a very important issue, and I demand of you to look again, most painstakingly into the circumstances which perhaps in your opinion, can reveal nothing new. In cases like that, try to find new ways to disclose the nature of the events. It’s been a while, probably there are persons who had witnessed the events but at the time didn’t want to cooperate with the authorities; nowadays they may have a different approach. This is also very important,” the President of Armenia said.
According to Serzh Sargsyan, even though in the process of the judicial reformation some achievement have already been registered and considerable works have been completed in the mentioned period of time, nevertheless, the problem of the system’s efficient functioning cannot be considered solved. The President of Armenia noted that universal interpretation and implementation of the laws by the courts should be a main direction of the judicial reformation.
“Study of judicial practices proves that indistinct regulations in our legislation make practices of law enforcement very controversial. I am not saying that it happed only last year, or has started several months ago. This failing has always been there. However, we have to fight against it seriously, particularly after the changes have been made. Today, we simply have to implement such practices in courts of every instance. Unfortunately, in our reality adoption of such decisions in not something extraordinary. We must understand the cause of the problem when one particular verdict of decision deviates from the general practice. People observe these deviations, and it naturally cannot promote authority of such courts or any other bodies. One of our objectives is to maintain high prestige of our law enforcement bodies. High repute means the acceptance by the public of your decisions. I believe, the imperfect legislation is not our only problem. We have to swiftly change things we have already spotted and bring them in line,” stressed the President of Armenia, speaking also about the existing subjective factors, about interagency relations which make such occurrences possible.
Present at the meeting were the RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian, Minister of Justice Hrair Tovmassian, President of the RA Court of Cassations Arman Mkrtumian, President of the Criminal Chamber of the RA Court of Cassations David Avetissian, Head of the RA National Security Service Gorik Hakopian, Head of the RA Police Alik Sarkissian, Deputies of the RA Prosecutor General Mnatsakan Sarkissian, Aram Tamazian, Gevork Kostanian, Head of the RA Special Investigation Service Andranik Mirzoyan, Head of the Main Investigation Department of the RA Police Gagik Hambardzumian, Head of the Investigation Department of the RA National Security Service Mnatsakan Marukian.
President Serzh Sargsyan spoke also about the investigation of the 2008 March 1 events. “I have said it on many occasion and will repeat now that expectations are high and, first of all, with regard to the March 1 events. I expect new drive and singular vigor in the investigation of the mentioned events. I am aware of all issues and objective problems that we all had, I mean the law enforcement bodies. I believe nobody knows these problems better than me. However I would like to stress again that the issue is of paramount importance for our state, for our society and for standing clear of any guesswork. This is another significant issue. For me personally, it’s a very important issue, and I demand of you to look again, most painstakingly into the circumstances which perhaps in your opinion, can reveal nothing new. In cases like that, try to find new ways to disclose the nature of the events. It’s been a while, probably there are persons who had witnessed the events but at the time didn’t want to cooperate with the authorities; nowadays they may have a different approach. This is also very important,” the President of Armenia said.
According to Serzh Sargsyan, even though in the process of the judicial reformation some achievement have already been registered and considerable works have been completed in the mentioned period of time, nevertheless, the problem of the system’s efficient functioning cannot be considered solved. The President of Armenia noted that universal interpretation and implementation of the laws by the courts should be a main direction of the judicial reformation.
“Study of judicial practices proves that indistinct regulations in our legislation make practices of law enforcement very controversial. I am not saying that it happed only last year, or has started several months ago. This failing has always been there. However, we have to fight against it seriously, particularly after the changes have been made. Today, we simply have to implement such practices in courts of every instance. Unfortunately, in our reality adoption of such decisions in not something extraordinary. We must understand the cause of the problem when one particular verdict of decision deviates from the general practice. People observe these deviations, and it naturally cannot promote authority of such courts or any other bodies. One of our objectives is to maintain high prestige of our law enforcement bodies. High repute means the acceptance by the public of your decisions. I believe, the imperfect legislation is not our only problem. We have to swiftly change things we have already spotted and bring them in line,” stressed the President of Armenia, speaking also about the existing subjective factors, about interagency relations which make such occurrences possible.