On 12 May 2020 the second group of 17 Armenian judges dealing with criminal cases enrolled in studying the HELP online course on Reasoning of Criminal Judgments.

There currently is a strong need in Armenia to develop the competences of judges to make correct use of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) while drafting judgments and judicial acts.

This course was designed to address the needs of judges who, in the process of domestic adjudication, are required to refer to the case law of the Court. The course deals with the requirements for the reasoning of domestic judgements under several European Convention on Human Rights Articles: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10 – and relevant case law of the Court. It explores the obligations of domestic courts concerning the extent and content of the reasoning they provide when deciding domestic criminal cases, and provides an overview of the relevant case law developments. The participants will study the course for eight weeks; successful graduates will receive certificates of completion from the Academy of Justice of the Republic of Armenia and the Council of Europe.

The course was translated, adapted to the Armenian legal context and launched by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Academy of Justice of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the Project “Supporting the criminal justice reform and harmonising the application of the European standards”, which is part of the European Union and Council of Europe .