As it was expected, yesterday the RA Justice council made a decision to submit a petition to the RA president to cease the liabilities of first-instance court of Kentron and Nork-Marash communities Pargev Ohanyan. The president has two weeks to decide whether to approve that petition or no (if no decision is taken within this term, the petition will be considered as rejected). To note, this proceeding was instituted against the judge after he decided to act independently and made a decision to set free the heads of “Royal Armenia” company, who were accusing the customs committee in bribery. This means that the judge managed to act against the corrupted system, which is out of the understanding of “an organized state”, thus they could not forgive it. Anyway, the lawyer of Prgev Ohanyan has said that if president Kocharyan approved that petition, they would apply to the European court.
Yesterday the Council for Justice of RA upheld the decision of the Disciplinary Commission and petitioned RA President Robert Kocharyan to suspend Judge Pargev Ohanyan’s powers. To remind, disciplinary proceedings were taken against Pargev Ohanyan on September 4, a judge of Kentron and Nork-Marash communities. The judicial bodies found no violations in the July 16 acquittal of Gagik Hakobyan, the main owner of the Royal Armenia coffee packaging company, and one of its top executives, Aram Ghazaryan and Gagik Hakobyan, who had been arrested and charged with fraud in October 2005 after publicly accusing senior customs officials of corruption. The owners of the “Royal Armenia” are sure that the proceedings launched against them are the order of the government. In this case it turns out that by vindicating the businessmen judge Pargev Ohanyan went against the government and the state system. The media publicized information that during the last session of the court, RA President Kocharyan was present at the Court of Cassation and has strictly reprimanded judge Ohanyan for making decisions on their own.
Ohanyan implied all along that he believed he faced disciplinary action for his handling of the controversial Royal Armenia case. The Justice Board has examined the 2006-2007 cases heard by Ohanyan and has found violations in 16 criminal and 4 civil cases handled by the judge. In one of the violations the judge delivered the verdict to the suspect with a delay. According to another violation the hearing of the case of postponed for 5-6 months because the suspect and his attorney haven’t showed up in the court sessions. And these violations have become a reason for the Justice Board to ask Kocharyan to suspend Judge Pargev Ohanyan’s powers. “This decision was no surprise for me,” said Ohanyan to the journalists. “This is the maximum punishment,” said Ohanyan’s attorney Haik Alumyan. “In case of such violations they usually give you a disciplinary notice or a strict notification. These violations are the result of the imagination of the examiners and evidently a straight order.”
Ohanyan doesn’t exclude that this decision is a result of the last court trial he had heard, during which he had justified the owners of the “Royal Armenia, Hakobyan and Ghazaryan.” Ohanyan’s powers as judge will be terminated if the president backs the Council of Justice’s petition within the next two weeks. To question whether he regrets for his verdict on “Royal Armenia,” Ohanyan said, “Surely not. A judge must not regret for his verdict. “I am going to have a rest,” said Mr. Ohanyan. “Although at this stage it’s not yet clear because Kocharyan hasn’t yet confirmed his decision. I should work till that happens. But I really need rest. I am tired of work, court trials and in particular of this last one. I don’t have the feeling that justice has been done. Instead, I feel relieved in some inexplicable way. I feel it is a classical example of persecution for justice which should bring relieve according to biblical ideas,” he told reporters.” According to Ohanyan there are certain elements in the violations of his cases, which have been originated due to the incompleteness of the legislation. “Although I don’t want to connect everything with the incompleteness of the law. In the meantime I think that a new breath must be given to the laws. It’s wrong to cringe on every single word of the law. Instead it needs to be revived,” said Ohanyan. To the question whether he has any informed or has ever felt that there was pressure on the Justice Council to make this decisions Ohanyan said, “In my opinion it is not their decision.” He didn’t clearly answer the question whether he was pressured on when examining the case of “Royal Armenia”. “Perhaps the ones, who would wish to press on me, were sure that the businessmen wouldn’t be vindicated. Perhaps that is the reason why they didn’t press on me. All I have to say is that I have never gone against my conscience. Of course, there have been hesitations but in those cases I relied only on the upper court decision or God,” he said.
We decided to find out his opinion of the current judicial system especially under the circumstances that he may soon resign it. Is the juridical system of our country developed? Do people feel safe about the system or do the judges feel independence in their activities? To these questions Ohanyan answered very short, “Unfortunately there is little positive I can say although there are changes compared to the Soviet system. But there is still a lot to be done. In my opinion the judicial system in Armenia is not independent.” After his resignation Ohanyan is not going to addition the list of young pensioners. In his words he is going to fight for justice from the other side. He didn’t meanwhile exclude the option of being in politics. However he is still waiting for the final decision of the RA President. Perhaps the President may be open-hearted enough to forgive him especially when there are only a few violations. “Otherwise I have many other plans to fight for the development of the judicial system, which I will realize by all means,” said Ohanyan. “I will probably establish a private legal office, will be engaged in the science, study English. I may even be in politics, making laws for the Parliament. I don’t know whether I am going to be in government or opposition yet.”