YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Acting justice minister of Armenia Artak Zelyanyan says the law on declaring amnesty for criminal cases is not a judicial act: the government doesn’t give legal assessment to the judicial acts by this law.

During today’s press conference in ARMENPRESS, the reporter of the news agency asked what regulations are envisaged when new circumstances arise in case when the amnesty is also applied for the ongoing criminal cases. “This amnesty is not a judicial act. We are not revising or giving assessment by this amnesty. We are not giving a legal assessment to the judicial acts, we are not questioning their legitimacy. We just release certain category of people from punishment or persecution. And these people until the end of their life, in some cases also their descendants, can question the legitimacy of the judicial acts and reach justification”, he said.

The acting minister added that they will welcome competent appeals or cassation complaints, or just applications which will lead to the revision of judicial acts. “There are professional attorneys for this, who have that knowledge and will be able to reach the re-opening for these cases. The mechanisms and legal grounds for re-opening these cases exist in Armenia, and these people, in addition to publicly speaking, can just sit before the computer and write their thesis, concerns and reach the re-opening of the cases”, he said.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan