The Board of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association has issued a statement calling on the Government and the National Assembly to exclude the legal regulation providing the possibility of applying a judicial sanction (penalty or otherwise) against the advocate and prosecutor, which endangers their independence. The statement states:
The draft law “Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia” stipulates the application of a judicial sanction in the form of a fine to an advocate and prosecutor.
The cases for which sanctions are prescribed are qualifying categories and, in each case, obtaining a subjective assessment may become a tool for a judge to violate the balance between the parties to the proceedings and to limit the right to effective remedies for human rights and freedoms of an individual.
The proposed legal regulation is a breach of the principle of independence of the advocate, which has the purpose to provide legal assistance and to create all grounds for limiting the freedom of the competitive trial parties to ensure the effective protection of the rights of the person in the manner provided by law.
In addition, the mentioned regulation provides possibility for double responsibility for the same act, as it defines that the decision to apply a Judicial Sanction does not exclude the possibility of initiating disciplinary proceedings against a prosecutor or advocate for the same act.
The Armenian Lawyers’ Association, considering human rights protection as an important direction of its activity and based on the above arguments, believes that the envisaged legal regulation does not derive from the interests of a fair, competitive trial and effective protection of the rights of the person, the need for such regulation is not justified in any way, urges the Government and the National Assembly to exclude the legal regulation providing the possibility of applying a judicial sanction (penalty or otherwise) against the advocate and prosecutor, which endangers their independence.
