In the Court of General Jurisdiction of Syunik Region

Monitoring of the Issues of the Access to Free Legal Aid Providing for Conscripts

ԻրավունքներիՏեղեկատվական Կենտրոն

ՀԿ

To promote the availability of the provision of Conscripts' right to free legal aid

THE GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS

WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION WERE LAID THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES

• To study the risks of violation of the

rights of the conscripts involved in the

judicial processes in terms of the

efficiency of the provision of legal aid

• To study the current legal frame work

and practice

• To identify systemic problems that hinder

the efficiency of public defenders' work

• To present suggestions aimed at

improving the accessibility and the

provision of free legal aid.

The monitoring was carried out in the General Jurisdiction Court of First Instance of Syunik region

( Kapan and Goris residences)

The monitoring was carried out

in 3 stages

1ST STAGE - PREPARATORY , DURING WHICH

WAS STUDIED THE LEGISLATION RELATING

TO THE FIELD , WERE DEVELOPED

QUESTIONNAIRES, OTHER DOCUMENTS, RULES

AND GUIDELINES FOR THE BEHAVIOR OF THE

OBSERVER

2ND STAGE - INFORMATION COLLECTION,

MONITORING OF COURT SESSIONS, DURING WHICH

WERE OBTAINED THE NECESSARY DATA AND

INFORMATION FOR ANALYSIS

3RD STAGE - THE STAGE OF FINALIZING AND

PUBLISHING THE RESULTS OF MONITORING, DURING

WHICH IMPLEMENTED GATHERED DATA WERE

PROCESSING, ANALYSIS, AND PREPARATION OF THE

SUMMARY REPORT.

SESSION STATISTICS

• From March 15 2016 to August 28, in the First Instance Court of Syunik region were scheduled 344 trials, out of which 234 took place, 96 did not take place and the information was missing about 14 court sessions on the website datalex.am in the days of monitoring and was placed later .

• According to the surveys, of 344 trials 321 were scheduled in Stepanakert

• 8 trials were held in Kapan

• 15 trials in Goris

96, 28%

234, 68%

14, 4%

did not take place

took place

theres no information

THE STATISTIC OF THE SESSIONS

article 35927%

article 35834%

article 3608%

article 3639%

article 3649%

article 17713%

From March through August 2016, in 344 lawsuits scheduled In the General Jurisdiction Court of First Instance of Syunik region, soldiers

were charged according to the RA Criminal Code Article

article 359 article 358 article 360 article 363 article 364 article 177

• Criminal Code Article 359. Breach of relations, prescribed by field manuals, between not subordinated servicemen.

• Criminal Code Article 360. Insulting a serviceman.

• Criminal Code Article 363. Evasion from military service by maiming or feigned disease

• Criminal Code Article 364. Refusal from performing one’s military duties.

• Criminal Code Article 177. Theft.

ARTICLES

EXPEDITED COURT HEARINGS

39, 81%

9, 19%

39 / 81% / of the 48 trial sessions that were monitored in the Court of First Instance in SyunikMarz, were held in the expedited procedure, and 9 of them were held in the general order of the trial.

PROBLEMS ARISEN IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

MONITORING

• DataLex the judicial information system was not always right about the venue, time-related data.

• Some of these lawsuits are not specified a tDataLexinformation system.

• in June-July Out of 151 judicial hearing s scheduled for June through July , 136 took place in Stepanakert.

• Conducting of outgoing court sessions is a barrier in terms of public awareness and access to information

• Example 1. Because of war time events occurred on April 1-4, 2016 on the Armenian -Azerbaijani border, 25 court cases scheduled in the First Instance Court of Syunikgegion didn’t take place

• Example 2. Out of the 510 court sessions scheduled for February through August 2016, 199 were new scheduled cases, and 311 were repetitive cases

DELAYS IN COURT HEARINGS

The Office of the Public Defenders in Syunik region has a total of 2.25 full time staff including 4 lawyers.

• Kapan – 2 Public Defenders, one - part time, the other- full time.

• Goris - one Public Defender- part time.

• Sisian- one Public Defender - 0.25 FTE

WORKLOAD AND EFFICIENCY OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER

0

4

8

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

44

48

yesno

4

44

sessions

The defendant refused the public defender

ANALYSIS OF DEFENDERS

0

4

8

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

44

public

private

29

15

sessions

The defender-?

1

3

5

7

9

11

13

15

17

19

21

23

25

27

29

activepassive

medium

1113

5

sessions

PUBLIC defender

HOW ACTIVE THE PUBLIC

DEFENDER (PRIVATE) IS

0

3

6

9

12

15

activepassive

medium

9

1

5

sessions

PRIVATE defender

100 people were involved in the survey. The surveys were conducted in the city of Goris.

• 34 people dealt with and 66 people never dealt with the judicial system. 19 people were aware of the functions of the Public Defender, 25 were partially aware,

• while 56 people did not know about the functions of The Public Defender.

• Only 18 respondents knew of the Public Defender Goris.

SURVEYS AMONG THE POPULATION ABOUT

THE PUBLIC DEFENDER’S FUNCTIONS

Interviews with prosecutors and public defenders

www.itekngo.com

INTERVIEWS

SUGGESTIONS

• To expand legislatively the scope of Defendet’smandatory participation including the right to free legal aid for the victim and witnesses that are in the compulsory military service.

• Legislatively, to provide mechanisms, as a result of which the public defender who works part-time can combine this work with another job ensuring the provision of free legal aid properly and timely.

• Legislatively, to envisage Defender’s mandatory participation in the pre-investigative and investigative processes in which are involved soldiers with suspect status, / Article 69 of the Criminal? Code of RA.

• To increase the staff of public defenders in Syunik region.

• In order to reduce the workload and increase the quality standards of the services of public defenders , to make the distinction, according to mandatory participation of public defenders’ that are involved in criminal cases and the work with the citizen that have the right to free legal help, of citizens with the right to work.

• Introduce mechanisms for the transparency and public accountability of public defenders’ work. / Eg , annual report of public defenders in the region, a public discussion, press conference.

THANK YOU