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.