Vetting not aimed at targeting any judge: justice minister

Vetting in Armenia will be applied without any discrimination, no judge will be targeted, Armenia’s justice minister Artak Zeynalyan told the reporters today, referring to the statement of the Armenian PM.

“Vetting will be carried out for all the judges with exclusion of any discrimination. It will not target any judge,” Zeynalyan said.

The minister said that Armenia will not be the only one to apply vetting, such institute operates in Albania with the urge of European structures.

Zeynalyan said more probably the Albanian experience will be applied in Armenia.

As to the comment about the concern that each new authority may come and apply vetting toward all the judges of previous authorities, Zeynalyan said, “This is not a step against the judges of the former authorities. We will do everything possible to eliminate such concerns.”

He also stressed that the transitional justice and the new vetting institute have no relation with each other being completely different things.

“The transitional justice must focus on reconciliation. It is not a tool for persecution or vendetta,” Zeynalyan said.