Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (left) with Parliament Speaker Ara Babloyan
YEREVAN—Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Parliament Speaker Ara Babloyan on Monday held a rare meeting, during which the upcoming special parliamentary elections were discussed with the two leaders summing up their talks with a bullet-pointed announcement.
Babloyan, who is a member of ousted prime minister Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia recently has voiced his criticism of the Pashinyan administration as it relates to the case against former president Robert Kocharian who has been charged with breaching Armenia’s constitutional order in relation to the post-election standoff between protesters and police on March 1, 2008 when eight civilians and two police officers were killed. Kocharian was remanded to custody but was later released following an appeal by his attorneys.
For his part, Pashinyan has maintained that his administration, unlike his predecessors, does not intervene in the judiciary. On August 17, during a rally marking his first 100 days of office, Pashinyan had terse words for certain segment of the judiciary, hinting that some judges remain on the so-called payrolls of political forces in Armenia.
The following is a four-point announcement that emanated from Monday’s meeting, setting the stage for complex discussions and negotiations over the special parliamentary elections, that Pashinyan has signaled will take place sometime early next year.
Regardless of political views everyone in Armenia has the right to freedom of expression and differing opinions;
Independence of the judiciary is a key guarantee for ensuring justice in the country; therefore the separation and balance mechanism of legislative, executive and judicial powers should not be undermined in any event;
Armenia’s judicial system has not yet exhausted itself with all its tools in the implementation of justice. However, if the sides come to a conclusion based on political discussions that there is a need to initiate “transitional justiceâ€
