Draft of the Criminal Procedure Code Fully Adopted by the National Assembly: R. Badasyan

The Minister of Justice of Armenia, Rustam Badasyan, stated: “After more than ten years of discussion, the draft of the new Criminal Procedure Code was fully adopted today by the National Assembly in its second reading. This is further evidence of the genuine political will to implement reforms.

What changes are we proposing with this draft? We are making the recording of proceedings electronic; we are implementing a program for the digitalization of pre-trial investigations. We are establishing a prohibition on the abuse of rights. Currently, our society is closely observing several trials where the examination of the actual case does not start because the parties are abusing their rights. This will be prohibited; sanctions will be applied in such cases.

We are introducing the idea of a reserve judge. We know that in extensive criminal cases, if a judge is changed for some reasons, the trial has to start anew. With this draft, the president of the court will have the opportunity to choose a judge who participates in the trial as a passive member. In case of a change of the main judge, it will not be necessary to start the trial over again.

The draft also introduces several fundamental innovations. We are expanding the range of preventive measures as much as possible; we are planning new types of preventive measures, such as house arrest, administrative control, etc. (the purchase of electronic bracelets is already foreseen). We are introducing the institution of collaboration procedures, which will allow a cooperating individual with the prosecution to reveal new crimes, thereby receiving a more lenient sentence or being conditionally released from punishment or totally exempted from serving their sentence.

The institute of remote trial proceedings has also been introduced. For those persons avoiding trial, it will be possible to initiate the court examination stage. I would like to thank the Council of Europe and the working group that developed the draft, and of course, the relevant employees of the Ministry of Justice. Special thanks to the head of the working group, Mr. Hrayr Ghukasian, for the extensive work done.”