Armenia’s Ministry of Justice has launched discussions on two major documents with civil society representatives.

As reported the Ministry of Justice, Rustam Badasyan received today several civil society representatives and discussed the conceptual approaches to and regulations of the draft Anti-Corruption Strategy and the Strategy on Judicial and Legal Reforms.

During the meeting, Rustam Badasyan presented the in-depth reforms envisaged in the fight against corruption and in the implementation of judicial and legal reforms and targeted at specification of the functions of the Anti-Corruption Court and the Anti-Corruption Committee; improvement of the institution of declaration of the assets, revenues and expenditures of officials; specification of the grounds and procedures for instituting disciplinary proceedings against a judge, for self-recusal of a judge and the scope of authorities entitled to institute disciplinary proceedings against a judge, as well as the need for introduction of the institution of confiscation of illegal assets and the introduction of electronic justice.

President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association NGO Karen Zadoyan attached importance to consensus over the election of a new anti-corruption body and stated that Armenia has no right to lead the actions envisaged by the Anti-Corruption Strategy to failure.

President of Open Society Foundations-Armenia NGO Larisa Minasyan positively assessed the development of both strategies at the same time and emphasized that there is also a need to implement reforms within the Prosecutor General’s Office and investigative bodies.

President of Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly Vanadzor Office Artur Sakunts also attached importance to the simultaneous development of both strategies and stated that the activities of the current law-enforcement bodies need to be in harmony with the activities of the to-be-created Anti-Corruption Committee.

Executive Director of Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center Sona Ayvazyan attached importance to the issue of opening the register of data of the Agency for State Register of Legal Entities of the Ministry of Justice and make the relevant information available for the public in order to disclose the real owners of legal entities.

Founder of Asbarez Journalists’ Club Levon Barseghyan said the reforms need to be complex and related to police, prosecutorial and investigative bodies.

The justice minister expressed gratitude for the cooperation and assured that the Ministry of Justice is trying to offer quick and effective solutions for reforms in the sectors, but can also offer final solutions to certain issues through constitutional amendments in the long run.