Second Interim Appointee for Human Rights Defender is Appointed

Following Kristine Grigoryan's resignation, the second interim appointee for the Human Rights Defender position is announced, as reported by "Hraparak." According to the article, the position was previously held by Vladimir Hovhannisyan, head of the Department for the Protection of Civil, Socio-Economic and Cultural Rights within the Human Rights Defender's office. According to the law on the Human Rights Defender, until a new defender is elected, the responsibilities must be carried out by the oldest department head in the office.

However, we learned yesterday that Vladimir Hovhannisyan is no longer the acting Human Rights Defender. Instead, Hrant Jilavyan, head of the Department for the Protection of Human Rights in Criminal Justice and the Armed Forces, has been appointed to this position. Jilavyan joined the Human Rights Defender's office during Kristine Grigoryan's tenure. The department was previously headed by the well-known lawyer Artem Sedrakyan during Arman Tatoyan's time, but he left office along with Tatoyan.

Jilavyan is 28 years old and currently teaches at Yerevan State University's Faculty of Law in the Department of Criminal Procedure and Forensics. In response to the publication's inquiry regarding his appointment and the reasons for replacing Vladimir Hovhannisyan, the Human Rights Defender's office did not respond, instead requesting a written inquiry.

It should be noted that the National Assembly did not propose a candidate for Human Rights Defender within the 10-day timeframe, and if a candidate is not proposed in the next 10 days as well, it is possible that the newly appointed acting Human Rights Defender will serve for a much longer period until the ruling party can find a candidate. It is worth remembering that on January 23, Kristine Grigoryan submitted her resignation. She had served for one year.