YEREVAN. – President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Friday hosted representatives of the legislative, executive and judicial branches power, and the regional and local governance agencies in the country.

At the event, Sargsyan delivered a statement on the implementation of the constitutional amendment, and with respect to corruption, he said:

“Just like basic rights and freedoms of our citizens, democracy too needs protection. First, protection from corruption which breeds connivance, unfreedom, and injustice. We already have such a protective mechanism. Its centerpiece is the court. We must create a modern efficient court which will act in accordance with the amended Constitution and will correspond to the contemporary notions. We have to also get rid of mistrust towards the law and the court, sometimes even contemptuous attitude, which has become a sad ‘tradition.’ The existing law enforcement structure should have normal working conditions and should resolutely rid itself of swindlers. We shall elevate protection of human rights and freedoms in the law enforcement bodies to a qualitatively new level. Illegal pressure on the judicial acts must be eliminated, regardless of the ideas it’s been inspired by. We have registered progress in this area, too, but the process must be brought to a conclusion. After all, the judicial branch can sort out for itself what is good for the state and what is ‘good’ for a corrupt official, or for a selfish enterprise. Respect towards political culture, respect towards legitimacy, rights of the others, including property rights, should become a tradition. Through the public support, courts are called upon to rid the country of corruption. It’s a very complex issue, but it is solvable. Other countries were able to do it.

“The Ethics Commission on high-ranking officials, which was established in 2012 in our country, assumed a responsible but also a mission full of challenges – to ensure publicity regarding the property and income of the officials as well as transparency of their actions.

“In this context, it would be appropriate to speak about the disclosure of the conflict of interests and the need to create the most efficient mechanisms for its prevention. We believe that added authority for the Ethics Commission will give new impetus to that crucial work, providing for adequacy of the means necessary for carrying out this difficult task.”