YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. The existence of an independent judiciary has key significance for strengthening in institutional terms the democratic changes that took place in Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in remarks at an event marking the first anniversary of the Supreme Judicial Council’s establishment.

“We are truly recording important changes in democracy and the rule of law, but in order for these changes to be guaranteed in institutional terms, it is necessary for them to have institutional guarantees, and the most important of these guarantees is an independent judicial system,” he said.

The PM noted that this is nothing new. “The new thing is in something else, that we, essentially, have spoken about an independent judiciary since the very first day of declaring independence, but still we were unable to have the kind of judiciary that will ensure justice, rule of law and checks and balances in the country. I don’t wanna speak about the past, I want to speak about today and the future and say that I guarantee that having a truly independent judiciary is an absolute priority for the incumbent political power in Armenia. And this issue has been in our agenda since the first day,” Pashinyan said.

The PM assured that the incumbent government does not anyhow interfere in the judiciary’s activities.

“If even somehow there will be people in different circles of the government, officials who will try to act outside of this logic, they will act against the government and people of Armenia. I want to clearly say this for the record, and it is very important for the judiciary of Armenia to be able to benefit from this opportunity. This requires for the kind of judges to be there in Armenia who are ready to assume this responsibility and are ready to act within the rule of law, justice and rights”.

He also highlighted the eradication of corruption from the judiciary, noting that not a single corrupt official can sleep calmly at nights.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan