“Lately professional analysis of the complaints of prosecutors and
attorneys about the judicial power gave way to one conclusion that we are at
the threshold of the formation of an independent court system”, said the Chairman
of the RA Court of Cassation Arman Mkrtumyan at the general meeting.

At the meeting, which took place on February 20, Mr. Mkrtumyan
summarized the year and awarded prizes in the nominations of “The Best Judge of
the Year” and “The Best Court of the Year”. This is reported in the statement
of the RA Judicial Department.

The Chairman of the Court of Cassation characterizes the year as
busy, nevertheless efficient. According to him there is a visible progress
especially in the criminal field. As a proof he mentioned that during the last
year the RA courts made verdicts of full or partial acquittal for 77 people, while
the number of acquittals in 2009 was 25.

The committee formed
by the chairmen of courts chose the best judges of 2011. Those are- Kristine
Mkoyan, judge of the RA Administrative Court, and from the judges investigating
criminal cases Napoleon
Ohanyan, judge of Syunik District Court of First
Instance and Mkhitar Papoyan, judge of Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron
and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts. And Armen Khachatryan, judge of
Shirak District Court of First Instance and Armen Danielyan, judge of Court of
First Instance of Arabkir and Kanaqer-Zeytun Communities of Yerevan, who
investigate civil cases were awardedin the nomination of “The best Judge of the
Year”.

Court
of First Instance of Shirak District and Court of General Jurisdiction of
Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts were recognized the best
courts of 2011.

The Judicial Department reminds that the award giving ceremony has
been held since 2009 aiming to foster professional experience of the judges.
Special standards have been established to choose the best judge, such as the
amount of investigated cases, the number of appealed, reversed and changed
cases, also the participation of the judges to the trainings, judges’
discipline and possible appeals against them.

Mery Alexanyan