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2007 Assessment

Armenia: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Armenia: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Rule of Law
Indicators		Score
74	Is there an appeals mechanism for challenging criminal judgments?	67
75	In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?	25
76	In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?	50
77	Is the judiciary able to act independently?	88
78	Are judges safe when adjudicating corruption cases?	100
79	Do citizens have equal access to the justice system?	71

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

Is there an appeals mechanism for challenging criminal judgments?

74a: In law, there is a general right of appeal.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia The Criminal Code of Armenia www.arlis.am www.parliament.am

74b: In practice, appeals are resolved within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments: Appeals are generallly acted upon quickly, with some exceptions.

References: Interview with Zaruhi Postanjyan, lawyer advocate, member of recently elected Armenian Parliament, member of Jarangutyu political party (August 16, 2007, at the office of Transparency International) Media reporting with Stephan Danielyan, chairman of Collaboration for Democracy Union, (August 8, 2007, at his office) Media reports

74c: In practice, citizens can use the appeals mechanism at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments: Everyone must pay to appeal the court. However, there are cases when lawyers demand high fees for their services, which is not affordable for middle-class citizens.

References: Interview with Avetik Ishkanyan, chairman of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia on Human Rights (August 9, 2007, at office) Information from ciitizens having experience in appeal procedures

In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?

75: In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?

Score:

100

Comments: There are lots of cases when bribery, corruption and patronage affected the criminal judicial process. For example, there is the criminal case relating to the son of Vardan Gukasyan, the mayor of Gyumri , who was sentenced but not yet imprisoned. (See Media reporting Aravot, Haykakan Zhamanak in June-July 2007)

References: Interview with Stephan Danielyan, chairman of Collaboration for Democracy Union (August 8, 2007, at his office) and with Zaruhi Postanjyan, lawyer advocate, member of recently elected Armenian Parliament, member of Jarangutyu political party (August 16, 2007, at the office of Transparency International)

In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?

76: In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?

Score:

100

Comments: In practice, there are lot of cases when state officials and political parties forcefully enacted judicial decisions and even evaded or delayed their enforcement.

References: The Law of the Republic of Armenia on Compulsory Enforcement of Court Decrees The Law of the Republic of Armenia on the Service Providing the Enforcement of Court Decrees Interview with Zaruhi Postanjyan, lawyer advocate, member of recently elected Armenian Parliament, member of Jarangutyu political party (August 16, 2007, at the office of Transparency International)

Is the judiciary able to act independently?

77a: In law, the independence of the judiciary is guaranteed.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: The Law on Status of Judges of the Republic of Armenia www.arlis.am

Peer Review Comments: Since the president to a large degree controls the appointment and removal of judges, I disagree with the reporter.

77b: In practice, national-level judges are protected from political interference.

Score:

100

Comments: National judges are formally independent, however their decisions depend upon political incentives or ambitions of the president. For example, when the judge of First Instance Court of Center and Nork Marash Pargev Ohanyan decided a verdict of not guilty for the director and vice-director of Royal Armenia Ltd., the Council of Justice decided to discuss the disciplinary question of Pargev Ohanyan. (See Corrord Ishkanutyun daily newspaper, August 3, 2007 p.1.)

References: Interviews with Zaruhi Postanjyan, lawyer advocate, member of recently elected Armenian Parliament, member of Jarangutyu political party (August 16, 2007, at the office of Transparency International) and with Stephan Danielyan, chairman of Collaboration for Democracy Union (August 8, 2007, at his office) Media reporting

Peer Review Comments: Since the president to a large degree controls the appointment and removal of judges, I disagree with the reporter.

77c: In law, there is a transparent and objective system for distributing cases to national-level judges.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: The Law on Status of Judges of the Republic of Armenia www.arlis.am

77d: In law, national-level judges are protected from removal without relevant justification.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: The Law on Status of Judges.of the Republic of Armenia www.arlis.am www.parliament.am

Peer Review Comments: The problem is that "relevant justification" is defined very broadly.

Are judges safe when adjudicating corruption cases?

78a: In practice, in the last year, no judges have been physically harmed because of adjudicating corruption cases.

Score:

YES

Comments: In the last year, no case was recorded on this matter, nor any publications on media.

Peer Review Comments: Judging from his comments, the reporter probably did not understand the question.

78b: In practice, in the last year, no judges have been killed because of adjudicating corruption cases.

Score:

YES

$Scoring Criteria :: YES: A YES score is earned if there were no documented cases of judges being killed related to their involvement in a corruption case during the study period. YES is a positive score. NO: A NO score is earned if there were any documented cases where a judge was killed because of his/her participation in a corruption trial. The relationship between a mysterious death and a judge\'s involvement in a case may not be clear, however the burden of proof here is low. If it is a reasonable assumption that a judge was killed in relation to his or her work on corruption issues, then the indicator is scored as a NO. Corruption is defined broadly to include any abuses of power, not just the passing of bribes.$

Comments: In the last year there were not any documented cases where judges were killed because of their participation in a corruption trial. This is because very few cases of corruption were brought to court. Mainly these cases are not related to "upper corruption," e.g., corruption related to the senior governmental officials.

References: Media research

Peer Review Comments: Judging from his comments, the reporter probably did not understand the question.

Do citizens have equal access to the justice system?

79a: In practice, judicial decisions are not affected by racial or ethnic bias.

Score:

100

Comments: There is no racial discrimination in Armenia related to judicial decisions.

References: The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia www.arlis.am Interview with Karen Zadoyan, president of the Armenian Young Lawers Association (July 23, 2007, at office)

79b: In practice, women have full access to the judicial system.

Score:

100

Comments: In Armenia there is no gender discrimination to access judicial system.

References: The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia www.arlis.am Interview with Karen Zadoyan, president of the Armenian Young Lawers Association (July 23, 2007, at office)

79c: In law, the state provides legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford it.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: The Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia Law on Bar Association www.arlis.am

79d: In practice, the state provides adequate legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford it.

Score:

100

Comments: The Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia and the Law on Bar Association have guaranteed legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases, however, sometimes they prove unable or unwilling to competently represent all defendants.

References: Interviews with Zaruhi Postanjyan, lawyer advocate, member of recently elected Armenian Parliament, member of Jarangutyu political party (August 16, 2007, at the office of Transparency International) and Stephan Danielyan, chairman of Collaboration for Democracy Union (August 8, 2007, at his office) www.arlis. am

79e: In practice, citizens earning the median yearly income can afford to bring a legal suit.

Score:

100

Comments:

79f: In practice, a typical small retail business can afford to bring a legal suit.

Score:

100

Comments: Mainly small businesses did not want to have any relations with the courts. However, there are some cases when small businesses appeal to the court concerning to the unfavorable activities of tax organizations.

References: Interview with the executive director of Foundation for Small and Medium Businesses Narine Mailyan (August 7, 2007)

79g: In practice, all citizens have access to a court of law, regardless of geographic location.

Score:

100

Comments: Only the citizens of regional centers and cities have the opportunity to access a court of law because there are not courts in the far villages of Armenia.

References: Interview with Karen Zadoyan, president of the Armenian Young Lawers Association (July 23, 2007, at office)