The Prime Minister’s call to block courts was inappropriate. This is what politician, Advisor to the President of Armenia Tevan Poghosyan said during a May 22 press conference.

As Poghosyan stated, developing concept papers and working on strategies or programs based on those concept papers are internationally accepted, but in Armenia, things are different and events mainly take place due to the particular situation.

“The authorities had set a date for hearings devoted to transitional justice and said they would try to understand what they could do and how they could do it, but something happened and plans changed,” the politician said, adding that he is glad that many analysts, political parties and intellectuals tried to express their views and stated that there was no need to block courts and mentioned the negative consequences.

According to Poghosyan, it would have been right, if Pashinyan’s actions were comprehensively discussed so that there could be public deliberations and people would be convinced that the action would promote the enhancement of the judiciary.

The politician positively assessed the statements of the Ombudsman and political parties and reminded that the President had also issued a statement. Asked if the President’s statement was satisfactory in the current situation, the presidential advisor said the President has two options — issue a statement or appeal to the Constitutional Court.

“We all understand that something has to be done. There is no system that has no room for improvement. There is an idea of transitional justice. Let’s discuss it and see if it’s appropriate for Armenia. The same goes for vetting. It’s good in certain countries, but is Armenia ready for this? We need to know what complies with Armenia and what doesn’t. However, this doesn’t mean that we should suspend the existing systems,” Tevan Poghosyan stated.