Judge Archives

Yerevan protesters call to terminate the powers of judge who freed Kocharyan

August 14, 2018 By administrator

YEREVAN. – The protesters in Yerevan headed to the office of the Supreme Judicial Council demanding the termination of Judge Alexander Azaryan’s powers who had freed Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan.

On Monday, the Court of Appeal granted Robert Kocharyan’s legal defenders’ appeal to commute the first-instance court’s decision on remanding their client in custody, and Kocharyan was released from courtroom.

The protesters, who had assembled in downtown Yerevan, burst into the hall where the press conference of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan was about the kick off on Tuesday.

After ruining the press conference, activists reached to the General Attorney’s Office and continued the action there.

Istanbul: Dink case judge Bunyamin Karakash detained over Gulen probe

December 3, 2016 By administrator

Bünyamin Karakaş, one of the judges trying suspects of Hrant Dink’s murder, was arrested on Dec. 2, 2016 (Source: Hurriyet Daily News)

One of the judges who is trying 35 suspects for the murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in 2007 was detained on December 2 on accusations that he is tied to the Gülenist organization.
Bunyamin Karakash, who did not attend the Friday hearing, was apprehended by police teams while he was in his room at the Istanbul courthouse. The detention came during a recess in the hearing in which suspect Ramazan Akyürek was in the dock, Hurriyet Daily News reports.
The court, gathering after the short break, decided to adjourn its meeting for two hours due to Karakaş’s detention.
Karakash was among 192 judges and prosecutors who were sought for detention as part of a probe into Gulenists opened by Ankara prosecutors on December 1.
Some 55 of the legal personnel were serving in Istanbul.

A total of 191 judges and prosecutors out of the 192 were suspended as part of the investigation, said a judicial source.
No administrative actions were taken against one suspect because he had retired although he remains on a wanted list.
The suspects were said to be serving at first-degree courts.
To date, more than 3,600 judges and prosecutors have been dismissed since the July 15 coup attempt that left 248 dead and nearly 2,200 wounded.
The Gulenist organization, led by US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, is accused of orchestrating Turkey’s July 15 coup plot.
In the Dink case, hearings against former Police Intelligence Department personnel began on November 28.
Dink was shot dead at the age of 52 in broad daylight outside the offices of the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos in central Istanbul on January 19, 2007.
Ogun Samast, then a 17-year-old jobless high-school dropout, confessed to the murder and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail in 2011.
But the case grew into a wider scandal after it emerged that the security forces had been aware of a plot to kill Dink but failed to act.

Armenian judge caught red-handed

October 28, 2016 By administrator

A judge of a Yerevan district court was arrested at the moment of accepting bribe in a special operation launched by the National Security Service (NSS).
Ishkhan Barseghyan, who worked at the Court of First Instance of Yerevan’s Shengavit Administrative District, was seen receiving US $1,000 in an underground passage, the NSS press service reports.
The materials pertaining to the criminal case have been submitted to the General Prosecutor’s Office.

Source: tert.am

Armenia ex-ombudsman becomes ECtHR judge

June 23, 2015 By administrator

Armen Harutyunyan

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s ex-ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan has been selected Armenia’s judge to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Arpine Hovhannisyan, member of the Armenian delegation of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) wrote in her Facebook page.

“The results of ECtHR judge selection have just been announced. Armen Harutyunyan has been selected a judge by an absolute majority of votes,” she wrote.

The three candidates, Armen Harutyunyan, Arayik Ghazaryan and Liana Hakobyan got 119, 15 and 23 votes respectively. 79 votes were necessary for selection.

Video: International Judge Geoffrey Robertson explain Turkish crime against Humanity (Armenian genocide)

August 3, 2014 By administrator

International Judge Geoffrey Robertson

Bibliography:

Geoffrey Robertson: is founder and head of Doughty Street Chambers, the UK’s leading human rights practice, which comprises some 80 barristers and 30 staff. He is a Bencher of the Middle Temple; and a Recorder (part-time judge) in London; an executive Member of Justice, and a trustee of the Capital Cases Trust. He is visiting Professor in Human Rights at Queen Mary College, University of London. He lives in London with his wife, author Kathy Lette, and their two children.

Armenian genocide:
In April 1915 the Ottoman government embarked upon the systematic decimation of its civilian Armenian population. The persecutions continued with varying intensity until 1923 when the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist and was replaced by the Republic of Turkey. The Armenian population of the Ottoman state was reported at about two million in 1915. An estimated one million had perished by 1918, while hundreds of thousands had become homeless and stateless refugees. By 1923 virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolian Turkey had disappeared.

The Ottoman Empire was ruled by the Turks who had conquered lands extending across West Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe. The Ottoman government was centered in Istanbul (Constantinople) and was headed by a sultan who was vested with absolute power. The Turks practiced Islam and were a martial people. The Armenians, a Christian minority, lived as second class citizens subject to legal restrictions which denied them normal safeguards. Neither their lives nor their properties were guaranteed security. As non-Muslims they were also obligated to pay discriminatory taxes and denied participation in government. Scattered across the empire, the status of the Armenians was further complicated by the fact that the territory of historic Armenia was divided between the Ottomans and the Russians.