LEADERSHIP DOES NOT NEED STRONG ADVOCACY

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| 14:07:20 | 21-05-2005 | Politics |

The adoption of the RA law “On advocacy” purposed an objective
to weaken the institute of advocacy and secure the concealment of
violation of law with the help of the institute of public defender. It
is supposed that a certain number of lawyers should deal with public
defense. In Armenia this clause can give the authorities a good
possibility to impose their wish on the public defenders

As for the law in general, in a country with 1.5 million population
the split of the institute of advocacy and the activities of several
lawyer unions, ex-chairman of the former International Union of
Lawyers Tigran Ter-Yesayan. The day of adoption of the should have
become historical for the institute of advocacy. The principal
task was the unification. The unions always elected the councils,
chairmen, commissions. However on the first day of the unification
the lawyers divided.

Since the law does not provide for precise determination of the
transitional clauses, the lawyers entered the transitional stage and
now are making no headway. The law has passed three readings in the NA,
however there was an agreement that some clauses has to be re-considers
and corrected, T. Ter-Yesayan says. To note, some lawyers appealed
to the appropriate bodies with their remarks and objections. They
even appealed to the President, who ratified the law taking into
account that it should be amended. At the same time, according to
Tigran Ter-Yesayan, there are really good clauses in the law

Does the law make a lawyer subordinate? “It would be an exaggeration
to say that a lawyer in under the law’s control. Other institutes are
as well engaged in advocacy. Violations have become an essential part
of our life while we are called to defend the people”, he notes.

To date, in the atmosphere of impunity a lawyer loses his
authority. Who need it and why? “The leadership do not need string
advocacy that is why they want the institute to lose its authority”,
Tigran Ter-Yesayan resumed.

Lena Badeyan