YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–President Robert Kocharian met last week with a number of government officials to discuss the implementation of judicial reforms. Meeting with the President were National Assembly Speaker Khosrov Haroutiunian; National Assembly Deputy Speaker Youri Bashkhian; Prime Minister Armen Darbinian; Constitutional Court Chairman Gagik Haroutiunian; Supreme Court Chairman Tariel Barseghian; Prosecutor General Henrik Khachatrian; and Artur Baghdasarian–Chairman of the parliamentary standing Committee on State and Legal Issues.
President Kocharian stressed the importance of consistency in carrying out judicial reforms–emphasizing that those reforms will in fact signify the establishment of a new system of juris prudence. He said reforms will allow courts and other judicial institutions to become independent from the other branches of power and be guided by law alone.
Reforms in the Prosecutor’s Office and other law enforcement agencies will allow the country to continue moving toward the establishment of a law-abiding state–Kocharian explained. The creation of legal underpinnings for the reforms calls for the elaboration and adoption of five basic codes and more than a dozen new laws–the president pointed out. Kocharian also stressed the need to maintain the schedule and not delay the reform process.
Assembly Speaker Haroutiunian reported on the course of the bills concerning judicial reform–saying that the Assembly will consider bills on the Prosecutor’s Office and the bar during its next three-day session.