“Court of Appeals is unpredictable”
The science-analysis center adjunct to the RA Chamber of Advocates is concerned about the powers given to the RA Court of Appeals and its role in the judicial system.
Coordinator of the center, lawyer Ara Zohrabyan is concerned that "the RA Court of Appeals, which is considered the highest court instance, is unpredictable for the society."
The RA Court of Appeals, which accepts cases without objectivity, still hasn't set the rules of the gamae.
The decisions on accepting the complaints are not explained, and as a result, lawyers and other advocates have trouble understanding which weighty argument served as grounds for accepting the complaint, or which decision of the lower court contradicted that of the RA Court of Appeals.
The Appeals Court's big opportunity for discretion has many risks.
The RA Court of Appeals also doesn't try to have its impact on the development of law (for the sake of fairness, it should be mentioned that in terms of criminal cases, the RA Court of Appeals has taken many daring, objective decisions for certain issues). This is the reason why sometimes lawyers rely on the RA Constitutional Court (even though the CC isi not a fourth instance and only executes constitutional justice).
When returning the complaints, the RA Court of Appeals gives formulations that also concern lawyers. For instance, the person complaining has violated a rule of procedure since he hasn't given a sufficient explanation of the grounds for accepting the complaint. It turns out that the lawyer is already violating the law by exercising his right to complain.
We find that one of the reasons for this is that the society doesn't trust the court system."
