Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the General Prosecutor’s Office and participated in the solemn session of the collegium dedicated to the 106th anniversary of the establishment of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia and the Day of the employee of the Prosecutor’s Office.
The Prime Minister delivered a speech and congratulated the attendees on the occasion of the professional day. “I think that justice for the people of the Republic of Armenia continues to be one of the biggest expectations, which, if we look at it from the point of view of public opinion and logic, we have not been able to fully address and bring to life. In this regard, the role of the Prosecutor’s Office in the sense of forming a sense of fairness and justice in the country is, of course, difficult to overestimate. In general, I see this issue and put it before our state administration system, including those bodies that operate independently, but operate within the limits of state logic and in the manner provided by the legislation and Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. We must not let this goal out of our sight for a minute, because justice, as it was and continues to be, is the number one expectation of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, and it is very important that the prosecutor’s office, investigative bodies, and the judicial system pursue this goal in their every day work,” said Nikol Pashinyan.
The Prime Minister referred to the steps taken by the government in this direction and in that context emphasized the importance of raising the salaries of the employees of the Prosecutor’s Office. The Head of the Government once again noted that this is done not only and not so much for the employees of the prosecutor’s office, but for the citizens.
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“It is done primarily for the citizens, because the number 1 beneficiary of the services provided by the prosecutor’s office, investigative bodies, and courts is the citizen. And we build our policy in this area on the following logic: justice in the country continues to be the number 1 expectation among the people and there must be a standard of fairness and justice in the country. In order to implement that standard, it is necessary to introduce new skills and professionalism corresponding to these political expectations, and employees should also have the opportunity to focus on their work. This is one side of the question, but there is also a second side to the question. For example, I think much about what is the point or formula by which the citizens of the Republic of Armenia will consider that justice and fairness are established in the country.”
According to Nikol Pashinyan, in order to achieve this goal, the law enforcement and judicial systems must be organically connected with the people. “It is accepted to say that the judicial system is independent, the prosecution system is independent, but we need to understand it is independent from whom? It is independent from the government, but the prosecution system and the judicial system cannot be independent, sovereign, which is the citizen of the Republic of Armenia. Where does the feeling of lack of justice among the citizens come from? It comes from the fact that the prosecutorial, judicial system in Armenia had been independent from the sovereign people of the Republic of Armenia, from the will of the people, not in every case separately, but as a standard of justice and of the rule of law of justice, etc.”
According to the Prime Minister, we have had the phenomenon that the logic of elitism worked both in the judicial system and in the state administration system. “What is elitism with this logic? This is when people who are on a completely different level of life work in the government, prosecutor’s office, and courts. I also mean the social, but perhaps also the socio-psychological part, there are other people who have no connection with the people who live every day in Real Armenia, in real life, and it is this gap that brings the sense of lack or deficit of justice. And I am happy that as a result of the processes taking place within us, including the government, the prosecutor’s office, the logic of this elitism is decreasing. And we see that today the prosecutor’s office, investigative bodies, courts, perhaps a little slower, are bringing themselves closer to the people, and an organic link is being formed between the people and the prosecutor’s system.”
Touching upon the necessity of being organically connected with the people, Nikol Pashinyan noted. “The question that I have thought about for a long time is that we are constantly trying to implement reforms and changes in these areas, but why do people continue to think that there is no justice in this country? For one simple reason, justice systems are not organically connected to the people. It is about the standard of institutional justice. In many cases, for example, when you read legal texts, you understand that in principle it is written in Armenian, but it does not express reality, in principle it is written correctly, but it does not express reality, in principle you cannot deny anything, but it does not express justice, fairness and the aspiration and dream of justice that the Armenian people have.”
In that context, the Prime Minister emphasized the thesis he has brought forward: the cornerstone of the security strategy of the Republic of Armenia is legitimacy. “Every day I am convinced of the importance and necessity of this thesis. I want to emphasize that this is also related to the standard of establishing justice and fairness in Armenia, because one of the most important key phenomena related to the prosecutor’s activity and judicial system is jurisdiction, which is directly related to sovereignty. When we manage to reach a situation where we have a reality that does not cause deformations in this respect, that will also be an important condition for having justice and fairness in our country. I also want to say the following: Real Armenia is about the standard of justice, because Real Armenia is about the accuracy of jurisdiction, about the accuracy of sovereignty, about the accuracy of the area of rule of law. These are questions that we face today due to various, including painful and unfortunate circumstances, but this is also an expression of our institutional problems. But it is important that at least today we address these issues and it is key, including for establishing justice in the country, with the logic that justice, I repeat, should not only be a political slogan, not only a legal act, but the average citizen should have the feeling that he lives in a country where there is justice, where there rule of law, and we are going that way.”
Referring to the creation of the institute of confiscation of illegal property, the Head of the Government emphasized the importance of resisting and not yielding to emotions back in 2018. “Then and now, we had the political will to resist emotions, creating an institution instead. Today, we have already created an institution that belongs to the people of Armenia, to the Republic of Armenia, and regardless of the governments, this institution must continue to function, because it is a mechanism that has been launched in a fully legal way, and this institution must also reduce the perception of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia about justice deficit”.
Summarizing the speech, Nikol Pashinyan noted that in the process of reforms implemented in the sector, we should not forget that these changes serve the Republic of Armenia and the sovereign of the Republic of Armenia, that is, the citizens of Armenia. The Prime Minister thanked those present for working with that will, vision and dedication.
On the occasion of the Day of the employee of the Prosecutor’s Office, Prosecutor of Yerevan Rafael Manukyan and Secretary General of the Prosecutor’s Office Mher Aprikyan were awarded with a commemorative medal of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia for their contribution to the strengthening of the legal system and impeccable work. A group of representatives of the system were awarded with a letter of thanks from the Prime Minister for their contribution to strengthening the rule of law and legality.
INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
