Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the panel discussion entitled “Practical or Procedural Obstacles to Maintaining Reasonable Time Limits for the Examination of Judicial Cases” within the framework of the event dedicated to the Day of the Judiciary.

The event was also attended by the President of the Republic Vahagn Khachaturyan, the President of the Constitutional Court Arman Dilanyan, the President of the Supreme Judicial Council Arthur Atabekyan, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan, members of legislative and executive bodies, representatives of the judicial and legal sphere, and diplomats.

Apart from the Prime Minister, the panel discussion was attended by the Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council Arthur Atabekyan, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly Vladimir Vardanyan, the Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan, the President of the Court of Cassation Lilit Tadevosyan, and the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia Anna Vardapetyan.

Nikol Pashinyan noted in his speech that when dealing with issues of justice and other spheres, it is necessary to delve deeper and reach the conceptual foundations of the problem. The Prime Minister emphasized that, including in the sphere of justice, there is a need to clarify basic concepts: what is justice, what is fairness, etc. “Everyone demands fairness and justice, but it is important to understand what our public, state perception of fairness and justice is, what problem do we want to solve,” the Prime Minister said.

According to the Prime Minister, it is assumed that there is one source of legitimacy in the Republic of Armenia: the people, the next source is the Constitution, and the next is the legal system arising from the Constitution. “And if it turns out that there is a rupture between the people and the Constitution, doesn’t it turn out that the legal system established in the Republic of Armenia has a legitimacy problem?”

Nikol Pashinyan noted that many issues have been resolved in the field, but in parallel, new issues are constantly arising that need to be addressed. “My proposal is the following: the organic connection between the people and the legal system must be established. The people must recognize the actual legitimacy of the legal system. We have resolved the issue of the legitimacy of the government, we have not resolved the issue of the legitimacy of the legal system. How did we resolve the issue of the legitimacy of the government? The results of the elections are not in doubt. But the election by which the legal system was established, that is, the referendum, its results have always been in doubt and are still in doubt today. And as long as that doubt is not removed, the legitimacy of the legal system will erode us like a virus. We will never achieve either justice or fairness, because, after all, it is first and foremost a feeling," said Nikol Pashinyan, expressing his conviction that the majority in Armenia does not have that feeling, the reason for which is that there is a problem with the legitimacy of the legal system in Armenia.

Stressing the importance of holding discussions in such a format, the Prime Minister noted that this public conversation about existing issues and problems should take place, because they need to be faced and resolved.

Nikol Pashinyan also noted that if about 70 percent of the applications and letters he received previously were related to the judicial system, now it seems that he receives very few letters about the judicial system.

In the context of identifying ways to resolve existing issues in the sector, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of fundamentally addressing them. “We need to again address the answers to the questions we already know, because the answer that was correct 5 or 10 years ago is not necessarily at least complete today. Addressing the obvious, I think, is a component of development,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

Nikol Pashinyan also emphasized the need and importance of women’s involvement in the justice sector and happily noted that their number in the sector has increased.

In conclusion, Prime Minister Pashinyan noted: “What is justice, what is fairness, what does the conscience of a judge mean, what does an independent judicial system mean, independent of who? Who bears responsibility for justice and the quality of justice in the country, how does this responsibility bear? These issues are primarily of conceptual importance, but I consider it important that any practical reality goes and reaches some kind of conceptual text, because it is very important what we do. In many cases, we take irregular actions because the conceptual basis is missing.”