Lawyer: Threat to judicial independence in Armenia stopped at this point

Doctor of Law, Professor Artur Ghambaryan praised the move of Armenia’s president to apply to the Constitutional Court to challenge the constitutionality of a government-drafted bill proposing amendments to the Judicial Code, stating the threat to the judicial independence has been stopped at this point.

“Congratulations to my fellow judges who are concerned about the independence of the judiciary! The threat has been stopped at this stage,” he wrote on Facebook on Monday.

Ghambaryan underlined the legislative changes are aimed at “controlling” non-conformist judges, as a result of which the objective constitutional right to judicial independence will be virtually abolished and the basic human right to a fair trial will be undermined.

“Thank you to the Armenian legal scholars (G. Danielyan, G. Kazinyan and others) for voicing their concerns and influencing decision-making! We are looking forward to the decision of the Constitutional Court,” the lawyer added.