Study visit of the delegation of the Judicial department of the RA and the Association of Judges of the RA to the Council of Europe
1-5 of February, 2010
(Strasbourg)

Organized by the Council of Europe

As it was planed, our delegation first of all visited Agora building of the Council of Europe, where members of delegation has registered, after which opening ceremony follows, during which members of the delegation were welcomed by the following persons:
• Ms Tatiana Termacic, Acting Head, Justice Reform and Police Division, Legal and Human Rights Capacity Building Department, Directorate of Co-operation, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs

• Ambassador Zohrab Mnatsakanian, Permanent Representative of Armenia at the Council of Europe

• Judge Hrachik Sargsyan, Chairman of the Association of Judges of Armenia
 First meeting was intended to be with the Judge of the European Court of Human Rights Alvina Gyulumyan, and the topic of it was “Case law and recent developments at the European Court of Human Rights”. Alvina Gyulumyan presented the characteristics of the case-law practice by emphasising such decisions of the ECHR which have basic importance for the judicial practice of the RA. Concerning improvements of ECHR A. Gyulumyan noted that improvements are directed at reformation of the ECHR workshops, rise of its level in order to avoid of accumulation of applications and unreasonable postponement of hearings.
 Ms. Gyulumyan noted that Protocol 14 of the European Convention signed in 2005 and which began to practice after validation by 47 members of the European Council is devoted to its amendments. Particularly, by its Protocol it is intended to present similar cases to the Committee, foresee its non substantial nature for refusal, as well as broadening the circle of activity of the Committee during realization of judgments of the ECHR and etc.
 Thereupon, an open discussion took place, during which participants discussed such issues which concern Articles 3, 5 and 6 of the European Convention ECHR case-law practice; also examples from judicial practice of the Republic of Armenia have been discussed.
 At the end of the meeting A. Gyulumyan advised to draw attention at specific cases of ECHR (for instance Chamber v. R. F., Gujan v. Moldova, Opus v. Turkey and etc.).
 Then a meeting with Head of Section, Secretariat of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) Mr Christophe Speckbacher took place. The topic of the meeting was “The work of the Secretariat of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)”. The speaker represented brief history of GRECO foundation: particularly, GRECO is a monitoring agency, which has been found in 1999 on the basis of protocol concerning 20 prior principals of the fight against corruption. GRECO has its groups of experts who meet with governmental and non-governmental organizations. Its monitoring realizes by three different stages, which general topics are sequence of elections and appointments of statesmen.
 GRECO prepares reports through the results of monitoring and after 18 month it must be prepared a new report concerning the process of preparation the report in current county. The foregoing report for the Republic of Armenia has been prepared in 2008, which text has not been translated yet. Particularly, it has been noted that sufficient work had been done on the judicial system of the RA, but as of preventive actions the results aren’t satisfactory, however an additional report of the Republic of Armenia will be ready in June, 2010. It had been also noted that 18 month period prolongs instead of maintenance, as guaranteed amendments often require legislative activities, which itself demands some period of time.
 Generally, in different countries preparation of the results of monitoring are supervised by GRECO, but during recent years social structures either has an active participation during this process by having an influence upon governments of the countries (for instance France, Belgium).
 Afterwards an open discussion passed, speaker answered to various issues regarding insurance of the correct mechanism of independence both executive and judicial powers, appointment of judges, their disciplinary responsibility and concerning their salaries (it has been emphasised that the wage issue for judges, prosecutors and investigators must be solved in such way which will prevent corruption risks). Finally, speaker emphasised that the vulnerable stage of judicial power is the beginning of proceedings up to the stage of realizing judicial acts.
Then a meeting with Lawyer, Registry of the European Court of Human Rights Mr. Ara Shahzadeyan took place. Mr. Shahzadeyan represented case-law practice of the ECHR and the recent amendments, particularly; it was represented statistics regarding RA, according which up today it was presented 1230 applications against the Republic of Armenia, 600 of which had been presented by citizens of Azerbaijan and 635 by citizens of the RA. 400 applications have been recognized insufficient and 226 applications are at the process. At present, 20 judgements were delivered against the Republic of Armenia by ECHR. Sequentially, there been discussed upcoming improvements of ECHR.
Consequent meeting was devoted to the institution of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, which represented an employee of Office of the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Ganna Yudkivska. Speaker represented in grosso mode the role of institution in the scope of protection of Human Rights. Various examples, cases from European different countries had been analysed during which visitation of commissioner has its basic meaning not only in the scope of protection of Human Rights, but also in rehabilitation of breached rights. During the follow-up discussion had been analysed issues concerning the foregoing topic.
 

