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| 13:16:05 | 21-05-2005 | Politics |

GUARANTEE OF LEGALITY ON DEFENDER’S CONSCIENCE

The RA law “On Advocacy” can undergo changes in future. Today some
amendments to the Criminal Code connected with the law are being
worked out.

On the whole the law “On Advocacy does not need being reformed, head
of the reformation department of the Armenian Justice Ministry Nikolay
Arustamyan considers. According to him, there is another reason for
the discrepancies on the formation of the Chamber of Lawyers and the
election of its chairman. “It would be incorrect to motivate it by
the shortcomings of the law. I am tended to suppose that the chaos
was caused by some organizational issues. Perhaps on the new stage
of the system formation the emotions of the lawyers exceeded certain
boundaries”, he said.

What aim was pursued when adopting the law “On Advocacy”? The
law had to keep high the role and importance of a lawyer in the
society. However the situation is quite the contrary. A dispute
emerged on the position on the chairman of the Chamber of Lawyers. 420
Armenian lawyers divided into two camps; they can’t settle their
problems by themselves and appeal to courts. “All this can arouse
negative emotions. The lawyers themselves create their structure,
image and importance within the society”, N. Arustamyan says.

With the help of the law they try to settle the problem of lawyer-legal
structure-state relations basing on the idea that advocacy is a
body of public right, which is independent of the state and secures
guarantees of independence and self-sufficiency. “Certainly absolute
independence of lawyers is impossible under any circumstances. A
suppose that there is nothing to be afraid about of the lawyer is
subordinated to the Chamber of Lawyers”, he says.

He doesn’t share the opinion that the layers themselves can cause
violations. “The mechanisms fixed in the law regulate the process
of providing the free juridical assistance. I do not think it will
help to conceal violations, Everything depends of the lawyer and his
interpersonal skills.

Lena Badeyan