ArmInfo.There is no corrupt top-down judicial system that existed until May-July 2018, in which rates were clearly defined. Armenian Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan, who takes part in public discussions on the draft Criminal Code, stated this in an interview with reporters.
At the same time, Badasyan noted that if there are judges in the country who are associated with criminal authorities, this issue should be addressed to law enforcement agencies, specifying that his opinion on the systematic eradication of corruption refers to processes that occurred in the past.
According to him, the public has the right to know those who administer justice, and for these purposes the authorities are introducing and will continue to introduce mechanisms to verify candidates for the position of judges for honesty.
In addition, the Minister noted that work will be done to improve the institution of disciplinary liability.
Commenting on the statement by the chairman of the Criminal Court of Appeal Vazgen Rshtuni about pressure on the courts, Badasyan called this statement ridiculous, expressing the opinion that under the previous regime there was such a judicial system that was completely dependent on the executive branch.
"Today, when we initiate reforms aimed at ensuring the independence of the courts through the involvement of civil society, this kind of statement is ridiculous," he replied.
Speaking about the existence of a criminal subculture and organized crime in the republic, the minister noted that one of the steps to solve this problem is the introduction of criminal liability for those actions that were described earlier.
<Naturally, this is only one of the steps, since it only criminalizes actions that pose the greatest threat to society. We are ready to listen to additional suggestions and make adjustments", Badasyan concluded.
The minister emphasized that today a draft of the new Criminal Code is being discussed, which was supposed to be submitted in the fall, however, due to the large amount of work, the process was delayed a bit, but this month the draft of the new Criminal Code will be submitted to the office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, he said.
Regarding the fight against elements of a criminal subculture, Badasyan said that this was spelled out in another legislative initiative.