Armenia – annual report 2020

Details: Published: September 8, 2021

Final conference of the pilot project on “Practical issues in the enforcement system: Developing tailored approaches to the most pressing issues at four penitentiary institutions” in Yerevan: Artak Haratyunyan, First Deputy Head of the Penitentiary Department at the Ministry of Justice; IRZ expert Thomas Müller, Senior Government Official, Head of the Karlsruhe Correctional Facility; Arpine Sarsgyan, Head of Department of Prison Policy at the Ministry of Justice; IRZ expert Heinz Brüche, Head of Training at the Baden-Württemberg Prison Training Centre; Nelly Tumasyan, IRZ Project Coordinator in Armenia (from right to left)

Strategic Framework

Legal Policy Starting Point

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government has focused on ambitious reform plans in the judicial field especially since the Velvet Revolution in 2018. Key projects include the establishment of stable democratic institutions, policies to combat corruption and reforms in the areas of criminal law, penitentiary law, criminal procedure law and constitutional law.

Although reforms are moving forward at a fast pace and the government is doing a lot to convince the population of their necessity, these upheavals are not always uncontroversial. The Constitutional Court came under particular criticism in 2020 because the majority of its judges had been appointed for life according to a now defunct procedure. Initial attempts to incentivise judges to step down failed. A referendum scheduled for early April 2020 was to vote on a constitutional amendment that would have permitted the immediate dismissal of seven of the nine judges. But the referendum was postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, so parliament, in which the ruling party has an absolute majority, ultimately passed the constitutional amendment. Three constitutional judges had to resign immediately and were replaced; other dismissals will follow. The office of the president was taken away from the former incumbent, although he remained as a judge.

In addition to judicial reform, domestic and foreign policy during the reporting year were largely dominated by management of the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. It remains to be seen how these two crises will affect the current reform course.

Overall Concept

During 2020, topics such as notary law were added to the bilateral advisory measures, which have traditionally prioritised the areas of criminal law and penitentiary law until now. This enabled the inclusion of new partners, among them the Supreme Judicial Council that was established in 2018.

German expertise was used to support reforms in the penitentiary system through the organisation of training and workshops at correctional facilities during the intensification phases. Unfortunately, it was only possible to continue these practical measures for two new correctional facilities in a restricted, virtual setting due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

IRZ places a focus on the further training of young legal professionals in cooperation with the Yerevan State University. In a project funded by the Federal Foreign Office, students received training from German experts, for instance by participating in an autumn school in a hybrid format on the topics of human rights, European law, constitutional law and media law.

An EU Grant Project has also been running since 2020 in addition to the bilateral activities. This aims to continue consolidating the Armenian judiciary. The bilateral measures were coordinated with the Grant Project activities in order to prevent duplicate work and to harness synergy.

Focus of Activity in 2020

Administration of Justice

Advisory measures for the Notary Chamber as a hybrid event on notarial law issues, digitalisation and the prevention of money laundering
Online seminar with the Lawyers’ Association of the Republic of Armenia on public relations for lawyers and on lawyers as public figures
Hybrid seminar with the Supreme Judicial Council of the Republic of Armenia on “Recruitment procedures for new judges” and “Judicial immunity” in Tsaghkadzor

Criminal and Penitentiary Law

Two workshops and a final conference on practical issues of the penitentiary system for the development of tailored concepts for correctional facilities in Armenia – intensification phase at Sevan and Artik correctional facilities
Two hybrid workshops at two further correctional facilities as part of a pilot project in the penitentiary system on the aforementioned topic
Hybrid seminar with the Special Investigation Service “Recovery of illegally acquired assets from abroad, money laundering, etc.” in Tsaghkadzor

Basic and Further Training

Two online guest lectures on the penitentiary system at the University of Yerevan Faculty of Law
Organisation of a nationwide hybrid moot court on criminal law and criminal procedure law in cooperation with Yerevan State University
Online seminar for prospective and active judges and public prosecutors on the topic of “Presumptions and burden of proof in criminal proceedings” in cooperation with the Judicial Academy
Four one-week autumn schools for students in a hybrid format on the topics of “Human rights, European, constitutional and media law”, funded by the Federal Foreign Office

Project funded by the European Union

EU Grant Project: “Consolidation of the Justice System in Armenia”

IRZ has been in charge of implementing this EU Grant Project in Armenia since June 2020. Endowed with a total volume of € 2.2 million and scheduled to run for 24 months, this project is focused on general consolidation of the Armenian judicial reform and is being conducted in partnership with the French organisation Justice Cooperation International (JCI) and the Latvian Court Administration.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to postpone the start of the project until June after the contract had been awarded in February 2020. Two national and two international long-term experts have worked on the project since then, albeit mainly online. The challenging tasks of establishing a digital office and project infrastructure as well as the predominantly virtual contact with partners and institutions have been successful.

A particular priority of this project is on the support and implementation of the judicial reform strategy “Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms 2019–2023”, which was adopted by the Armenian parliament in autumn 2019. Aside from the target groups of judges, public prosecutors and lawyers, this cooperation with numerous actors within the Armenian judiciary, predominantly the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Academy, also addresses non-judicial court staff and civil society stakeholders.

The overarching objective is to raise the confidence of the Armenian population in the judicial system. For this reason, a strategy of bolstering the integrity, transparency and efficiency of the judicial system is pursued. Key measures therefore include support in the successful implementation of the intended reform, policies to combat corruption and the comprehensive improvement of alternative legal education and training. Another component is to establish a comprehensive system of court monitoring and vetting for judges and public prosecutors.

Outlook

Cooperation with the Armenian partners in the field of criminal law and penitentiary law will continue, alongside collaboration in the area of probation services. In addition, further training of young legal professionals will be another important priority in 2021. Through the implementation of the Grant Project the chance is given to accompany the reform on a larger scale in 2021.