Armenian Ministry of Justice  planning new amendments to  Criminal  Procedure Code.

ArmInfo. The Armenian Ministry of Justice is planning to make new amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, as announced by Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan during discussions on the draft  state budget in the National Assembly on October 29.

According to her, one of the innovations will be the establishment of  a deadline for criminal proceedings, leading to a limitation on the  detention of defendants. The deadline is set at one year, with the  possibility of three additional one-year extensions. However, in the  latter case, compelling grounds will be required. The Minister cited  some figures, according to which, out of 1,700 prisoners, 10-15 have  been in custody for more than five years, while some others have been  in custody for more than a year. To expedite judicial proceedings,  the practice of a new judge starting a case from scratch when  replacing an old one will be abolished. The successor judge will  continue the case from the point at which they received it from their  predecessor.

Galyan also noted that it is necessary to recruit approximately 30  judges to various courts to reduce the court backlogs. Additionally,   increasing salaries for judicial assistants is important, contingent  on the state budget.