PM politicizes judicial system – former justice minister

On January 14 the government adopted a decision according to which a specialized institute of judges will be set up that will conduct judicial control over pre-trial proceedings (arrest, search) and specialization of judges examining corruption crimes.

Former minister of justice Davot Harutyunyan claims that the decisions are politically motivated and lack any serious grounding.

“Moreover, I believe that it can result in unbalanced judicial system. So my attitude toward it is not negative but strictly negative,” Harutyunyan told Aysor.am.

Referring to the position of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan about guarantees that the judges who appear in the new status be unbiased and not corrupt so that his/her decision be taken into account and no political ties be discussed, Harutyunyan stressed that in any case if a judge makes a decision it should be taken into account.

“The first person who politicizes is the premier who in time organized the blockade of courts and I believe, what the prime minister says and what the prime minister does, as a rule, contradict one another. He said a well-known truth that should have acted long ago. But the thing it that the prime minister means the following – if the judge I want makes a decision it will be taken into account, and as far as he/she is not the judge I want or the court ruling is unacceptable for me, thus, in that case we must stone the judicial system, blockade courts,” Harutyunyan said.