We, representatives of the undernoted civil society organizations, forewarn that draft amendments (hereinafter the Draft) in the Republic of Armenia Constitutional Law on Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia developed by the Republic of Armenia Ministry of Justice and recently posted on single platform for publication of legal drafts at www.e-draft.am raises serious concerns related to legal certainty and predictability of justice.
The Draft recommends to authorize the chairperson of court to make a motion to the SJC to exclude any judge from the case assignment file thus making the judge dependent on discretion or decision of the chairperson of the court (replacing the current provision enabling the judge to directly raise this issue.) Moreover, the Draft stipulates that the SJC can select judges from the specialized courts to examine specific types of cases in addition to those relevant to their specialization (Article 6, para. 6 of the Draft), while the list of such specific types of cases, the number of judges examining such cases in each court and the selection procedure shall be determined by the SJC (ibid, para 7; such regulation is in place for judges specialized in civil and criminal matters.)
In the context of above regulations we are perplexed on what grounds the judges of the specialized courts will examine specific types of cases and what is implied under the list of specific types of cases. Following the principle of legal certainty the Code shall define clear and unambiguous criteria for the assignment of cases in the future. Otherwise, there is a risk that this provision may lead to a loose interpretation and discretionary application in practice.
Thus, we call for revision of the Draft clarifying all additional criteria and principles for the assignment of cases to judges.
“Transparency International Anticorruption Center” NGO
“Protection of Rights without Borders” NGO
“Open Society Foundations – Armenia”
“Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor” Office
“Law Development and Protection” Foundation