ARMED BAILIFFS IN COURTS
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[06:52 pm] 03 February, 2009
People may see armed bailiffs welcoming them in court if the National
Assembly confirms the government’s bill on making changes and additions
in the "RA Judicial Code".
"How is it possible to create a power body in the judicial
system?"-this is what members of the "Heritage" faction tried to find
out for two hours during a NA session today. The government’s reasons
for the bill led way to disputes.
"The events that have taken place in Armenia go to show that the
attempts of prisoners to break loose and assaults of the court are
manifested with the use of weapons."
"Heritage" members asked Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan, who
was presenting the bill, whether there were cases that were taken
into account for such an explanation, but they weren’t able to get
an answer.
"The majority has the right to carry arms and there is no guarantee
that those people will be unbiased," said member of "Heritage"
Vardan Khachatryan.
Unlike the minister, he brought up examples of how biased people
have used arms, taking into account the arrests of Gagik and Vardan
Jhangiryan or when the biased police officer applied force.
"Heritage" is the only one against giving arms to bailiffs accepting
the recent conflicts during trials as a basis. Zaruhi Postanjyan
recalled that recently there have been cases when bailiffs have
received orders to attack journalists or relatives of the guilty,
for example, journalists Gagik Shamshyan and Gohar Veziryan.
"What does this change imply? If the bailiffs had weapons, there
would be no guarantee that they would not fire."
According to Larisa Alaverdyan, if the government continues with this
logic, the judicial system and all bodies must be armed.
Besides "Heritage", Galust Sahakyan also spoke about this bill.
"You can say the same for deputies-check their psychological situation,
they might take the gun and fire."
"Heritage" members agreed with him. The NA committee for state legal
issues gave its consent to the bill and regardless of the opinions of
"Heritage", it could be said that this change will be approved and
bailiffs will be armed. The National Assembly is moving on and is
discussing the package presented by the government to make changes
in the "RA Criminal Court Code".