From 5 to 7 December, the Execution Department carried out a mission to Armenia and held discussions with authorities focusing on the need to co-ordinate and strengthen all competent authorities' capacity to respond efficiently to the ECHR judgments revealing notably systemic and structural problems. The importance of close co-operation between the authorities and the Council of Europe was reiterated. The authorities highlighted the important support provided by the Council of Europe in their reform efforts and expressed hope that cooperation will remain continuous. Meetings were held with the Office of the Government Agent, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation and the Ombdusperson’s institution.

The department also participated in the “Round table on the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers decision on the group of cases Saghatelyan v. Armenia and on one’s right to examine the witnesses of the opposite side in the new Code of Criminal Procedure” which was organised in the framework of the Council of Europe project “Support for the execution by Armenia of judgments in respect of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights”. It also took part in the “Workshop on selected issues of new Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia” organized in the framework of the project “Supporting the criminal justice reform and harmonising the application of European standards in Armenia”. These seminars tackled issues concerning the ongoing judicial reform and the positive developments related to the entry into force of the new Code of Criminal Procedure and the Criminal Code.

Among the major pending cases discussed during the mission were the following: Ashot Harutyuan group (inadequate medical care in detention); Mushegh Saghatelyan group (disproportionate and unnecessary dispersal of demonstration); Gabrileyan group (unreasonable restriction of the right to examine witnesses whose testimony played a decisive role in securing conviction); Poghosyan group (unlawful detention due to various shortcomings of the domestic law and the judicial practice); Yegnukian (excessive length of criminal proceedings); Avakemyan group (delayed enforcement of a judgment in favour of the applicant and absence of effective domestic remedy); and Nikolyan (unfair proceedings concerning the applicant’s legal incapacitation and violation of his private life).