Epress.am News from Armenia
The Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Armenia expresses its concern regarding the incident that occurred when the verdict in the "Harsnaqar case" was announced, according to a statement [AM] issued by Chamber of Advocates President Ara Zohrabyan.
"Relatives of the accused hurled curses and insults to the representative of the injured party, attorney Tigran Yegoryan.
"In this and other cases (including in the case of Vardan Petrosyan), unfortunately, lawyers (those of both the injured party and the defense) are identified with their clients.
"According to Article 21 Section 5 of the Republic of Armenia Law on Advocacy, a lawyer should not be likened to his client, based on the lawyer performing his professional duties.
"Making the lawyer a target of hate is fraught with dangerous consequences and if society will not respect the lawyer's professional immunity, it will directly interfere with the establishment of justice," Zohrabyan wrote in the statement.
The RA Chamber of Advocates strongly condemns such behavior and urges all lawyers to rebuke, in all ways possible, clients showing aggression to the lawyer of the opposing side.
"Tomorrow, you might be in their place. At the same time, we call upon judges in such cases to apply measures prescribed by law, since this negative phenomena, when in court the rights of lawyers are not protected and conditions are not created for lawyers to perform their professional duties, aspires to acquire a permanent nature," concluded Zohrabyan.