Monday, May 20 2019 16:41

ArmInfo.Any pressure on the courts, whether by the executive or civil society, is unacceptable under any circumstances. A human rights activist, head of the Helsinki Civil Assembly Avetik Ishkhanyan said this at a press conference on May 20.

He stressed that, of course, there is no trust in the judiciary in  Armenia for a long time, however, as soon as the judges pass  decisions that are undesirable for the new authorities, the Prime  Minister recalls the transitional justice system. "The term  transitional justice was heard for the first time after judge  Alexander Azaryan changed the preventive measure against Kocharyan.  The second time, the call to block the entrances to the court  buildings and the idea of transitional justice arose when David  Grigoryan again changed the measure of restraint against the second  president of Armenia," Ishkhanyan stressed.

Ishkhanyan also noted that such an approach is unacceptable and that  the courts should not be the executors of the will of the political  majority or civil society. "The judiciary should be independent, but  if judges fulfill the will of an aggressive majority, then such a  country is one step away from dictatorship. Judges should make  decisions based solely on facts and evidence on a particular case. If  only society has to decide everything, then our courts in general  should eliminate them and install guillotines, "the human rights  activist said.

He also stressed that in our country people who fulfill the will of  the new government become heroes. "For example, the Prosecutor  General of Armenia was one of the brightest representatives of the  previous government, and before the revolution, completely  differently evaluated the case on March 1, 2008. After he charged  Kocharyan, he was heroized, the same can be said about made decisions  on the extension of Kocharyan and Manvel Grigoryan's arrest, etc,  "Ishkhanyan stressed.  He also refuted Pashinyan's statement that the  need for reforms in the judiciary was due to a public demand: "The  society required this issue to be resolved for a long time, but the  government remembered this demand after a disagreeable court  decision. I would not want the judicial system reforms because the  court's decision does not satisfy the current government, it's  necessary to prepare for reforms and to carry them out not randomly,  but consistently. Such behavior does not indicate a desire to improve  the judicial system and, on the desire to take revenge, " concluded  the Prime Minister.  To note, yesterday, Prime Minister of Armenia  Nikol Pashinyan made an appeal to the citizens of the republic to  block the entrances and exits of all courts. "From 08:30 am on May  20, we block the entrances and exits of all courts in the republic  without exception, so that no one can enter," he wrote on his  Facebook page, adding that tomorrow at 12:00 the second, the most  important stage of the Armenian revolution.  The Defender of Human  Rights, the Chamber of Lawyers, the High Council of the Judiciary and  a number of political parties has already spoken against this call of  the Prime Minister. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian and  Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II also commented.