I Will Not Resign Voluntarily, but If You Dismiss Me, I Will Be Grateful: Judge Nakhshtaryan

Our citizens are complaining that we are delaying their judicial acts, not answering phone calls, scheduling court sessions late, and so on. We need to understand whose court the ball is in.

This was stated by Judge Zarouhi Nakhshtaryan of the Yerevan General Jurisdiction Court during a discussion in the National Assembly regarding the severe overburdening of the courts in Armenia.

“In the current situation, a judge can apply to the Supreme Judicial Council to seek solutions, participate in discussions organized by the Ministry of Justice, and so on. Over the past five years, many issues have been presented accurately and persistently by me to all relevant bodies. More than 95 percent of all disciplinary proceedings initiated by the Ministry of Justice and the Ethics Commission are due to violations of deadlines, failure to provide judicial acts, delays in court sessions, and not answering phone calls. Dear citizen, if we answer your call, three citizens, one of whom is you, receive judicial acts later because our staff does not remove the phone from their ear at all,” she said.

Nakhshtaryan noted that the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council must resolve existing issues before considering initiating disciplinary proceedings against judges.

The judge also addressed the establishment of anti-corruption courts, pointing out that the state has allocated enormous resources for this purpose. “For example, the Anti-Corruption Court of Cassation will not have any appeals for the next year, but there are judges working there who receive salaries three times higher than mine, and they will continue to receive that for another year without handling any cases,” the judge stated.

Speaking about the disciplinary proceedings initiated against judges, she said, “You cannot surprise anyone with disciplinary proceedings anymore. I don’t know, a couple of people might be surprised, but I definitely am not. Any disciplinary proceeding takes the judge off track, creates unnecessary tension, and triples all the issues caused by overburdening. I have promised in several places that I will not submit a voluntary resignation, but if you dismiss me, I will only be grateful.”

Zarouhi Nakhshtaryan emphasized that the state must address all these issues and ensure humane conditions before moving on to disciplinary proceedings and responsibility mechanisms.