Court hearings postponed due to improper or late escort of detained and/or arrested persons, or those under house arrest.
There are even cases when a person under house arrest appears at the court hearing using their own means, despite the strict limitations set by the legislature.
This is a current but shadowed issue that has been little studied, which leads to unnecessary postponements of court hearings, issues with completing case examinations within reasonable timeframes, and human rights protection problems.
There are also cases when court hearings start later than scheduled, and parties have to wait until the defendant is presented to court.
Let us remind that according to Government Decision N 351-N of 2009, procedures are established for police escort of detained and/or arrested persons to detention facilities, penitentiary institutions, courts, medical facilities, as well as escort to court and investigation sites upon request from the court staff leader, and for their supervision.
Is this procedure being followed, and why does the problem remain unresolved?
Iravaban.net has sent inquiries to the presidents of all regional courts and Yerevan courts of first instance, as well as the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal, Criminal Court of Appeal, and Anti-Corruption Court, trying to obtain information from the judicial panels about how many hearings were postponed in 2024 due to late transfer of detained and arrested persons to court and what were the reasons.
We also requested information about how many hearings were postponed due to improper transfer of persons under house arrest to court, which is also carried out by police officers despite the lack of appropriate regulations.
At the same time, we tried to learn the court’s suggestions or position on solving the above issue, which may stem from the effectiveness of holding hearings.
In the inquiry, we also requested that if impossible, the answer to the expected question be provided with information collected from court staff.
Iravaban.net presents the courts that responded briefly to the inquiry, stating that no separate statistics are maintained regarding the information expected in the inquiry.
- Yerevan Court of First Instance Criminal Court
In response to the letter addressed to the court president, they stated that no separate accounting or statistics are maintained in the court regarding this information and time period.
- Anti-Corruption Court
In response to our inquiry, they stated that such statistics are not maintained, and also noted that there is now a noticeable trend toward solving the issue raised in the inquiry, but it still remains relevant.
- Ararat and Vayots Dzor First Instance Court
The court staff responded that they are not authorized to provide such information as no such accounting and statistics are maintained.
- Syunik First Instance Court
“I inform you that the information requested in the letter is not available at the Syunik First Instance Court.”
- Kotayk First Instance Court
They reported that information about the time and place of hearings, as well as the holding or postponement of court hearings and their reasons, is entered into the “Datalex” judicial information system.
Official statistics are not maintained.
Here another question arises as to whether the responses that have not been received from courts are properly entered in the “Datalex” judicial information system. It should be noted that this is not always the case, and especially for anti-corruption criminal and civil cases, “delayed,” incomplete and brief data are posted.
“In practice, there are frequent cases when court hearings for detention cases are postponed due to failure to transfer detained persons to court or late transfer, which is due to the fact that the corresponding escort units are not yet fully staffed,” reported the Kotayk First Instance Court in response to the inquiry.
- Armavir First Instance Court
In contrast to these responses, other courts have somewhat presented the available information regarding the answer expected in the inquiry for 2024. There were responses where data were presented separately by judicial staff.
Here it should be emphasized that in one case, courts have made additional efforts to provide comprehensive, meaningful responses to the inquiry, while in the other case, no unified approach, control, or study is conducted within this issue framework in RA courts.
- Criminal Court of Appeal
During 2024 and 2025 (up to and including February 4), 418 court hearings were postponed in the RA Criminal Court of Appeal due to the police escort battalion’s failure to present detainees.
- Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal
In response to our inquiry, they reported that during May-June 2024, court hearings for the same case were postponed 2 times due to the workload of the Ministry of Internal Affairs police escort battalion staff and the absence or scarcity of appropriate transport vehicles resulting in failure to present the detained defendant to the court hearing, while in other cases, none of the court hearings were postponed.
- Shirak First Instance Court
According to information received from judicial staff, during 2024, court hearings were not postponed due to late presentation of detained or arrested persons to court; they were held at later hours.
