A NUMBER OF LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS ARE NECESSARY FOR EFFICIENT PROTECTION OF VICTIMS, LAWYERS SAY

Noyan Tapan
Feb 22, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. It is necessary to create
institutions of compulsory medical insurance and insurance of transport
means with the aim of efficient protection of crime victims, the
deputy chairman of the RA Chamber of Lawyers Nikolai Baghdasarian
stated at a press conference on February 22 – Day of Protection of
Crime Victims. In Armenia, the amount of compensation to the familiy
of a person who died in a car accident is less that the compensation
envisaged for a person who received injuries and undergoes treatment
at a medical institution.

According to the lawyer, Armenia must fulfil its obligation: to
compensate for the harm caused to a crime victim, regardless of
the fact whether the crime was disclosed or not. This is directly
stated in the instruction of the CE Ministerial Committee. In case
of disclosure of the given crime, this sum will be taken away from
the person who has committed the crime – for benefit of the state.

According to Nikolai Baghdasarian, an amendment should be made to the
Law on Advocacy so that the Office of Public Defender can provide
free legal assistance to victims, whereas today only suspects,
defendants and accused persons have this right. He said that in case
of increasing the Chamber’s financing (which currently makes 156 mln
drams) by 100 mln drams, the Chamber will be able to ensure provision
of free legal assistance to victims by means of 60-70 public defenders.

Member of the Council of the RA Chamber of Lawyers Hayk Aluvmian
attached importance to stipulation of the notion of moral damage in
the Armenian legislation. In his words, it will be not difficult to
assess the amount of moral damage: the courts should adopt legal acts
on some case or another, thanks to which a court precedence will be
established and the issue of assessing the amount of moral damage
will be solved easily.