Candidate for SJC Member Yeranuhi Tumanyants: If elected, I will make unremitting efforts to create an independent judiciary and a judiciary enjoying the trust of the public

"If elected, I will make unremitting efforts to create an independent judiciary and a judiciary enjoying the trust of the public," the candidate nominated for the position of the member of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Yeranuhi Tumanyants assured while debating the item of election of the SJC member at the NA sitting on October 6.

Pursuant to Article 144.2 of the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, the Civil Contract Faction of the National Assembly nominated Yeranuhi Tumanyants for the position of a member of the Supreme Judicial Council. The item was debated in accordance with the established procedure of Article 135 of the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly.

Vladimir Vardanyan, a member of the Civil Contract Faction, presented the candidate's biographical data, professional qualities and work experience of the candidate.

According to Yeranuhi Tumanyants, the future of the stable development of our country should be conditioned to a great extent by the use of toolkits aimed at ensuring the legal security of the country. In this context, she referred to the effective activity of about 300 judges. The candidate highlighted the activity of responsible and dignified judges in order to ensure the legal security, who will have professional and human qualities that inspire confidence in justice.

As an important progress in the field, Yeranuhi Tumanyants noted that in the reports of international partners in 2021, as a result of the work done to strengthen the independent judiciary among the Eastern partner countries, Armenia took the first place.

During the Q&A, the MP Zaruhi Batoyan expressed her opinion that the concept "public interest" is not clearly defined by legislation. She tried to understand whether the issues of the field are caused by the legislation or the judicial system. Yeranuhi Tumanyants clarified that there is no specific concept of "public interest." According to her, relations related to public interest should be regulated on an individual level, each case should be discussed. "This is the international best practice, this is also what the European Court of Human Rights, clarifying that each case is subject to separate consideration," the candidate said.

MP Knyaz Hasanov's question related to the lack of number of judges, the delay of a number of court cases. Yeranuhi Tumanyants emphasized that in case of being elected as a member of the Supreme Judicial Council, the scope of her powers is different and it is not possible to have a direct influence on keeping reasonable deadlines. According to her, it is necessary to understand the objective and subjective reasons for keeping reasonable deadlines: if they are objective then solutions should be found, and if not, responsibility measures should be applied.