Arman Kurekhyan, Chairman of the Court of First Instance of the Tavush Region, will not be subject to disciplinary liability.

The Supreme Judicial Council chaired by Ruben Vardazaryan announced the decision today, on 9 July.

It should be added that Ruben Vardazaryan, Grigor Bekmezyan, Armen Haykyants, Hayk Hovhannisyan, Mesrop Makyan, Liparit Melikjanyan, Ani Mkhitaryan, Sergey Chichoyan have signed the decision. “Council members Ani Mkhitaryan and Ruben Vardazaryan provided a special opinion on the reasoning part,” the SJC Chairman said.

Notably, Judge Suzanna Ulikhanyan of the same court submitted a motion to the Disciplinary Committee of the General Assembly of Judges, which was presented by the chairman of the commission Mkhitar Papoyan, noting, “Judge Suzanna Ulikhanyan of the court noted that the chairman of the court Arman Kurekhyan on 1 February, 2020, discussing with her issues related to the organization of work, allowed behavior inappropriate for the Chairman of the court. In particular, the Chairman of the Court made the following statement about Judge Suzanna Ulikhanyan: “You are occupying someone else’s place, soon everyone will understand that, you may perceive this as you want, but you didn’t grow from the position of a clerk, get out of that psychology, wearing a robe and making a couple of decisions doesn’t make you a judge yet.”

During the sittings, Kurekhyan said that he had been on vacation that day and had not met Suzanna Ulikhanyan.

In his closing remarks, the judge noted: “Dear Council, I think that there will be no judge in Armenia who will meet a lawsuit based only on the application, and I hope that there will be no judge who will find a person guilty of committing a crime based on a report of a crime. Now the SJC is facing it, “Arman Kurekhyan said in his speech, expressing hope that the commission will not be able to mislead the Supreme Judicial Council, presenting the grounds for initiating disciplinary proceedings as evidence.

Alisa Chilingaryan

Vahe Vardanyan