New Constitution to bring about substantial reforms in Armenia;s  judicial system - premier

ArmInfo.  Significant changes are expected to occur in Armenia's judicial system with the adoption of the new Constitution. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  stated this in a conversation with journalists.

"There is even a proposal to include in the transitional provisions  of the Constitution a provision stating that, from the moment the  Constitution is adopted, the status of all judges will be reassigned  as acting judges. Only after the new standard of integrity is  confirmed, which will be possible thanks to new legal regulations,  because there are things that are impossible under our legal  regulations, will those who pass this qualification assessment be  reappointed as judges," Pashinyan said.

He also expressed his belief that the general assembly of judges, for  example, should not have the right to elect a member of the Supreme  Judicial Council. "They should have the right to nominate a  candidate, but in any case, the choice, the final decision, must be  made by the body that bears the people's primary mandate, and that  body is the National Assembly," the head of the Armenian government  said.

When asked whether he was familiar with the text of the new  constitution and when it would be published, Pashinyan confirmed that  he was familiar with the document and added that he had even  participated in its drafting. He also assured that he supports the  publication of the text of the new constitution, adding that there  are, however, certain "buts." "The problem is that there are some  disputes within the political and government teams regarding several  fundamental and important nuances related to the regulations of the  public administration system. I don't want us to publish this  document without resolving these disputes," Pashinyan continued,  noting that he does not rule out the possibility that they will not  be able to resolve the existing differences before the upcoming June  parliamentary elections and that the publication of the draft will be  delayed after the elections.

It should be noted that since Azerbaijan's occupation of Artsakh,  Baku has frequently demanded changes to the Armenian Constitution to  fully normalize relations between Yerevan and Baku. The reason for  this is Armenia's Declaration of Independence, which, according to  Baku, allegedly contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan.  Despite the Armenian authorities' insistence that they did not  initiate the constitutional amendments at Baku's request, in March of  this year, Pashinyan admitted that the new Constitution should not  contain references to the Declaration of Independence. This is  despite the fact that the preamble to Armenia's main law is  inviolable and cannot be amended or completely removed from the  country's Constitution.