HCA Vanadzor Puts Precedential Right into Circulation

“We are not intending to replace the advocacy institutes, simply, the precedential right has the potential to become a stimulus for practicing justice,” Artur Sakunts, Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor stated today while meeting with reporters.

He noted that Helsinki Citizens’Assembly-Vanadzor initiated 20 judicial cases in the last 10 years and the analysis of those cases was recently published in the 412-page casebook, entitled “Precedential Right in the Process of Practicing Justice.”

Alex Sardar, Chief of Party of Counterpart International-Armenia the donor organization, stated that they willingly agreed to fund HCAV because they were very familiar with the activities of both the organization and its president, Artur Sakunts.

“Application of precedence in Armenia in judicial and justice spheres is still in the early stage of establishment. Precedent not only gives legal and advocacy opportunities to a limited group, such as lawyers and advocates, but also allows the general public to be informed about their rights and responsibilities, which will promote their free actions, be it related to the election or post-election period, or the sphere of human rights in general; i.e.it should be accessible to the general public,” stated Alex Sardar.

Director of “Arni Consult” LTD, lawyer and expert of the project, Ara Ghazaryan said that with all its flaws precedential rightdoes work. He said that while evaluating the results of the 20 strategic litigation cases conducted by Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, they tried to minimize the factor of subjectivity. The cases refer to violations of labor rights, assembly rights, the rights to freedom of information and public supervision.

“This book will greatly affect the development of precedential rights and restoration of violated human rights. One individual, the shepherd, whose mission was implemented by HCA Vanadzor, can go down in the history of rights; now the precedential right is being taught through one of the cases mentioned in the casebook,” said Ara Ghazaryan. Ghazaryan stated that 4 of the cases had a crucial impact, 6 cases were important, and the rest were neutral; however, none of the cases had a negative effect. In 7 cases the right was completely restored, in 2 cases it was partially restored, and in 9 cases it was not restored. 1 of the cases was not evaluated because it is still in process.

Source: www.tert.am