On 20 February, the Supreme Judicial Council started the investigation of the petition on the issue of subjecting Artur Stepanyan, Judge of the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction Yerevan to disciplinary responsibility.

According to the justifications of the petition presented by the Ministry of Justice, the violations norms of procedural law  under the requirements of Article 210, Part 2, Article 179, Parts 1 and 2 of the Civil Procedure Code (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Procedure Code) were allowed by the judge, that is, the examination and resolution of the labor dispute case was carried out more than 1 year and 8 months later, published the final judicial act in the case more than 1 year after the deadline established by law, provided the copy of the final judicial act to the plaintiff and the defendant more than 1 year after the deadline established by law, under such conditions the violations also led to violation of the requirements defined by Article 69, Part 1, Clause 1 and Article 70, Part 2, Clause 6 of the Constitutional Law the “Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia” hereinafter – the Code)”namely: violation of the rules of conduct of a judge.

Chiarman of the SJC Karen Andreasyan asked the judge if he agrees with the fact that there is a violation, to which the judge replied: “The Civil Procedure Code clearly states that the labor dispute must be examined within 3 months. It is a fact that it was examined in 11 months. The same Code stipulates that the judicial act must be published on the official website of the judicial authority on the same day, and if it is not published on the same day, then it will be provided to the participants of the trial the next day. It is a fact that it was posted on the website 1 year and a few days later, it is a fact that the trial participants received it 1 year and a few days later.”

Andreasyan noted that Stepanyan’s presence at the session should be “satisfaction for those citizens who suffered because of the delay”. “I want to emphasize that the judge regrets his delay. As we acknowledge, there are systemic issues that need to be resolved. This also gives moral satisfaction to our citizens that the judicial system is not blind or deaf to their dissatisfaction and complaint.”

The judge noted that the citizens complained correctly.

The SJC left to the deliberation room to make a decision.

Details in the video.