National Assembly Fully Adopts Judicial Code Amendments in Second Reading

The National Assembly has fully adopted the package of amendments to the "Republic of Armenia Judicial Code" constitutional law and several other laws in the second reading. 81 members voted in favor, while 15 voted against.

Co-author of the draft and member of the National Assembly from the "My Step" faction, Vladimir Vardanyan, noted that significant changes were made from the first to the second reading.

In particular, the provisions have been refined and it has been established that if an individual has received a high salary upon becoming a member of the Supreme Judicial Council, that salary will be maintained and will not decrease.

Vardanyan also pointed out that two proposed amendments related to the Administrative and Civil Procedure Codes have been removed from the package. Controversial provisions regarding disciplinary accountability have also been excluded, notably those addressing guilty conduct that leads to a convict evading criminal responsibility, which Vardanyan claims does not require additional regulation.

The draft has clarified that cases of specific types or complexities that have not yet gone to trial may be assigned to judges by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

Additionally, it has been established that the powers of SJC member judges who are concurrently serving as judges will be suspended, with the exception of judges who are members of the Court of Cassation, as they are not elected by the SJC but by the National Assembly.

It is worth noting that the draft was accepted earlier today in its first reading. The draft proposes to empower the SJC to ensure the smooth operation of courts, stating that it will have the right to adopt normative legal acts to achieve this aim.

The necessity for this power arises from the fact that in the course of implementing its functions—related to, for instance, court workloads and effective organization of work—the SJC sometimes needs to urgently regulate certain matters.

For the implementation of these functions, it is also proposed to empower the SJC to adopt normative legal acts.