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.