OPINION ON THE DRAFT LAW ON MAKING AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW ON PROSECUTION

On November 7 of 2023, a draft law on “Making Amendments to the Law on
Prosecution of the Republic of Armenia” was filed to the National Assembly, which certain
provisions that professionals with relevant experience are released from the obligation of
undergoing professional training at the Republic of Armenia Justice Academy.

Particularly, according to Paragraph 10 of Article 38 of the Law, the person included in
the list of the candidate for prosecutor is released from the obligation to undergo the training
organized at the Justice Academy and after passing the examination, if the latter, within the
last five years, has three-year of professional working experience as a judge, prosecutor,
investigator (head of investigation department, head of investigative body) or at least overall
three-year experience in advocacy.

The draft law package was adopted by the National Assembly in first hearing.
According to the proposed amendments by the draft law, the requirement of at least
three-year of professional work experience in the last five years for the person included in the
list of prosecutor candidates to be exempted from the obligatory training courses and taking
exams at the Justice Academy is replaced by the requirement of at least two-year
professional work experience.

According to the authors of the draft law, the mentioned time period is already sufficient
to obtain the necessary practical professional skills and personal qualities.
We consider that such change is concerning and cannot solve the problems at the
Prosecution service, on the contrary it can have negative impact on the quality of criminal
justice, according to the justifications presented below:
Training at the Justice Academy is aimed at equipping the candidates for the
prosecutors’ office with the necessary and relevant skills, as well as expanding the scope of
knowledge thereof.

The professional work experience as an investigator or advocate for 2 years cannot
equip the candidate with respective professional skills, which are necessary for efficient work
in the position of a prosecutor. Moreover, the training at the Justice Academy strengthens the
existing abilities, equips with practical knowledge and practical skills, otherwise, personnel will
not be ready to carry out their functions efficiently, as envisaged by law.

The requirement of the training at Justice Academy is important, taking into
consideration the adoption of the new criminal and criminal procedure codes and in order to
master the codes, the specialists of criminal sectors should undergo certain training about it.
Moreover, a number of problems were raised during the monitoring, conducted by the PRWB,
on the open competition organized for the purpose of filling out the list of candidates for
prosecutors. Particularly, a concerning image was created related to the professional and
personal preparation level of the prosecutors’ candidates, which lead to more profound
problems in this regard.

These problems are connected to the analytical skills, clear and understandable
construction and expression of speech and thought, and the lack of argumentation skills. Such
problem was observed even in cases of the sitting investigators, who have applied for the
position of prosecutor.

As it derives from the abovementioned issues, it is necessary not only to keep and
make the requirement for trainings at the Justice Academy for all candidates, but also carry out
profound reforms within the education system at the Justice Academy. For example, the issue
of reducing the period for the education, the methodology and the changes in the curriculum at
the Justice Academy can be discussed, but not their elimination for a certain category of
people.

Taking into consideration the aforementioned, we urge the National Assembly to reject
and remove the aforementioned draft amendment to the Law on Prosecution of the Republic of
Armenia.