The judicial power in Armenia reacts to the criticism of the Human Rights Defender extremely painfully, and this fact is depressing, as it minimizes all chances for the recovery of the judiciary system, Armenian Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan said at today's press conference when presenting his annual report.
Andreasyan said that among the state structures touched upon in the annual report the judicial power has reacted most vehemently. He said that the judicial power is trying to discredit the Ombudsman's Institute in every possible way but at the same time forgets that about 70% of the public does not trust the judicial power. "The representatives of the judicial power do not understand that due to their irresponsiveness towards healthy criticism they discredit themselves", he said.
According to Andreasyan, other problematic structures in terms of protection of the citizens' rights are the State Revenue Committee and the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition. "The Commission's random use of its powers with respect to economic entities, the demonstrative and minimal fines for violation of economic competition cannot contribute to the effective fight against monopolies", he said.
The Ombudsman said that the exemplary structures that perceive criticism well enough are the Police, Health Ministry, as well as Ministry of Labor and Social Issues.