On  May 18, 2011 the Office of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Armenia organized "Right to a Fair Trial" forum with more than 125 participants representing various state institutions, media, international and non-governmental organizations as well as a big number of attorneys and students. The forum was organized by the financial support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

The aim of the forum was to present the new power of the Human Rights Defender to report about initiating disciplinary proceedings against a judge with the purpose of protection of the right to a fair trial guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and numerous international human rights protection documents.

The head of the Office of the Armenian Branch of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Naira Gevorgyan opened the forum by introducing the Foundation and its activities and mentioned the aim of the event. Her opening remarks were followed by speeches delivered by Karen Andreasyan, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, Ruben Sahakyan, the President of the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Armenia and Karen Mezhlumyan, member of the Council of the Chamber of Advocates.

The Human Rights Defender mentioned in his speech that 40% of the total number of complaints addressed to the Defender relate to courts and contain requests to protect applicants from courts. However, the Defender is obliged to refuse this type of complaints according to the provisions of the law on the Human Rights Defender. Thus, it can be concluded that serious issues exist in the present judicial system of Armenia.

The Defender continued his statement by mentioning that he does not intend to target or criticize the judicial system, since it deserves the highest respect from the very moment of its creation. However, he outlined the main issues existing in the judiciary and pointed out that unfair and unlawful judges represent a great threat to the whole society. At the same time he expressed an opinion that no one should be proud of devaluating the role of the judge in the eyes of the society. On the contrary, the judge who judges fairly and accomplishes justice even in the present-day situation of the judicial system deserves the highest appraisal.

Mr. Andreasyan then addressed a message of cooperation to the advocates via presenting his new power to report about initiating disciplinary proceedings against a judge entered into force on January 1, 2011. He mentioned 3 advantages that the Human Rights Defender has in this regard:

1. the body having authority to initiate disciplinary proceedings against a judge has a duty to inform the Defender about its decision within 3 days after its delivery,

2. the Defender does not represent the interests of any party to the proceedings,

3. the Defender can publicize the cases of interference with the right to a fair trial by the media.

The Human Rights Defender outlined the vital role of advocates in leading the society to justice by transmitting cases of manifest violations of substantial or procedural rights by the courts to the Office of the Human Rights Defender, who will be able to make use of his new power to report about initiating disciplinary proceedings against a judge. By this, advocates would be able to practice in a better judicial system in the future.

The President of the Chamber of Advocates presented the issues of the justice system within the framework of criminal proceedings against a person. He mentioned that still very often the rights of individuals are being systematically violated in the course of criminal investigations and subsequently during trial procedures.

Mr. Sahakyan proposed to create a council composed of advocates and non-governmental organizations, which would operate in collaboration with the Office of the Human Rights Defender as a mechanism of addressing manifest violations of fair trial rights by unfair judges on one hand and providing support to fair judges on the other hand. The council would also become a tool for social pressure on judges in case they are not accomplishing justice in a properly for whatever reasons.

Karen Mezhlumyan presented the issues of the justice system in the field of civil and administrative law based upon his legal practice as an advocate. He mentioned in particular the problem of not respecting the requirement to conduct judicial proceedings and reach a decision in reasonable time and provided a number of examples from his practice to support his statements.

The above-mentioned presentations were followed by questions and a discussion. A significant number of advocates and several non-governmental organizations welcomed the initiative to create a council and agreed to participate in it.

RA Human Rights Defender's staff