Saturday, May 25 2019 12:14

ArmInfo.Currently, the legal and judicial system remains the biggest problem for Armenia. Yesterday, during the meeting with the ambassadors of foreign states  and international structures accredited to Armenia, Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan said

As the press service of the Cabinet reported,  the Prime Minister  noted "Indeed, the judicial system is our biggest problem today. You  know that specific events have taken place recently and are still  happening. The political bottleneck that faced the government during  the past year, and I personally encountered the same reality that our  public opinion, our society holds the government responsible for all  irregular judicial decisions.  Although I have repeatedly made it  clear that I am not involved in judicial processes and have no desire  to do so, society keeps putting the blame on the government for all  judicial decisions, considering that the court rulings comply with  the Prime Minister's personal decisions. This is a very complex  inertia inherited from the past. At times, the government is forced  to simply disassociate itself from such rulings because otherwise it  can face a certain crisis of confidence.

According to him, at this stage there is hope for cooperation with  international partners in order to form a truly independent judicial  system in Armenia. " And, of course, at this stage, we hope to  cooperate closely with our international partners to have a truly  independent judiciary in Armenia because I have long been analyzing  what is the reason for such an attitude and such a public perception.   And it was clear to me that there is some disbalance in the current  situation.  This imbalance is expressed as follows: today the  National Assembly represents the people and reflects the people's  choice. I mean that the incumbent MPs are in the National Assembly  simply because the voters have opted for the political force  represented by these people.  I am now Prime Minister for a simple  reason that I was first nominated as Prime Minister by the political  force which won the absolute majority of the votes.  "Nikol Pashinyan  said.

 "From a political point of view, the Prime Minister continued ,one  particular issue arises, namely who is represented by the judiciary  after the revolution and whose power it is exercising in the Republic  of Armenia.  I say this because the second and unchangeable article  of the Constitution of Armenia states that in the Republic of  Armenia, the power belongs to the people. The people shall exercise  their power through free elections, referenda, as well as through  state and local self-government bodies and officials provided for by  the Constitution.

The courts are among those public bodies prescribed by the  Constitution, and our Constitution clearly provides that these State  institutions should be directly associated with the people, that is,  they should have the mandate and authority to act on behalf of the  people. And the problem is that, as a matter of fact, we have not had  such a situation during last year's political developments.  And due  to this, court rulings are causing discontent in our society; the  public simply does not have trust in the judicial system and this can  become a permanent source of crisis." the head of government  emphasized.

He also expressed confidence that the time had come to solve this  problem." I am convinced that the time has come to deal with this  problem, but I am also convinced that we cannot reproduce the  previous judicial system we had.  I have written about it for many  years and have even been condemned by that judicial system and my  conviction is that political changes will be absolutely pointless if  we do not build a truly independent judicial system, the rulings of  which could be accepted as decisions made on behalf of the Republic  of Armenia and its people. However, there is no such an atmosphere in  the country as of yet. Therefore, considering that the executive  power enjoys the people's trust in Armenia, I feel that the time has  come either for the judicial power to enjoy the people's trust,'' the  Prime Minister said.

He also noted "I do not mean the government's trust in the judiciary,  but the people's trust, because should the government wish to have an  abiding judicial system in Armenia, it would be free to do so,  especially as the judicial system used to work under conditions when  there was a perfect trust between the government and the judiciary.  But this way is unacceptable to us, because it is against the values  on which we have been implementing changes in Armenia. And we hope  and are confident that we will succeed in building a reliable  judicial system in close cooperation with our international  partners," Nikol Pashinyan said.