We Must Relentlessly Fight Against 'Thieves in Law': Tigran Avinyan

The experience of Georgia in combating criminal subculture will be useful for Armenia. This was stated by Armenia's Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan during a press briefing with Georgia's Minister of Justice Tea Tsulukiani, held within the framework of the "Armenian-Georgian Legal Cooperation" conference.

"We have a lot to learn from Georgia; they have significant experience. There are cases that have been sent to the European Court of Human Rights, and there are court decisions. This will help us avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future," said Badasyan.

The minister emphasized that any attempt to violate human rights under the pretext of fighting organized crime must be excluded. Badasyan noted that the protection of human rights is an absolute priority for the government of the Republic of Armenia.

"We must launch a relentless fight against organized crime. Those people must be deprived of any opportunity to exert their influence on something," the minister stated.

For her part, Tsulukiani mentioned that after the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia, the legislation regarding 'thieves in law' was sharply tightened. "This fight was necessary, but it also had many shortcomings concerning human rights. We, as the new government of Georgia, must eliminate them," Tsulukiani said.

She noted that the fight against organized crime is more effective when human rights are not taken into account, but only in the short term. According to her, maintaining a balance is essential. The minister assured that the Georgian authorities are working in this direction and have already achieved significant successes.

"We no longer have 'thieves in law' who led society, like we did 10-15 years ago. But we must also fight against attempts to restore such networks," Tsulukiani added.

It is noteworthy that during the government session on August 29, the Armenian government approved the draft laws on amending the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, commenting on the government's initiative, stated that criminalizing the criminal subculture would allow for accountability of individuals involved in 'shodkas' and 'obshchaks.'