AMBASSADOR'S INTRODUCTORY CALL WITH NEW CASSATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001010

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM KJUS AM
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S INTRODUCTORY CALL WITH NEW CASSATION
COURT PRESIDENT

REF: YEREVAN 773

YEREVAN 00001010 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: AMB Marie L. Yovanovitch, reasons 1.4 (b,d).

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) On December 2, the Ambassador had an introductory
meeting with Judge Arman Mkrtumian, the newly appointed
President of Armenia's Cassation Court, and Karen Matevosian,
Head of the Judicial Department of the Court. The judicial
officials briefed the Ambassador on planned reforms to the
Cassation Court, and the adoption of the case law system in
Armenia. They also agreed with the Ambassador that the
recently approved increase in judges' salaries is a positive
anti-corruption measure that should bolster the judiciary's
independence. END SUMMARY.

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PLANNED CASSATION COURT REFORMS
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2. (C) On December 2, the Ambassador had an introductory
meeting with Judge Arman Mkrtumian, the newly appointed
President of the Cassation Court of Armenia, and Karen
Matevosian, the Head of the Judicial Department of the
Cassation Court. (COMMENT: The Cassation Court is the
highest judiciaryy body in Armenia for all cases that do not
pose Constitutional issues. Armenia's President Serzh
Sargsian appointed Mkrtumian President of the Court of
Cassation on September 17, a day after his predecessor
Hovhannes Manukian abruptly resigned (reftel). Media reports
at the time speculated that President Sargsian engineered the
shakeup in order to have someone personally loyal to him in
the position. A senior presidential staffer told CDA at the
time that Manukian had been forced to resign due to his
tolerance of corruption. END COMMENT.)


3. (C) According to the officials, Armenia's parliament
recently approved -- in a first reading only that still
requires a second and third reading before enactment -- a
judicial reform package that will improve the operations of
the Cassation Court. The planned reforms will do the
following: a) broaden the right to bring a case to the
Cassation Court so that individual citizens may directly
apply to the court for relief, without being required to
apply through specially licensed advocates, which had become
a source of corruption; b) augment the number of judges to
the Cassation Court, with an emphasis on specialization for
those sitting in the Criminal Chamber or the Civil Chamber
(at present there are seven Cassation Court judges; that will
be increased to seventeen); c) clarify the procedures and
remedies on how newly discovered evidence may be considered
by the courts; and d) abolish Armenia's specialized courts in
order to promote judicial economy, with their work being
consolidated into the existing sixteen regional district
courts. Ten of the specialized court judges will be
transferred to the Cassation Court and the remaining
thirty-three will serve in the regional district courts. The
President of the Cassation Court told the Ambassador that he
was hopeful that greater specialization within each regional
court, on the civil and criminal sides, would promote
efficiency, result in better judicial decisions, and reduce
the number of appeals.

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ARMENIA'S ADOPTION OF CASE LAW
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4. (C) The Ambassador and President Mkrtumian discussed the
degree to which Armenia has adopted the case law system of
jurisprudence. Mkrtumian maintained that Armenia has adopted
the case law system to a great extent, that the Cassation
Court must follow the cases of the European Court of Human
Rights, and that the decisions of the Cassation Court are
binding on Armenian judges. When asked about what challenges
still existed to make the law in Armenia more predictable and
reliable, the President of the Court acknowledged that there
is still a way to go, as "the Cassation Court has not yet
found its exact place in the system." When asked about how
the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights affect
Armenian jurisprudence, President Mkrtumian stated that the
European Court had a "huge influence," as Armenian judges
must follow the decisions of the European Court. The judge
noted that the members of his Court studied the errors of
other countries, as discussed in the decisions of the
European Court, as well as cases directly involving Armenia.

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MORE PAY FOR JUDGES, LESS CORRUPTION

YEREVAN 00001010 002.2 OF 002


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5. (C) The Ambassador noted the fact that Armenia's
parliament had recently doubled the salaries of judges, and
said this was a good sign to ensure quality and promote the
independence of Armenia's judiciary. President Mkrtumian
concurred, and stated that the salary increase was a major
victory in efforts to deter corruption. President Mkrtumian
was hopeful that the total compensation received by a judge
over the course of his career, including his pension, would
be sufficiently high so that Armenian judges would not risk
that compensation by soliciting or receiving bribes.

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COMMENT
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6. (C) Armenia's judiciary remains beset by serious and
endemic problems. Low judicial salaries have spawned bribery
and corruption, the Cassation Court's decisions have been
scattershot, with no uniform application of the law, and
public confidence in the courts historically has been low.
The public's confidence sagged even further in the wake of
Armenia's post-election unrest in March, and the Armenian
procuracy's overwhelmingly "successful" prosecution rate --
since then -- of scores of political opponents of the ruling
regime. Most significantly, the judiciary remains a tool of
the executive branch, with the judicial branch taking its
cues from the president on all major issues. Against this
daunting backdrop, it will require significant political will
to move the Armenian judiciary in the right direction. If
Mkrtumian manages to live up to his touted reformist streak,
and bring about a more efficient court administration, we
could realistically see some slight yet positive changes to
the judiciary. The higher judicial salaries, while long
overdue, are definitely a step in the right direction.
YOVANOVITCH