On May 19, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan made an announcement on his Facebook page, calling on people to block all the entrances and exits to the courts in the country. A few hours prior to that, he had written that he would announce the start of the second, most important stage of the revolution, where he expects everyone’s support.
As a reminder, on May 18, Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan was released from pre-trial detention by the Court of General Jurisdiction of Avan and Nor Nork administrative districts in Yerevan. On May 16, the current and former presidents of Karabakh were physically present at the court hearing to provide personal guarantees for Kocharyan to be released from pre-trial detention.
On the evening of May 19, following Nikol Pashinyan’s announcement of blocking the entrances and exits of the courts, the Supreme Judicial Council of Armenia held an extraordinary session to discuss the situation.
According to The Council, an advisory meeting had been scheduled for May 20 at 12:00p.m. with the prime minister, to discuss the fundamental issues of judiciary reform. Taking into account that the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council had been confirmed to participate in the meeting, the council has decided:
1) To express a comprehensive position on the situation during the session after the consultation meeting.
2) Considering the disruption of the normal functioning of the courts unacceptable, the Council at the same time calls on judges and all the judiciary employees to display utmost restraint and stay exclusively within the legal framework.
Zara Poghosyan
