YEREVAN. – It is necessary to give answers to many questions—and through a wide public debate—and which relate to transitional justice. President of the National Assembly (NA), Ararat Mirzoyan, on Friday stated this at the parliamentary hearings on the prospects for the application of transitional justice tools in Armenia.

In his words, at first, however, it is indispensable to understand why the current judicial system in the country cannot meet the people’s demands for fair trial, and why transitional justice should be applied.

Noting that it is not a secret that the judiciary in Armenia has problems that are accumulated over the years, the parliament speaker stressed that the objective of transitional justice is to assist in the formation of an independent judiciary.

On the other hand, as per Mirzoyan, the goal is not to exacerbate the existing problems, but to assist in reconciliation.

Speaking about the respective mechanism, he brought a figurative example.

“The objectives will not be fulfilled if we sink deeper into the sea than is necessary,” the NA speaker said. “Armenia is a country of law, and opening the Pandora’s box is impermissible.”

In other words, he explained that even though thousands of people who take part in electoral fraud should not be convicted, an assessment should be made, and it should be assured that such a thing will never happen again.

“The most important thing is what transitional justice is not,” Ararat Mirzoyan concluded. “Transitional justice is not the formation of emergency courts. Transitional justice should assist—by legislative means—in the ‘cleaning’ and establishment of the functioning judicial system.”