The Republic of Armenia had a more independent and impartial judiciary until the launch of the action plan stemming from the Strategy for 2019-2023. Ruzanna Azroyan, Judge of the Administrative Court of Appeal noted this in an interview an interview with Iravaban.net talking about the actions of the judicial and legal reform strategy and their implementation.
Judge does not think that Armenia currently has a judicial system free from corruption and patronage․ “I, personally, do not see that work is being done to strengthen the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, maybe they are not visible to the naked eye. As for the question of what work should be done in that direction, let me just mention that it is the subject of a whole scientific thesis.”
According to the judge, the strategic direction of judicial reform is developing exactly contrary to international standards. “No grounds and procedures have been introduced to bring judges to disciplinary liability in line with international standards, but the existing grounds, in addition the existing grounds and procedures are not even properly applied,” she said.
According to Azroyan, the actions of the strategy also envisage the introduction of balanced structures for assessing the integrity of Judges and members of the Supreme Judicial Council, but the judge does not see any steps taken in that direction.
Azroyan also does not see any progress in bringing the grounds for disciplinary liability in line with the goal of overcoming corruption. Speaking about the public perception of the role of the judiciary and increasing trust in it, she noted, “I suppose that at the present stage the judiciary enjoys less public trust than some time ago. This is due to a number of factors: the behavior of representatives of other branches of government, unfounded disciplinary proceedings, handwritten assignment of cases, etc. In my opinion, no effective steps have been taken to understand the role of the judiciary and increase trust in it, I personally, as a representative of the judiciary, have not noticed this.”
Azroyan, as a judge of the administrative court, does not feel any significant difference in the distribution of cases, change of workload. “On the contrary, the handwritten distribution of cases has caused serious problems and issues.”