Tuesday, 2 of February, 2010

The topic of the next meeting was “Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights”, which was represented by Ms. Charlotte de Broutelles and Mr. Artyom Geghamyan. They presented the characteristics of judgments of the ECHR according to part 1 of Article 46 of the European Convention. Then it had been mentioned that at present 8000 cases are at the Ministers’ Committee, 12 from which regards to the Republic of Armenia. Speakers stated that the basic problems which occur during judgments of ECHR regards to fair compensation for damages, taking into account this the Council of Europe decided to apply daily percents on the states. Nevertheless, as the statistics shows generally it pays. Ministers’ Committee draws its attention on cases with restitution applications. During the discussions it was emphasized importance of translation of ECHR judgments. During the discussions importance of continual translation of ECHR judgments was emphasized, and it takes into account not only translation of cases against the RA, but also at translation of similar judgments.
 Consequently, the topic of the next meeting was “The work of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission)”, which represented Mr. Serguei Kouznetsov, Venice Commission, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs. First of all speaker talked about the construction of Venice Commission, its staff, and afterwards, about the principals and fields of its activity. It has been presented those principals and criteria by which the Commission leads during discussion legal undertakings. Thereupon the speaker talks about necessity of improvement of Commission work, extension of productivity, reduction of periods of examination and etc.
 During the discussion such issues as the rule of principal of independence of judicial power, improvement of legislative base of judicial system had been argued.
          The following meeting was devoted to “The revised European Social Charter”, which represented Ms. Ana Rusu, Department of the European Social Charter, Directorate of Monitoring, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs.
          The speaker represented the revised example of European Social Charter, its structure, issues and the object of streamlining. It had been noted that in different European countries there are various cases of breaches of social rights, which now can be revised by European Social Charter.
           During discussion the productivity of Charter utilization in national practice, urgency of applying its separate provisions and other issues had been argued.
    Mr. Przemyslaw Musialkowski, Head of Unit, Economic Crime Division, Department of Information Society and Action Against Crime, Directorate of Co-operation, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs represented the following topic: “The work of the Economic Crime Division”. The speaker noted that nowadays issues of economic crimes are in attention of the Council of Europe, and the reason is that such crimes are directed to economic interests of member countries of the CoE.
 Contemporary expression of such crimes and legislative support between member countries of CoE in this respect had been discussed.

Wednesday, 3 of February, 2010,

Visit to the European Court of Human Rights and working briefings in the Court. Overview of the procedures of the work of the Court and its working premises.
During the visit members of delegation with judge of ECHR Alvina Gyulumyan took a walk of the ECHR building, introduced with working conditions, disposition of court rooms and technical requirements and etc.
Members of the delegation also met with employees of the Court: judges, working membership, various opinions were exchanged; amendments of judicial service in the RA, technical insurance of proceedings were discussed.

Thursday, 4 of February, 2010

Visit to the main building of the Council of Europe (Palais) and working briefings on the work of the main bodies of the Council of Europe including the Committee of Ministers and Parliamentary Assembly. During the visit members of delegation were introduced the main building of the Council of Europe, after which they met with various officers of the CoE and discussed various issues of organizational and legislative nature.

Friday, 5 of February, 2010

Concluding remarks and comments by the participants, discussion and proposals for further co-operation between the Council of Europe and the Association of Judges of Armenia and conclusion of the study visit.