Armenia to receive 19 mln Euro support from CoE for implementing judicial reforms

YEREVAN, JUNE 17, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia does everything to ensure the independence and impartiality of judiciary, Foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said during an event dedicated to the Council of Europe Action PlanforArmenia 2019-2022.

The Foreign minister said Armenia has showed that it wants to become a country that will be modeled with the European standards and will be firmly based on democracy and human rights. “This year we have a greater aspiration, the budget is quite ambitious – 18.9 million Euros, and is concentrated on those directions of the reforms which are priority for the government. They are mainly directed for the judicial reforms”, he said.

The minister added that this is the will and desire of the people which is reflected with this government’s determination and commitment.

Mnatsakanyan is confident that this action plan will serve at best for the implementation of Armenia’s judicial reforms, and in 2021 the state will already have tangible results.

“The government has clearly stated that it will do everything to ensure the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, with no pressure on judicial authorities”, he said.

The Armenian FM thanked the CoE Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland who expressed readiness to assist the implementation of these reforms.

“This is the meaning of our cooperation with Europe. High-level experts visited here from Europe within a week who started working on judicial reforms, their content and financing directions. This shows how valuable this cooperation is. The completion of the fair and impartial judicial reforms program will make complete the entire philosophy of the revolution for us”, the FM said.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan