2023-07-05 09:22:11
The President of the Union of Judges, Alexander Azaryan, made a statement.
“Dear judges, my earlier statements referred to the illegal actions of the President of the Central Committee of the Central Committee Karen Andreasyan until April of this year: the termination of the tenure of more than 20 judges, adoption of legislative changes related to personal interests, interference in the elections of members of the Central Committee of the Central Committee of Judges, etc.
From April 2023 to July 3, the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, in collaboration with his friend Grigor Minasyan, who is connected by inseparable financial ties, and with the involvement and assistance of other persons, continued the encroachments against the constitutional order and the judiciary, such actions were manifested in the following:
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K. Andreasyan continued to manage funds and property with the Minister of Justice G. Minasyan (as well as in the names of close relatives) under the ban of international universal (for example, USA, France, etc.) and especially domestic legislation (Article 71 of the RA Judicial Code Item 5 of Part 2) with particular audacity and publicly sharing the profit of economic activity (which they confirmed with their own signatures), which apparently exceeded at least twice the state salary of the latter, complementing the actions of one another, they set out to appoint judges in different ways in the past and in the given period. the adoption of legislative amendments limiting the constitutional guarantees of independence, immutability, freedom of speech, the initiation of selective and arbitrary disciplinary proceedings against a number of judges, the prosecution and termination of the powers of judges enjoying authority in the legal community.
In particular, in April, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against judges A.Kharatyan, T.Petrosyan, A.Barseghyan and S.Tadevosyan based on the alleged violations as a result of ECHR decisions, in the conditions when Karen Andreasyan’s “Wisdom of Europe” regarding the mentioned legislative changes was ” qualified opinion of the Venice Commission, requested by itself, but received a very negative response, about the inevitable danger of the state facing challenges in the form of ECtHR judgments (see: Opinion No. 1074/2021 CDL-AD(2022)002). Karen Andreasyan and others, not heeding the danger of challenging the state, selected the judges against whom the proceedings were initiated and their powers were suspended, arbitrarily, without observing any regularity, thereby confirming the discriminatory attitude towards the said judges.
The examination of the case regarding the proceedings in the Supreme Judicial Council was carried out with gross violations of the judges’ rights. It was at least unprecedented to hand over a summons to a judge who is in long-term inpatient treatment and who has submitted a medical document at the hospital and to be forced to appear at the hearing, which does not even occur in criminal proceedings. During the proceedings, among other violations of constitutional guarantees and principles, the authorized body, the minister and the chairman of the Central Committee, were shown with particular audacity, neither business nor work meetings, nor going on a joint vacation, which was revealed not by them during the court session (i opposition to Article 69, Part 1, Clause 12 of the Constitutional Law “Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia”), but by the press.
It should be noted that the fact of discriminatory treatment of judges was also recorded by the Corruption Prevention Commission only on July 4, the day after the termination of the powers of judges. In order to curb possible corruption risks, increase public trust, and also to make the process more transparent, the Ministry has suggested to the Ministry, in the process of initiating disciplinary proceedings against judges on the basis of ECtHR judgments, to define the priorities for initiating proceedings in terms of giving retroactive, unconstitutional force to laws that worsen the situation of individuals. In this regard, it should be noted that even if the recommendations of the commission are accepted after the termination of the judges’ powers, only the existence of discriminatory treatment and its possible neutralization will be confirmed in the future, while even this will not eliminate the upcoming challenges for the state in terms of the retroactive unconstitutional application of laws that worsen the situation of individuals.
On July 3, the powers of Judge Davit Harutyunyan, who regularly exercised the right to express himself on issues related to the judiciary, were also suspended.
Based on Minister Minasyan’s petition, without considering the judge’s opinion, the SC made a decision to conduct the investigation of the case concerning the limits of free speech behind closed doors, having previously published the nature of the alleged violation in an open court session. The judge was deprived of the opportunity to express a public position on the alleged violation and other issues.
Without referring to the unprecedented violations at the moment, it should be noted that the investigation of the proceedings was carried out by the non-legal composition of the SC, with the participation of 4 non-judge members and 2 judge members, with the arbitrary rules set by Karen Andreasyan and changed during the process.
Moreover, only the minutes of the sessions in particular proved that Karen Andreasyan deliberately issued an order banning the lawyers involved in the proceedings secretly from the majority of the council members, and expressed her regret and pain already in the session, regarding the absence of the judge and lawyers, “granting” her the court session. ability to continue in their absence to complete all stages in 17 minutes.
Karen Andreasyan, depriving the judge of the opportunity to express a position regarding the alleged violation during the entire proceedings, showed disrespect towards the latter with the permission of the BSC members, characterizing them as not independent, removing the questions and suggestions they asked. As a result, the SCB president and others likely relied on the judge’s repeated written and public stances regarding concerns about the judicial system solely based on the financial partner’s decision to initiate proceedings.
It should also be noted that the non-judge members of the BJC who were not appointed or selected based on transparent, value (qualification) criteria and the appointments were incompatible with the criteria set by the European Network of Judicial Councils (ENCJ), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) With the advisory order issued in 2018, which was also recorded in the statement of the European Union of Judges on June 2, practically prove the concerns of authoritative structures. in the processes, they show not high professional training and a low level of independence. What is more worrying is the behavior of individual judicial members in the process of maintaining independence and autonomy. The actions of the Supreme Judicial Council, the behavior of individual members do not guarantee the independence of judges and set an example, but are a threat to the independence of the judiciary, spreading an atmosphere of intimidation in the system.
Apart from taking revenge on the judges, on July 3, Karen Andreasyan showed a bold and open disrespect towards the professional activities of journalists, during the duty to publish the acts in an open court session by force of law, they tried to forcefully fill the court session hall with the staff of the BSC, assistants of the BSC members and employees of the department, and they blocked the road leading to the courtroom with a two-row barricade of bailiffs, under the false pretext of a crowded courtroom, all present media and one of the judge’s representatives were prohibited from entering the courtroom.
Summarizing, I consider it necessary to emphasize once again that K. Andreasyan is a temporary member of the Supreme Judicial Council, the negative consequences of the council’s activities have been felt for years, and the first bearers of these consequences are the judges and the public, so today, on Constitution Day, I call on the judges to act exclusively in accordance with the main law of the country and not to become petty cash in the hands of suspicious and criminal adventurers, unprofessional people,” the statement said.
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