YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissian refused to sign into law the judicial reforms bill citing “explicit contradictions with the constitution”. The presidency announced on Monday that Sarkissian will apply to the Constitutional Court to determine the bill’s constitutionality.

“The regulations proposed under the law are situational and are explicitly problematic in terms of legal certainty, symmetry, separation of powers, as well as compliance with the constitutional principle and requirements of judicial independence.”

“The President attaches great importance to judicial reforms and finds that these reforms must be implemented in a systemic manner, based on a clear strategy and within the framework of a general vision. This vision and strategy must be based on truly actual issues existing in practice, serious research of expert studies and international experience, and must offer systemic and reasonably interconnected solutions directed at increasing the role and activity of the judiciary, effective exercise of due process, as well as strengthening of the guarantees of independence and immunity of judges.”

The bill passed parliament on March 19th. It envisages enabling anyone going through judicial processes with the right to request the Supreme Judicial Council to consider disciplinary actions against judges in the event of certain grounds of significant disciplinary violations on the latter’s behalf during their trial.

The bill also plans to give the Supreme Judicial Council more powers, namely the power to ensure the normal activity of courts through the right to adopt normative legal acts.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan