The official reason for the disciplinary proceedings against the judge, Vahe Misakian, is his handling of another trial that involved Vazgen Manukian, a veteran politician who was accused in 2021 of calling for a violent overthrow of the government. Manukian was convicted and fined 400,000 drams (just over $1,000) in June this year.
The Ministry of Justice claims that Misakian artificially dragged out Manukian’s trial. The judge denied that as the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) began on Tuesday hearings on the petition. He said the trial lasted for three years because of his work overload and law-enforcement bodies’ failure to ensure the prominent defendant’s attendance of court hearings scheduled by him.
“I obviously don’t agree with the ministry’s petition,” Misakian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday. “I’m now working in that direction in order to present my full arguments at the September 23 session [of the SJC.]”
The judge declined to comment on widespread suggestions that the real reason for the ministry’s appeal to the SJC is his decision to acquit Sarkisian at the end of a four-year trial in May. He said only that he continues to believe that the ex-president is innocent.
Incidentally, prosecutors announced on Tuesday, shortly after the first SJC hearing on Misakian, that they have appealed against the acquittal.
Misakian has already been twice reprimanded by the judicial oversight body. He will be removed from the bench in case of a third disciplinary action.
Armenia - The Supreme Judicial Council (SCJC) announces its decision to sack judge Anna Danibekian, Yerevan, July 16, 2024.
As recently as in July, the SJC, which is headed by a political ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, fired another judge, Anna Danibekian, who presided over the marathon trial of Robert Kocharian, another former Armenian president at odds with the current government.
That trial ended without a verdict last December, with Kocharian invoking the statute of limitations that expired in May 2023. The SJC backed the Justice Ministry’s claim that Danibekian failed to prevent Kocharian from dragging out the trial.
Danibekian’s sacking stoked claims by Armenian opposition leaders and legal experts that Pashinian’s government is seeking to further curb judicial independence in the country under the guise of Western-backed “judicial reforms.” The government denies that.
The SJC chairman, Karen Andreasian, is a former justice minister and member of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party. The number of disciplinary proceedings against judges initiated by the Ministry of Justice has increased significantly on his watch.
Scores of judges have been sacked as a result. One of them, Davit Harutiunian, was removed from the bench in July 2023 after saying that the SJC arbitrarily fires his colleagues at the behest of a single person.