PM comments on perceived delayed justice in society

The matter of delayed justice is a deep issue that has to do, among others, with the structural and substantive gap between justice and the society, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

Pashinyan was asked why justice was delayed at a conference titled Justice as a Tool to Achieve Fairness in Yerevan organized by the Ministry of Justice.

“I think one of the reasons that lies in the basis of this question is, among others, that there is some substantive and structural disconnect in Armenia between justice and the constituents, the people. Why are we saying, or why is there the question whether justice and fairness are the same thing or should be same thing? When we try to collate this question, we see that actually there is a problem with the wording itself. But it is important to understand the reason why such a wording or question can exist in our society. I think one of the reasons is that for many people justice is not understandable in Armenia, because during my contacts and discussions I have understood that we have a problem pertaining to the language of justice as well. And not only is this language difficult, but sometimes that complexity is used to cover up the absence of the causal links,” he said.

The public questions whether justice and fairness are identical stem from that disconnect, he added. 

“Sometimes, when discussions are taking place, in the public or non-public domain, arguments start coming after one another, but at some point the lawyer community starts using the kind of vocabulary that is inaccessible for us, regular people. And that’s how the discussion ends. They say ‘these are the links’, but those links can’t be seen sometimes. And perhaps that’s how the vacuum which we are talking about now emerges,” Pashinyan said.

The forum focuses on the efficiency of administering justice, increasing trust for courts, the impact of reforms and human rights and duration of trials.