The\nnew Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease pandemic and the state of emergency declared\nin Armenia by the Government Decree no. 298-N of 16 March 2020 have had\nessential negative impact on the operation of the Administrative Court of RA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\norder to ensure the implementation of the Commandant Decree no. 15 of 24 March 2020\non \u201cRestrictions Applied in Regard Public Services in the whole Territory of\nArmenia\u201d, the Supreme Judicial Council Decree no. SJC-12-\u0548-25 of 24 March 2020 provided\nthat, \u201cthrough the introduction of a\nsystem that provides the possibility of video communication in all courts of\nthe Republic of Armenia, with the consent of the parties of the trial court\nhearings should be conducted remotely \/ online through the all available\nelectronic applications<\/em>\u201d. Moreover, the judges and the parties of the trial\nwere suggested on the basis of initial agreement to postpone all court hearings\nwith exclusion of the cases subject to immediate examination[1]<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless,\nan opportunity to conduct remote\/online court hearing in the Administrative\nCourt is not prescribed by the Administrative Procedural Code. According to the\ninformation provided by the staff of the Administrative Court, \u201cthe Administrative Court possesses all the\nnecessary technical means to conduct remote\/online court hearings, however,\ntaking into account the fact, that no such procedure is prescribed by the Administrative\nProcedural Code, remote\/online court hearings have not been conducted in the Administrative\nCourt[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Under\nthe conditions of the absence of legal basis to conduct remote\/online court\nhearings, almost all the court hearings (with some exceptions) <\/em><\/strong>scheduledwithin the period of 16 March 2020 and 14 May 2020, have been postponed\nbased on the restrictions of freedom of movement of the parties<\/em>[3]<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nshould be highlighted, that according to the judicial informative system, 4883\ncourt hearings were scheduled within the mentioned period. Moreover, only 10\ncases have been examined in written procedure during and due to the state of\nemergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nAdministrative Court has been operating under overload conditions for many\nyears. For example, during 2017 and 2018, 23095 and 21719 administrative cases\nhave been received respectively[4]<\/a>. In\n2019, overall 17977 administrative cases were received: in regard to 1798 cases,\nthe acceptance of the case into proceeding was rejected, as for the 1044 cases\ncomplaint application was returned. In 2019, 9541 cases in the Administrative\nCourt were closed, including judicial acts solving the case were adopted in\nregards to 8304 cases. That means 5572 cases of 2019 were transferred to 2020. According\nto data of the judicial information system, as of 5 June 2020, more than 3400\nadministrative cases have been filed to the Administrative Court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nsuch conditions, postponement of almost all court hearings within two and more\nmonths and backlog of cases will lead to essential increase of workload both\nfor the Administrative Court and judges, which in its turn may lead to the\nviolation of the right to fair trial, including the right to a trial within reasonable\ntime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking into consideration of the abovementioned, it\nis necessary to make changes and supplements to the Administrative Procedural\nCode urgently, envisaging the possibility and procedure of remote court\nhearings in the RA Administrative Court through telecommunication means.<\/em> [1]<\/a>\nBy the RA Supreme Judicial Council Decree\nnumber 12-\u0548-25, dated 24.03.2020\u0569. http:\/\/court.am\/hy\/decisions-single\/530<\/a> changes in the SJC decree number 14-\u0548-28\ndated April 2 of 2020 were made according to which the deadline for the\nimplementation of the decree was postponed until April 12 of 2020, 23:00\nrespectively, accordingly by the SJC decree number 19-\u0548-42 dated April 16 of 2020\nrelevant changes were made in the SJC-12-\u0548-25 Decree, according to which the\noperation deadline was removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> Staff of the RA Administrative Court, letter\nnumber \u0534\u0534-9-16762\/20<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> Staff of the RA Administrative Court,\nletter number \u0534\u0534-9-16762\/20<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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