ODIHR: trials on March 1, 2008, events revealed imperfections of Armenian judiciary

The succession of litigations in the aftermath of the post-election violence that burst out in March 2008 in Yerevan has revealed deficiencies of the judicial system of Armenia. This is stated in the report of the Office of Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe).

The report of 114 pages is placed in the official website of the OSCE. It sums up the litigation monitoring on 93 criminal cases, which was conducted during 16 months. The report gives great attention to revealing the drawbacks in the country's judiciary and presents detailed proposals on how to remove the existing lacks.

"The trials were held in the conditions of high tension, which immensely complicated the work of the courts and simultaneously demanded from them to display the highest level of professionalism," said Yanesh Lenarcic, head of the ODIHR/OSCE.

"We hope that the report will give a new impulse to the efforts taken by the authorities of Armenia towards reforming the national system of justice within its obligations to bring the work of the judiciary into conformity with international standards," the "NEWS.am" quotes Mr Lenarcic as saying.

The report recommends restricting arrests in the course of preliminary investigation and to be guided by the presumption of innocence; take measures to preserve the equality of arms at litigation; hold comprehensive investigation of all messages on application of force; and exclude obtaining evidences by illegal methods.

The Radio Liberty reports that the head of the ODIHR/OSCE has noted that the authorities of Armenia are already making steps to improve the situation.

"The OSCE is ready to help Armenian leaders in further judiciary reforms," the "PanARMENIAN.Net" quotes Mr Lenarcic.