12:10,

YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. During the Cabinet meeting today Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan commented on the criticism made over judicial reforms.

Pashinyan said that he as well is not satisfied and has raised this issue, but stated that major work has been done in a number of directions and it has been recorded by Armenia’s international partners.

“When we talk about the carried out reforms, we are criticized over the reforms in the judiciary. They say that works have not had enough success and intensity. I have also recorded this, yes, I am not satisfied, but let me make a record. Recently I was reading the report of the EU’s Eastern Partnership program, and I recorded that Armenia is in leading positions in a number of directions among the Eastern Partnership countries. This list also includes the subtitle independent judiciary. What I want to say is that, of course, on the one hand, it’s good that we demand more from ourselves, but on the other hand let’s notice that the international partners have recorded a very major progress. Among Eastern Partnership countries, we are leading in a number of directions, including credibility of elections, fight against corruption and freedom of speech”, the PM said.

Pashinyan stated that a large part of the judicial reforms is directly linked with the digital agenda. He says a separate digitization in the field cannot happen, a systematic work is needed. The key principle is the mutual partnership, according to the PM. In other words, if there is a digital platform in a state system, that platform should exist in the other state systems as well.

“During the discussions we recorded that there are numerous digital platforms in Armenia, but these electronic files are not functional. The information needed for the structures of other agencies is not available in digital version. It’s very important for the digital formulas to be functional and be available by law to the respective structures”, the PM said.

He said that major digital reforms are expected also in the notary services and judicial processes. At the beginning, the cases, notifications and document circulation will be carried out in a digital way, later it is necessary to achieve the point that trials must take place in written procedures, there should be no need to go to court.