I’m not completely familiar with the statement issued by the relatives of the victims of the events of March 1, 2008 and their reasoning, but I believe it’s not right to link the whole process of judicial-legal reforms to a specific case. This is what Minister of Justice of Armenia Rustam Badasyan told reporters today, talking about the statement of the legal successors of the victims of the events of March 1, 2008 who had stated that they won’t attend the court hearings on the case.

Badasyan didn’t comment on the specific case.

When told that the relatives of the victims and their attorneys have stated that they are boycotting the court hearings to let the authorities draw conclusions, Badasyan said the following: “I myself see tendencies to delay the court hearings. I also see that a certain judge doesn’t want to examine the case, or a certain judge recuses himself or herself when there are no grounds for self-recusal…These problems have existed for years. Recusing or not recusing oneself shouldn’t be an end in itself.”