The PRWB Appealed the SJC Competition Committee Decree on the Decision to Reject the Presentation of Organization’s Representative’s Candidacy to the General Assembly of Judges

On June 18 of 2020, information on announcing a competition to engage candidates for the position of the non-judge member for the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission of the General Assembly of Judges was published at the official webpage of the RA Judicial Department.

The Organization, having long-term experience in conducting monitoring in the judiciary field, evaluation of the judiciary, as well as in the related reform programs, filed an application to the Competition Committee to present the candidacy of Hasmik Harutyunyan, the legal expert of the Organization in the relevant position.

The Committee adopted a decision on July 1 of 2020 to return the application and the attached documents filed by the Organization for the purpose to correct the related gaps in the document.

It was mentioned in the justification that the document presented by the Organization is not in compliance with the requirements prescribed by the RA Law on “Notary”.

On July 3 of 2020, the President of the Organization submitted the corrected documents package to the Committee.

The Committee, having examined the documents presented by the Organization recorded, that the new oral announcement of the candidate confirmed in notary order is in a line with the requirements of the oral announcement prescribed by the RA Law on “Notary” but in the outcomes of the changes, the latter does not meet the requirements mentioned in Paragraph 3 of Annex 1 of the Supreme Judicial Council decree number 32-Ն-7, dated June 3 of 2020.

Taking into consideration the circumstance, that the Organization is completely in compliance with the criteria prescribed by the Supreme Judicial Council and is considered a specialized Organization in the field, as well as taking into account the fact that the candidate meets all the prescribed requirement, on July 10 of 2020 the Organization filed an appeal to the Competitive Committee with the demand to review the application of the Organization prioritizing the satisfaction of content related requirements and refraining from abusing the artificial requirements.

Based on the presented appeal, in the scope of the instituted proceeding the Committee held a hearing on July 15 of 2020 and the President of the Organization and the nominated candidate participated in the mentioned meeting.

In the outcomes of the presented appeal and the hearing held in that regard, the Committee decided to reject the appeal submitted by the President of the Organization and remain the decision adopted on 06.07.2020 unchanged.

Appeal in Judicial Order

On June 23 of 2020, the President of the Organization filed appeals to the RA Administrative Court, with the demand to:

• Oblige the Committee to satisfy the application filed to the Competitive Committee and to submit  the appeal of the Organization to the RA General Assembly of Judges 
• Oblige the Committee to adopt a decision on presenting the nomination of the Organization’s non-judge member to the RA General Assembly of Judges.

At the same time, interventions on ensuring the implementation of the appeal were made.

By the case number ՎԴ/4527/05/20, dated July 24 of 2020, the RA Administrative Court adopted a decision to accept the appeal filed by the Organization against the Competition Committee on the Election of Non-Judge Member the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission of the RA General Assembly of Judges on the demand to oblige the RA General Assembly of Judges to present the nomination of Hasmik Harutyunyan’s candidacy as a Non-Judge Member the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission to the RA General Assembly of Judges into proceeding.

On July 28 of 2020, the RA Administrative Court adopted a decision to satisfy the intervention presented as a means to ensure the appeal, according to which the Court obliges the Competition Committee to adopt a decision on the presentation of Hasmik Harutyunyan’s candidacy nomination as a non-judge member of the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission to the RA General Assembly of Judges.

By the outcomes of the RA General Assembly of Judges’ votes, the non-judge members of the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission were elected Syuzanna Soghomonyan, David Hakobyan and as judge member Elizaveta Danielyan, Sergey Marabyan, Arman Hovhannisyan, Hovik Shahnazaryan, Meri Hambardzumyan, Lilit Katvalyan respectively were elected.

We inform, that the process, organization order and the election results of the competition are continuously examined by the Organization, in regard to which new demands and appeal parallel to the judicial case will be presented.

The Organization will issue announcements on the additional information related to the judicial procedure.