Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09YEREVAN27
2009-01-16 15:28:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Yerevan
Cable title:  

ARMENIAN JUDGE SEEKS LEGAL PRECEDENT TO REMOVE

Tags:  PHUM PGOV PREL KJUS COE AM 
pdf how-to read a cable
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PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHYE #0027 0161528
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 161528Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8526
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000027 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KJUS COE AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIAN JUDGE SEEKS LEGAL PRECEDENT TO REMOVE
DEFENDANTS FROM COURTROOM

Classified By: DCM Joseph Pennington, reasons 1.4 (b,d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000027

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KJUS COE AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIAN JUDGE SEEKS LEGAL PRECEDENT TO REMOVE
DEFENDANTS FROM COURTROOM

Classified By: DCM Joseph Pennington, reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) The judge who heads the criminal division of
Armenia's Cassation Court sought the Embassy Regional Legal
Adviser (RLA) office's help January 15 in obtaining Armenian
translations of European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) case
law pertaining to cases in which defendants have waived or
forfeited their rights to be physically present in the
courtroom at trial. RLA provided relevant translations,
which were available on-hand. This follows a prosecution
motion in the latest hearing in the so-called "Trial of
Seven" case for the judge to invoke ECHR case law as
justification to remove the unruly defendants from the
courtroom. The "Trial of Seven" defendants -- charged with
offenses related to the post-February 2008 election political
clashes -- have systematically disrupted each of five
attempts, to date, to hold hearings and have successfully
prevented the trial from proceeding.


2. (C) Armenian law provides no mechanism for the judge to
remove unruly or disruptive defendants from the courtroom so
that a trial may proceed. The Armenian constitution provides
an absolute right for the defendants to be present. The
"Trial of Seven" defendants have abused this right and
successfully prevented their trial from proceeding, with a
constant barrage of noisy interuptions, insults, slogans, and
catcalls, as the judge attempts to hear the case. Armenian
law and practice provide no clear means of imposing decorum
in the courtroom.


3. (C) COMMENT: With this overture, it seems likely that
the court is trying to find a ECHR justification for
undertaking practical and reasonable steps to regain control
of the courtroom and allow the Trial of Seven to proceed.
This is a reasonable and laudable goal. The problem faced by
the judge in this case is just one symptom of the larger
problem with Armenia's Soviet-legacy criminal justice system:
there has always been such a large gap between ivory-tower
legal theory and a (generally) corrupt and politically-driven
set of practices that the system has never been given the
legal and procedural tools to work in a practical, real-world
courtroom environment.
YOVANOVITCH