Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed recent days’ developments in Armenia in a phone call on Wednesday.
“They agreed that the reform process, including the fight against corruption and the reform of the judiciary, should proceed in conformity with the Constitution, the relevant international standards and Armenia's obligations as a member state of the Council of Europe,” the Strasbourg-based human rights organization said in a statement.
“Secretary General Jagland confirmed the organization’s support to Armenia’s reform agenda,” it said. “A delegation of Council of Europe experts will travel to Yerevan in the next days to offer advice and assistance with the necessary reforms.”
Pashinian’s press office released an identical readout of the conversation.
The two men spoke by phone one day after two representatives of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) expressed concern at Pashinian’s weekend calls for his supporters to block the entrances to all court buildings in Armenia. They at the same time welcomed Pashinian’s declared efforts to reform the Armenian judiciary.
“Political stakeholders must refrain from actions and statements that could be perceived as exerting pressure on the judiciary,” read a joint statement released by Yuliya Lovochkina and Andrej Sircelj, the PACE co-rapporteurs monitoring Armenia’s compliance with its membership obligations.
Lovochkina and Sircelj noted that Pashinian urged the court blockade following a Yerevan court’s controversial decision to order former President Robert Kocharian released from prison pending the outcome of his trial on coup charges denied by him.
“Without prejudice to the merits of this decision, we wish to emphasise that the independence of the judiciary is a pre-requisite for the rule of law, and that the rule of law is therefore best served by the absence of any interference from political actors,” they said. “There are clear legal procedures, such as appeals to a higher court, to challenge a court decision that seems questionable.”
The PACE co-rapporteurs at the same time acknowledged “the still low level of public trust in the judiciary” in Armenia. “Judicial reforms remain a priority and we welcome Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's stated desire for far-reaching reform of the judicial system, particularly with regard to the fight against corruption, as well as his wish to associate the Council of Europe with it,” they added.
The court blockade, condemned by the Armenian opposition as illegal, began on Monday morning. It ended a several hours later, shortly after Pashinian held an emergency meeting with senior state officials to announce a “surgical intervention” in the judicial system.
He said Armenian courts remains closely linked to the country’s “corrupt” former leaders. The premier announced plans for a mandatory “vetting” of all judges and said many of them should quit even before the start of such a process.
Facebook Forum