During the same period, 47 court hearings were postponed due to failure to present detained persons to court, with the main reasons for failure to escort cited as:
- escort platoon workload,
- vehicle malfunction or absence,
- unfavorable road conditions during winter months.
8 court hearings were postponed due to failure to present persons under house arrest to court, due to the workload of relevant police officers.
At the same time, they reported that in one case in the proceedings of a judge with civil specialization, where the plaintiff is a detainee, 3 court hearings were scheduled, of which only 1 failed to ensure the plaintiff’s presence due to their health condition and unfavorable weather conditions that day, which caused the hearing to be postponed.
- Lori First Instance Court
We were provided with data received from the staff of court president Mushegh Harutyunyan, judges Taron Tadevosyan, Armen Shiroyan and Vardan Sugyan, and positions presented by judges Armen Poghosyan and Lusine Sepkhanyan.
Judge Mushegh Harutyunyan
In cases examined during 2024 in his proceedings, 13 cases were postponed due to failure to present defendants in custody to court, of which 10 were due to escort platoon workload, 3 because the defendant refused to appear at the court hearing. During the same period, 3 court hearings were postponed due to failure to present defendants under house arrest to court.
Judge Taron Tadevosyan
In various criminal cases in his proceedings, 23 court hearings were postponed due to the escort platoon’s failure to ensure transfer and escort of defendants, which was due to the service workload of the escort platoon, while in these criminal cases where house arrest was applied as a preventive measure for defendants, there were no postponements of court hearings due to escorts.
Judge Armen Shiroyan
8 court hearings were postponed, which was due to the workload of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Police Lori Regional Department escort platoon and malfunction of the special transport vehicle assigned to the escort platoon. During 2024, persons under house arrest were properly transferred to court.
Judge Vardan Sugyan
11 hearings were not held in 2 cases in the judge’s proceedings.
In criminal case No. LD/0311/01/23:
- February 23
- March 1
- March 13
- June 6
- August 1
- August 13
- September 20
In criminal case No. LD/0173/01/24: April 30 May 20 June 20 August 27
In 2024, there were no postponements of court hearings due to failure to present persons under house arrest to court.
Judge Armen Poghosyan’s staff reported that in 2024, about 700 court hearings were held in cases in his proceedings, final judicial acts were issued in some of them, some of which are in higher instances, handed over to the court archive. Due to the current workload of the court, the requested information was not provided from Poghosyan’s staff.
Judge Lusine Sepkhanyan’s staff reported that the information is available in the “Datalex” judicial information system.
- Aragatsotn First Instance Court
According to information provided by the staff of criminal specialization judges of the court, during 2024, no hearings were postponed related to timely escort and temporary custody of detained or arrested persons, as well as persons under house arrest.
- Tavush First Instance Court
They reported that although no such statistics or accounting is maintained, the letter was sent to judicial staff, and during 2024, no hearings were postponed due to reasons of improper transfer of persons in this group to court.
- Gegharkunik First Instance Court
During 2024, 35 court hearings were postponed due to late transfer or failure to present detained or arrested persons to the Gegharkunik First Instance Court, which was due to the workload of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Police escort platoon.
4 court hearings were postponed due to failure to transfer persons under house arrest to court, which was also due to the workload of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Police escort platoon.
“The issue essentially comes down to the escort platoon’s workload; we believe the issue can only be resolved under conditions of increasing the number of escort staff and service vehicles.”
Iravaban.net also sent an inquiry to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to find out what issues exist today regarding presenting detained, arrested persons and those under house arrest to court, whether the number of escorts is sufficient, how many escorts they were able to organize in 2024 and what was the reason.
In response to our inquiry, the Police reported that currently the issue of transferring escorts of detained persons to the Ministry of Justice Penitentiary Service is being discussed, and institutionally, the logic has been adopted that the escort process should be organized according to the beneficiary, that is, if the person being escorted is detained, then the escort should be carried out by the police, and if the person is arrested, then by the Ministry of Justice.
