COURT WILL CURE OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Interview by ARMAN GALOYAN

16:29:06 – 07/08/2009
LRAGIR.AM

Last week, the Court of Appeal did not change the charges of the
political prisoners of the `case of seven’. What is your assessment as
a lawyer?

-The case of seven maybe considered the typical example of how one may
destroy justice and judicial system. Without any ground, they tried to
accuse the defendants of the case of seven of organizing mass
disorders. Then they saw that their intentions were not to come true,
they separated the cases again without any ground. Afterwards, the
regime had to declare an amnesty, which in my opinion was not a legal
step but a political one. Now I think that it is very important to
appeal these cases to the Human Rights European Court. At least they
may give legal answers to all the facts and the judicial system will
be able to be cured on the ground of those legal facts. On the other
hand, I do not know how long it will take to restore the damages
caused to the judicial system. The political prisoners have adopted
very right stances to pass through state courts in order to have the
right to appeal the verdicts to the Human Rights European Court to
restore the justice.

-As a lawyer, how would you comment on the amnesty if not all the
political prisoners were set free in its result?

-The amnesty, as I have already said, was not a legal step but a
political one. And proceeding from political reasons under the
repression of the PACE, the regime made that step. They may have
formed a logic document, but they did not even do it. Though the
government states that the PACE is not political bureau, nevertheless,
they consider it such one. The government did not release those
political prisoners with whom it had personal problems.

-You stated that the government was repressed by the PACE and declared
an amnesty, but the opposition affirms that the government released
the political prisoners under the repression of the people.

-I completely agree with this opinion. If there were no struggle
against intolerance and injustice inside the country, the PACE would
not have any ground to adopt such resolutions. The PACE is not a
political bureau in reality and it makes decisions in accordance with
the situation. So the regime was repressed from both of the sides.

-The amnesty did not apply to all the political prisoners, but it will
apply to those police officials, who used Cheryomukha gas gun, which
killed at least 3 people on March 1.

-The amnesty applied not only to the police officials, who used the
gas gun, but also to those people, who made breaches and electoral
frauds on the day of the Yerevan Mayoral election. They revealed the
essence of the amnesty they declared.

-You stated that on the basis of the legal assessment of the European
court, the Armenian judicial system may be cured. The European Court
seems to have made decisions in connection with the persecutions after
the 2003 presidential election, but the judicial system does not seem
to have recovered.

-The judicial system did not recover, but the regime had to renounce
from one of its levers. During 2003-04, administrative detention was
used as a measure of repression on the opposition. But they were
forced to give up this practice. However, I think that by the time the
European Court makes decisions in connection with the case of seven,
this regime will have already stopped existing.