The action plan stemming from the Judicial and Legal Reform Strategy 2019-2023 envisages the establishment of a Fact-Finding Commission, including the development and submission of a draft law on its formation and activities to the National Assembly in 2019-2020, having previously discussed it with civil society actors.
Iravaban.net talked about the topic with Mr. Harutyun Aleksanyan, the President of “Elegia” NGO, who expressed his opinion on the work done.
According to him, the objective reason for not submitting such a draft or a package of drafts to the Government during the mentioned period is the coronavirus and the war.
“Partially, the mentioned objective reason can be considered a justification, but in my opinion, in general, the planned reforms of the strategy should be implemented in advance, as the parliamentary system of government does not justify itself. Many things depend on how these reforms are carried out or who will be elected, for example, members of the commission. I think here we can refer to the fact, to put it mildly, that the opinion of the civil society is not listened to, and it will not be right, because the civil society, NGOs and other legal unions that are already established in this field should have the right of their decisive vote and be able to have a decisive influence on the reform package.
There are two important circumstances in the judicial system. The first is to ensure the independence of judges. If in the first years of the revolution the judiciary was not carrying out so-called orders, today, unfortunately, we see that the wicked things that happened in the past are still happening today. The judiciary does not show its independence and has largely become a vassal of the government. The second is the selection of judges. If this system is not independent and we could not ensure the independence of judges and the specification of the criteria for the election of judges, then we will suffer the most,” Harutyun Aleksanyan said.
According to the President of the NGO, a Fact-Finding Commission has not been formed yet, because the authorities simply do not want to carry out serious reforms in this issue.
“It seems that the current authorities liked the suit tailored by the previous system, which they wear today in all cases, in case of elections, judicial and other issues. As in all systems, personnel policy is very important in this area. Today, in almost all systems, the government shows that in personnel matters, to put it mildly, an unprofessional approach is applied, that is, the principle of nepotism (Editorial – in-laws, acquaintance, relatives), or personal devotion, which is exclusively unacceptable. A person should not be appointed to a position solely on the basis of devotion and ignore his/her professional and human qualities. I can definitely say that it is an exceptionally failed situation in personnel and judicial issues,” he said.
Harutyun Aleksanyan considers it possible that a Fact-Finding Commission will eventually be formed.
“Perhaps the Commission will be formedfor populist reasons. I do not know how effective it will be, but maybe it will be created just to show that there is such a commission. But I do not have any serious expectations from the activities of that commission, even if it is created.
Frankly speaking, I do not know what should happen to force the authorities form such a commission, as their position after the elections is stronger than it was before the elections. I do not have high hopes the existence or non- existence of the Commission. It depends on who will be in the composition of the Commission. I think the majority of the commission members will be loyal to the Government and will invite some NGOs and the opposition to show that there are also oppositionists. I think the majority will be loyal to the government to ensure a proper conclusion,” he said.