The Ministry noted that the number of purely escort positions in the escort units of the Community Police Main Department is 232, of which 113 are vacant, resulting in practical overload and inability to ensure complete fulfillment of received applications.
Currently, the procedure for organizing escorts of persons under house arrest is not regulated by RA legislation and is practically carried out through the forces of territorial police departments.
In response to the inquiry, they also noted that the escort units under the Community Police Main Department received 21,119 applications for persons subject to escort from criminal proceedings bodies during 2024, and 4,527 applications regarding persons subject to escort under house arrest.
Of the received applications, 5,581 could not be fulfilled due to insufficient staffing.
Marat Atovmyan, Vice President of the Armenian Lawyers Association and lawyer, told us in conversation that such cases occur periodically in his practice as well, which is a serious problem in the judicial system today and does not serve the interests of justice.
There are many examples: he told about a case in the Criminal Court of Appeal where they filed an appeal 6-7 months ago, and no hearing has been held yet, citing as the main reason that the escort battalion does not transfer the defendant from Armavir Penitentiary to court:
“This is the state’s positive obligation; there is a corresponding unit responsible for implementing this, but the same problem exists in the Yerevan Court of First Instance. Several times at the ‘Shengavit’ seat we have encountered such a case when they couldn’t transfer the defendant from Armavir Penitentiary, and the hearing was postponed for that reason.”
He presents another case, noting that at a criminal court hearing at the “Ajapnyak 1” seat, the escort didn’t come, and 2 defendants under house arrest, who are residents of one of the villages in Kotayk region, came by taxi using their own means and appeared at the hearing.
“They called the police, who said ‘we can’t come after you, but come by transport, pick us up, let’s go to the court hearing, then you’ll bring us back, drop us off, and go home.’ So that the court hearing wouldn’t fail, they came by taxi since it was a matter of preventive measure,” says the lawyer.
This approach speaks to gaps in the system, which should receive appropriate evaluation and serious analysis by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other responsible bodies.
According to the lawyer, especially in the regions, they report that they don’t have appropriate staff, there are no transport means, they haven’t received a letter from court, but it turns out the letter was sent, and here arises the issue of improper police-court communication.
“Those responsible for the field simply need to analyze and understand what the main reasons are – whether it’s lack of human resources, or transport, technical means, insufficient level of communication with courts, and find appropriate organizational solutions, if they need to come up with legislative initiatives, if it’s insufficient funding, maybe appeal to the Government to receive additional funding,” he said.
Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan also stated during the year-end summary on January 16, 2025, that there are issues regarding escorting persons under house arrest. She noted that there was an issue of escorting about 25 thousand persons deprived of liberty: “We have only 232 positions in escort units, of which 113 are vacant. That is, objectively about 100 employees work for escorting 25,000 persons, but this is only the escort unit part,” she said.
According to the minister, new staffing changes are being implemented, but this is a temporary solution to the issue: “The institutional approach is as follows: escort should be according to the beneficiary. That is, if it’s a detained person, the police should carry out the escort, if it’s an arrested person, the penitentiary service should carry it out, if it’s a person under house arrest, that’s already in the domain of the Ministry of Justice.
Now we have a situation where the escort of persons under house arrest is not directly regulated by law, that is, there is no relevant body that should carry out escort. We are left to assist in organizing the process with police force,” she said.
The presented study, numbers, and situation in RA courts show that now more consistency is needed in solving the problem, properly organizing the transfer of persons in this group, strengthening police-court connection, and if necessary, presenting new initiatives to the legislator. So many vacant positions in escort units are concerning, and the minister’s assertion that the transfer of detained, arrested persons and those under house arrest should be carried out by separate bodies can perhaps have essential significance for solving the issue if appropriate steps are developed and proceed.
In addition, maintaining statistics on reasons for court hearing failures plays an important role in increasing judicial system efficiency and ensuring access to justice. However, such statistics are not maintained today, which is another problem of the system.
Mariam Shahnazaryan
