The Ministry of Justice has submitted for public discussion the package of draft laws of the “On Making Amendments and Additions to the Constitutional Law ” Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia”, and “On Making Amendments and Additions to the Constitutional Law “Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly”.

This package proposes to establish a specialized anti-corruption court with at least 25 judges, 20 of which will hear cases of corruption crimes under Annex 6 of the RA Criminal Code, and 5 will consider the cases arising from applications and lawsuits based on the “Law on Confiscation of Property of Illegal Origin”.

The draft package proposes to establish a specialized anti-corruption court with at least 10 judges. According to the amendments proposed by the drafts, the Criminal Chamber in the Court of Cassation will function with 8 judges, and the Civil-Administrative Chamber will function with 13 judges.

The drafts define the procedure for filling the anti-corruption specialization section of the list of candidates for judges of the anti-corruption court, and the list of candidates for judges of Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal, and the requirements for first instance judges. It is noteworthy that it is proposed to fill the first staff of the Anti-Corruption Court judges with the same procedure, with the difference that the candidates for judges to be promoted to the Court of Appeal require more professional experience.

There are also stricter restrictions on the appointment of a judge of the Anti-Corruption Court and the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal. In particular, restrictions are envisaged for a judge, former judge, prosecutor, former prosecutor, investigator, former investigator, and detective, former detective, police officer, former police officer, attorney, or former attorney if they have received one of the disciplinary penalties specified in the draft within the last five years.

Taking into account the role of anti-corruption courts and the need to ensure maximum transparency in the establishment process, it has been defined by the drafts, that that three persons with 3 years of professional work experience are involved in the process of replenishing the list of candidates for the judges of the Anti-Corruption Court and the section of the list of candidates for judges of the Court of Appeals. The draft defines the rights and responsibilities of experts, including the provision that the members of the Supreme Judicial Council take into account the opinions of experts when voting on the list of candidates for judges.

With a tendency to include experienced professionals, i.e. current judges, former judges, legal scholars, in the composition of anti-corruption courts, a simplified procedure has been established for the latter to be included in the list of candidates. In particular, in case of submitting an application, these persons will have the opportunity to be included in the list of candidates for judges after passing the test on ethics and integrity and being interviewed in accordance with the law. The persons included in the list of candidates will study at the RA Academy of Justice.

The draft also stipulates that the peculiarities of the procedure for replenishing the list of candidates for judges of the Anti-Corruption Court and the list of candidates for promotion of the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeals, mandatory recruitment of including experts will take effect within three years after the law enters into force.

At the same time, as an additional guarantee of activity, the package of drafts for the judges of the Anti-Corruption Court and the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal proposes to provide for a higher salary than other judges.

In terms of strengthening integrity in the judiciary, the draft proposes to establish an integrity requirement not only for candidates for judges, but also for persons on the promotion list to become judges of the Court of Appeal or the Court of Cassation.

The draft package proposes to establish a requirement for undergoing an integrity test for candidates for prosecutors, which will help reduce corruption risks in the prosecutor’s office system and strengthen integrity.