Politicized justice threatens rule of law in Armenia, expert warns

Legal expert Gohar Meloyan, co-founder of the International Center on Development of Parliamentarism, has condemned Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan’s detention and communication restrictions imposed on him.

In a social media post on Saturday, Meloyan accused the current authorities of eroding Armenia’s hard-won judicial independence and damaging the credibility of its legal system.

“When government officials effectively pre-announce detentions before they occur, when the prime minister publicly instructs law enforcement agencies and when hundreds of people feel no doubt about how a court will rule, it becomes clear that we have entered a space of 'phone call justice', a practice incompatible with the rule of law,” the expert asserted.