Chair of RA Chamber of Advocates: Convictions in Armenia  increased  by 400% since 2015

ArmInfo.  Since 2015, the number of guilty verdicts handed down by courts in Armenia has surged by approximately 400%, with 70% of these being traffic- related offenses, as reported by Simon Babayan, Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia.

He noted that there is currently much talk in Armenia about the workload of courts, prosecutors, investigative bodies, and public defenders. According to him, against this backdrop, the issue of delayed justice is being discussed, while a simple and very alarming situation is being ignored: the statistics on the number of criminal cases heard in court. Babayan added that the starting point for the study was the number of verdicts handed down by first-instance courts in the Republic of Armenia.

"In fact, since 2015, the number of verdicts has increased by approximately 400%. Of course, in some sense, this is due to the provisions of the new Criminal Procedure Code. However, when examining the nature of the verdicts, it becomes clear that approximately 70% of them relate to  road safety violations and established driving regulations (hereinafter, traffic crimes). In fact, since 2015, the number of verdicts has increased by approximately 400%. This means that in the Republic of Armenia, approximately 7,000 people are prosecuted annually for crimes against traffic safety and established driving regulations," the head of the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia noted.

According to him, by comparison, approximately 3,000 verdicts have been handed down for all other types of crimes provided for by the Criminal Code. Babayan also considered it necessary to point out that the majority of convictions for transport crimes entail a fine, and at least 2.5 billion drams are annually transferred to the state budget as a result.

"And here the question arises: by prosecuting 7,000 people annually, are we fighting  socially dangerous acts or ensuring a steady flow of budget revenues? Of course, the need for criminal liability for certain types of transport crimes is indisputable, but it is obvious that these volumes have exceeded the limits of reason. In fact, since 2015, the number of convictions has increased by approximately 400%, and 70% of this burden falls on transport crimes," Babayan concluded.

It is worth noting that discussions dedicated to Judicial System Day were held in Yerevan today. Armenia's top leadership participated in the event. Among other issues, the discussions addressed the issue of delays in justice within the country.