The inaugural meeting of the Public Council attached to the Minister of Justice was held under the chairmanship of Srbuhi Galyan, Minister of Justice.
During the meeting, the Minister presented a number of ongoing and planned reforms in the justice sector, addressing the digitalization process of the sector, steps aimed at reducing the workload of courts, as well as the introduction of the institute of reasonable time limits for the examination of cases in the Administrative and Civil Procedure Codes.
The strategic directions of the penitentiary and probation sectors were also discussed, with emphasis on the efforts aimed at improving the institute of conditional early release from punishment. The Minister also presented the measures implemented within the framework of the anti-corruption strategy and the work of the Constitutional Reforms Council.
During the meeting, representatives of civil society organizations addressed several questions to the Minister.
It should be noted that the Armenian Lawyers Association is also among the organizations included in the Council. The meeting was attended by the Association’s Vice President Marat Atovmyan. In his remarks, he referred to the institution of mandatory mediation in family cases, the excessive workload of state forensic institutions—resulting in court hearings and criminal proceedings lasting for years—as well as existing issues in the notarial sector.