YEREVAN. – The Office of the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia uses its potential more effectively in preventing corruption in the country.

The executive director of Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center, Varuzhan Hoktanyan, told the aforementioned to reporters on Thursday, as he presented the results of the center’s 2014 Report on Armenia National Legal System Assessment.

Hoktanyan compared Armenia’s Ombudsman institution with the country’s media, NGOs, and state-run institutions.

“Overall, there is stagnation in Armenia,” he noted.

According to the report, the state-rum institutions which are quite independent and have sufficient resources, such as the institution of the President, or the executive branch of power, have potential to fight against corruption.

“We have also recorded two main challenges. First, the primary potential of the media in Armenia—that is, to what extent are they prepared and can do their job in the fight against corruption—is rather questionable.

“And second, [is] the matter of checks and balances between the branches of power. For example, the judicial system remains independent, and this leads to the fact that the judiciary does not exercise its share in preventing corruption,” concluded the executive director of Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center.