“Listen, Armenians in Karabakh and Armenia are defending the territory that they want to keep under their control. On the one hand, when Pashinyan issued an order and dismissed the Minister of Defense of Karabakh from office, that was interference with the domestic affairs of Karabakh. On the other hand, Pashinyan states that Karabakh is a separate territory.
“Political stakeholders must refrain from actions and statements that could be perceived as exerting pressure on the judiciary,” said the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Armenia, Yuliya Lovochkina (Ukraine, SOC) and Andrej Šircelj (Slovenia, EPP/CD), following the statement by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan calling on citizens to block the entrances and exits of courts, on 19 May. This call followed a judge’s decision to release former President Kocharyan from pre-trial detention.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attaches importance to the constant communication of scientific and expert community with the government.
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs – Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America, will visit the region in late May, Armenian foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan told reporters during today’s press briefing.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will visit Armenia May 25-26.
Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan will participate in the Foreign Ministerial Council Meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that will take place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
But as for the problem in general, I would like to state that the qualitative reforms in the country’s judiciary have long been an agenda issue, which we have thoroughly touched upon in our annual report, and the one-year activity of the Supreme Judicial Council has been completely directed for that.
In an interview with 168.am, human rights activist Avetik Ishkhanyan touched upon Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement on closing entrances to courts and some thoughts that he expressed in his speech that followed the statement. According to the human rights activist, Pashinyan’s demand is about punishing disobedient judges, not judicial and legal reforms.
“ I was informed from the court that the case has been suspended on the grounds of sending it to the Constitutional Court”, she said.
The motion to change preventive measure of Robert Kocharyan was not aimed at calling into question Armenia’s judicial system, ARMENPRESS reports President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan told the reporters at the National Assembly of Armenia. To the remark that his and former President of Artsakh Arkady Ghukasyan’s act caused some domestic political tensions in Armenia, Sahakyan answered,
