An extraordinary session of the Public Council under the Justice Minister took place on 21 May. The RA Minister of Justice Artak Zeynalyan invited to discuss the issue of inclusion of the proposals submitted by non-governmental organizations in the new Government program.

First Deputy Minister of Justice Arthur Hovhannisyan, Deputy Ministers Suren Krmoyan, Vigen Kocharyan, Artak Asatryan and representatives of more than two dozen NGOs participated in the session.

Minister Zeynalyan welcomed the participants of the meeting and noted that the Ministry of Justice expects proposals from the Council’s members to be discussed and incorporated into a new government program.

The Minister informed that the new program of the government will be directed to 2018-2022 and clarified that there is no legal possibility, although it is envisaged to carry out snap parliamentary elections as soon as possible so that the actual structure of the legislative body is clear and the executive power expresses the will of the people.

The members of the Public Council introduced proposals for the prevention of corruption, the penitentiary institutions, and conditions of detention of prisoners, the protection of their health, the conditional early release and the Probation Service.

The President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project Karen Zadoyan, participated in the meeting as well. He presented the recommendations of the ALA and the Armenian CSOs Anti-Corruption Coalition on Anti-Corruption Education, Prevention of the Corruption, business sector, including tax and free economic competition, electoral, judicial and law enforcement spheres, as well as recommendation on the justice and human rights spheres and handed the written package of these proposals to the representatives of the Ministry of Justice.

There were also opinions on the necessity of making amendments and additions to the RA Electoral Code, the Law on National Minorities, as well as the improvement of the institutes of monitoring and pledge, raising the efficiency of the judicial system and other issues.

At the end of the meeting, an agreement was reached to submit proposals to the Ministry of Justice in a short period of time.