ArmInfo. The Ombudsman of Armenia presented an extraordinary report, in which he pointed out the legislative gaps in the judicial system. According to the press service of the Human Rights Defender, the Ombudsman in the report noted the absence of mechanisms to restore the rights of citizens in case of violation of the requirements for considering the case within a reasonable time.
The Ombudsman also appealed to the Constitutional Court on this issue, disputing the fact that the RA Judicial Code does not provide a flexible mechanism to properly ensure the constitutional requirement to consider cases in courts within a reasonable time. As a result, under the current legislative regulations, a court case may be delayed for years, and this fact remains without consequences for the court. In particular, according to the annual report of the High Judicial Council for 2019, there are 155 criminal and 1628 civil cases in the city of Yerevan alone, the consideration of which lasts two or more years. Only seven judges have a total of 1,123 such cases. Moreover, there are also cases the investigation of which does not end within ten or more years.
An analysis of international experience shows that appealing a judicial act or considering a reasonable time by another court in current cases, as well as demanding compensation for non-material damage or initiating disciplinary proceedings against a judge and bringing him to disciplinary liability, are not effective mechanisms to eliminate legislative omissions.
In international legal systems, preventive measures are widely spread to prevent violations of the right to a case within a reasonable time, which, however, are absent in Armenian law. This, in turn, leads to an unjustified restriction of effective remedies established by Article 13 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.