‘Often People Have to be Protected from the Courts’: Armenia’s Human Rights Defender

The courts are called on to protect people’s rights from state agencies, private companies and others, but often people have to be protected from the courts, said Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Karen Andreasyan in a reflection on the right to a fair trial, recently published as part of a series of reflections of the ombudsman’s first 50 days in office.

According to the Ombudsman’s office, the right to a fair trial comprised around 40% of all complaints filed with the office in 2010.

“By law, it is my within my power to protect people from all state agencies, excluding the courts. Because of the injustice of individual judges, obvious shortcomings of high-ranking judicial authorities, and imperfect conditions in the judicial system, people lose the sense of justice and as a result, they become extremely disappointed with all state institutions,” reads the ombudsman’s report.

According to Andreasyan, today, by law, judges are supervised either by superior courts or the Council of Justice, which is comprised mostly of judges. A judge today isn’t unbiased as an individual, since he can be subject to pressure by high-ranking judicial authorities.

“My powers within the judicial system are extremely limited. I cannot intervene in any issue which is subject to examination by the court. I can’t even provide an assessment in any case while it is still in court proceedings. Only one power has been granted to me since Jan. 2011 for protecting the right to a fair trial; that is, when the case is finally completed in court and it’s no longer possible to affect a person’s right to protection, the Human Rights Defender can report the unlawfulness permitted by the judge to the Council of Justice, as a result of which the judge can be held accountable, up to removing him from his position,” noted the ombudsman.