ArmInfo. A new institution of pre- trial consideration of court cases will be introduced in Armenia. At a sitting on January 14, the government of the country approved amendments to the Judicial Code and a package of related laws, which were recognized as urgent by the executive body and will be considered at the next plenary session of the RA National Assembly.
According to the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Rustam Badasyan, it is proposed, in particular, to introduce two institutions - the pre-trial process and corruption crimes.
In this regard, it is envisaged to form a group of special judges. Basically, their task will be to review cases related to requests for arrest and requests for searches in corruption cases. Statistics show that from July 1, 2019 to July 1, 2020, 275 cases related to corruption crimes are under consideration by the courts, and 2228 cases are under the supervision of the RA Prosecutor General's Office. Thus, as Badasyan noted, the number of considered cases increased by 30%. The introduction of new institutions will lead to an increase in the number of judges. In particular, in the courts of primary instance the staff of judges will increase by 21 units, in the Court of Appeal - by 3 units. All judges will undergo a qualification selection, the main components of which will be the qualifications of the judges and their reputation. Applicants will be required to take a month-long refresher course at the Academy of Justice. After the package is adopted by the country's parliament, a transitional period will begin to apply, which will last 6-7 months. At the same time, the addresses and dates of the sessions of the specialized courts will be published in advance. The use of new institutions, the minister continued, on the one hand, will speed up the processes of making decisions by the courts, and on the other, will increase public confidence in the judicial system. In turn, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that Armenia is entering an important stage of judicial and legal reforms. On the eve, another package of legislative initiatives was presented in the parliament, which are aimed at solving this issue. The creation of the patrol service of the RA Police is in the stage of formation. The presented package, from the point of view of the head of the Armenian government, is very important, since it largely solves the issue of public confidence in the judicial system. As Nikol Pashinyan noted, the impartiality and reputation of judges are the most important components of these reforms, and they should not be in doubt