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On January 22, on the RA NA deputies’ initiative by the decision of the NA Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan, the parliament convened an extraordinary sitting having two items on the agenda.

The item of the election of the Supreme Judicial Council member was debated. The NA Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan informed that according to Article 144.2 of the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure, My Step Faction of the National Assembly nominated as a candidate for the member of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) member Gagik Jhangiryan. The item was under debate by the established order of Article 135 of the law NA Rules of Procedure.

On behalf of the Faction Vladimir Vardanyan presented the candidate. He noted that the NA My Step faction, being led by Article 8.1.9 and Article 144.2 of the law the NA Rules of Procedure, proposed the candidate for the SJC member Gagik Jhangiryan. Vladimir Vardanyan presented the candidate’s biographical data, brief information on professional and pedagogical activities.

The candidate for the SJC member Gagik Jhangiryan thanked the NA My Step Faction for nominating his candidacy and expressed satisfaction to all parliamentary factions for holding the discussions over his candidacy in the friendly, warm and professional atmosphere. The candidate touched upon a number of problems regarding the SJC and the independence of the courts.

In the Q & A session they referred to some details of the candidate’s activities, a number of bad phenomena existing in the judicial system, the loading of the courts, the ensuring of the judges’ social and working conditions, the implementation of the judicial-legal reforms, the efficiency of the anti-corruption courts’ activities, the delay of March 1 trial and other issues.

The legislators welcomed the candidate’s readiness and courage for assuming great responsibility in this hard period for the state. Gagik Jhangiryan was characterized as one of the founders of the judicial-legal system in our country.

In their speeches the MPs voiced the citizens’ concerns, particularly on the absence of justice in the country. They expressed hope that the candidates for the SJC members could solve with their effective work the problems existing in the system and would take steps for the complete establishment of justice.

In his final speech Gagik Jhangiryan thanked the MPs for the discussion and touched upon the concerns voiced by them. The candidate expressed regret that the deputies of the NA Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia factions did not take part in the discussion and noted that he would also like to listen to their advice being sent to work in the SJC.

According to Article 144.2 of the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure, My Step Faction of the National Assembly nominated as a candidate for the member of the SJC member Davit Khachaturyan.

On behalf of the RA NA My Step Faction, the deputy Arusyak Julhakyan presented the candidate Davit Khachaturyan’s biography and the passed rich working path.

Davit Khachaturyan referred to the judges’ appointment process, suspending of their powers and subjecting to disciplinary responsibility and presented his position. The rapporteur also introduced his approaches on the assessment of the judicial decisions and talked about unloading of the courts in terms of efficiency.

The MPs addressed questions to Davit Khachaturyan, which related to the necessity of the new professionalized courts’ formation, the expediency of the SJC, some parts of the candidate’s path, the judges’ appointment order and their legality, the judges’ behavior, the importance of implementing a vetting and its obstacles, the decrease of the SJC some powers, the protection of human rights, the justice fulfilment, etc.

During the exchange of ideas the legislators talked about certain episodes of the candidate’s working path, the problems of the judicial sphere and the mechanisms of their solution, the vulnerability of the system, highlighted the rise of the public trust towards this most important branch of the power and evaluated the full independence of the judicial system.

The MPs have considered very important the availability of the independent and established judicial system and the unbiased judging judges, which is a direct path to the development of state and democracy.

On behalf of the RA NA My Step Faction, the Head of the Faction Lilit Makunts gave a speech. She noted that My Step Faction, first of all, nominated the candidates being led by their professional qualities and basis of values. The Head of the Faction assessed positive the concerned debate and wished the candidates success.

his final speech Davit Khachaturyan thanked the MPs for nominating his candidacy, the concerned discussion and the trust and related to some MPs’ observations.

As a result of closed, secret ballot Gagik Jhangiryan was elected with 86 for and 3 against, and Davit Khachaturyan - with 85 for and 3 against votes. The Chair of the RA NA Accounting Vahagn Hovakimyan informed that 89 deputies took part in the election.

The new members of the Supreme Judicial Council assumed their powers by being sworn in.

Covering the agenda, the parliament ended the work of the extraordinary work.