President invited a meeting pertinent to the problems and reforms of the judicial and legal structure

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan invited a meeting pertinent to the problems and reforms of the judicial and legal structure.

At the meeting present were the Chairman of the RA Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunian, RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian, Head of the RA National Security Service Gorik Hakopian, Head of RA Police Vladimir Gasparian, Chairman of the RA Court of Cassation Arman Mkrtumian, RA Minister of Justice Hrair Tovmassian, RA Military Prosecutor General Gevork Kostanian, Chairman of the RA Court of Cassation’s Chamber on Criminal Cases David Avetissian, and President of the RA Chamber of Lawyers Ruben Sahakian.

The President of Armenia underscored that as he has mentioned before, the process of the reformation of the judicial and legal structure will constantly be in the focus of his attention and he would personally participate in each stage of the process. According to Serzh Sargsyan, all participants of the meeting and employees of their respective structures should understand that reforms concern not only the judicial or legal structures – it is an issue of bringing the activities of all state structures in line with the contemporary requirements.

In the framework of the agenda items, the participants of the meeting presented their views, observations and proposals regarding the draft program for the reformation of the RA judicial and legal structure. The draft will be amended in accordance with the presented proposals and by the Presidential decree the program of the judicial and legal reforms for 202-2016 will be adopted.

Among the main objective of the program, President Serzh Sargsyan underscored the issue of ensuring full independence of the judicial branch. It was also noted that steps envisaged by the program have mostly anti-corruption connotation and their implementation will create serious prerequisites for the fight against corruption.

According to the participants of the meeting, the draft contains also indicators which allow to measure the accomplished works and efficiency of the planned actions. Stressed was also the importance of the efficient and transparent processing of the criminal, civil and administrative cases as well as the augmentation of the judicial and legal structure with the high-quality cadre.

In the framework of the agenda items, the participants discussed also issues related to the open letter of the RA Chamber of Lawyers. They also spoke about the situation with the draft of the RA Criminal and Judicial Code, a draft law on the Academy of Justice, and issues related to the policy on the criminal cases in the military.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the President of Armenia gave instructions on a number of issues to the relevant officials.