“The situation in Armenia has not aggravated as much as in Azerbaijan and Turkey. This is due to the fact that a group of advocates is still resisting. Some advocates claim that the Chamber of Advocates has long turned into an instrument against professional freedom in the hands of the government, which endangers the professional freedom of advocates”, advocate Vahe Grigoryan made such a speech at the conference attended by advocates from Armenia and member-states of Council of Europe.
Then Grigoryan pointed out another problem: the issue of disciplinary proceedings against the advocates of the Chamber. According to him, those are not made fairly. “Disciplinary proceedings are constantly being instigated against advocates dealing with cases with political motives. For example, the case against Arayik Papikyan was canceled, but only for the purpose of presenting it as an example in such events”.
Vahe Grigoryan announced: “In some cases, the Chamber of Advocates is in secret cooperation with the Special Services and the authorities of the Republic of Armenia. It is enough for the latter to keep the Chamber of Lawyers under their control”.
According to Vahe Grigoryan, there are also problems connected to Chamber of Advocates meetings: “The impression is that decisions are made in advance. Besides, there is one more problem. Violence against advocates by members of the Chamber: so far no one has been held accountable
Luiza SUKIASYAN