Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE), Thorbjørn Jagland, has sent a letter to Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, stressing that the CoE highly appreciates the PM’s commitment to pursue the agenda of judicial reforms, Armenpress reported, also posting a copy of the original of this letter.

“The Council of Europe greatly appreciates your firm commitment to pursue the judicial reform agenda,” the letter reads, in part. “We also share your assessment of the need to increase efforts against corruption and to reform and rebuild trust in the judiciary in line with the Armenian Constitution and Armenia’s international commitments.

“A comprehensive and far-reaching judicial reform strategy, implemented with speed and determination, would appropriately address your Government’s legitimate aims. This strategy could be based on three key pillars: enhanced efforts against corruption, improved independence and efficiency of the judicial system, and adequate redress of human rights violations. It could be guided by the findings of the relevant Council of Europe institutions and monitoring mechanism and in particular by the European Court of Human Rights, the Venice Commission and the GRECO. Such a strategy would ensure the credibility and predictability of the reform and continuous international support.”

“The Council of Europe is ready to participate actively in these reform efforts within the framework of the Action Plan which will be launched in Yerevan in a few days, with the participation of the Deputy Secretary General.

“We look forward to our continued cooperation.”