Armenian minister vows to secure independence of legal system

Arminfo
23 Feb 05

YEREVAN

We have the political will to create the necessary conditions for
securing the independence of the Armenian legal system, Justice
Minister David Arutyunyan told today’s ceremony to open a complex of
new offices for the Court of Appeal for criminal and military cases,
the Court of Appeal for civil cases and the Economic Court.

However, the independence of courts should not be turned into
irresponsibility, he said. Armenian judges should work hard enough on
this issue. In the past, Armenia did not manage to maintain the
genuine independence of the legal system, which could inspire
confidence in society. “This is temporary,” the minister said. At the
same time, he said that public opinion polls and the statistical data
of the country showed that progress was being made in the legal
system. The same progress has also been mentioned by international
structures.

Such an opinion was expressed by the consulting service for foreign
investment in 2004. Arutyunyan said that serious threats endanger the
system at this stage. This is proved by the experience of eastern
European and the CIS countries.

[Passage omitted: Arutyunyan cites Russia’s example]