Speaking of the issue of vetting in the judicial system in an interview with Lragir,am, TI Armenia Project Director, Varuzhan Hoktanyan has noted that there is a risk all of the problems of the judiciary will remain, politicized decisions will be handed down by courts to please the authorities and the reward for that service will be turning a blind eye to their corruption

Hoktanyan has said that unfortunately the executive branch has always tried to rule over the judiciary in Armenia and circumscribe their independence. According to the TI Armenia expert, this is the real test: are there going to be political sentences dictated to the courts or not. And if yes, then we should also wait for corruption, and in such a case no vetting will help.

Whenever commenting on why they changed their mind regarding the vetting of judges, the authorities point out the fact that there is no available pool of specialists to replace the existing judges. According to Hoktanyan, if this really were an issue and there was no reserve of “clean” judges available, then they should have been plain about this in May of 2018 and said that they were forced to choose a different path despite all of its risks. However, this path does not guarantee that the judicial system will heal.

Original source: Lragir.am