Task Assigned to Get Rid of Judges Who Are Not Compliant: Ruben Vardazaryan

There has been an inter-agency dispute regarding the well-known recording I published, involving the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor General's Office, and the Anti-Corruption Committee, which are unable to determine their jurisdictions. Nevertheless, the case will be closed because there is an instruction that it should have no judicial perspective; I am also not in favor of the case having a judicial perspective. I merely want the truth to emerge. With a smile on my face, I follow as a third-party observer what the outcome of the conflict between the Prosecutor General's Office and the Anti-Corruption Committee will be.

This was stated by the former President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Ruben Vardazaryan, in an interview with 24TV, referring to the well-known recording released on June 20, involving the former Acting President of the Supreme Judicial Council and former Military Prosecutor of Armenia, Gagik Jhangiryan, and the circumstances surrounding the reopened proceedings.

“The goal I set for myself has been achieved; the U.S. State Department noted in its annual report that political persecution is being conducted against Vardazaryan, and the ECHR has accepted this case for expedited review. It is not on my agenda for Gagik Jhangiryan to be held criminally liable because he is an elderly man and has come a long way. He entered a field that did not correspond to his age or strength; the situation has changed, and those who posed problems before Jhangiryan should be held criminally liable,” Vardazaryan added.

Commenting on the information about pressures in the judicial system and the process initiated by the Supreme Judicial Council regarding the termination of powers of Yerevan city court judge David Harutyunyan and three other judges, Vardazaryan noted that the government has instructed the Supreme Judicial Council to get rid of judges who are not compliant and make independent decisions and who dare to make contrary decisions.

“The order given to the Supreme Judicial Council was even implemented quite carelessly; several violations occurred, and the European court was also surprised. A dispute will arise between the client and the executor, as it will be said that the order should not have been executed so carelessly. I am confident that there will be a decision against Armenia by the ECHR. We have regressed to the beginning of the 90s, as if we are forming a new judicial authority. There is a list of judges they want to get rid of; judges are waiting like sacrificial lambs to see when their turn will come. Those who rebel and make independent decisions, this government wants to rid itself of them,” Vardazaryan emphasized.