Daily News
NK-Related News Compiled from Reliable Sources*

The Constitution adopted in December 2006 provides for important reforms, including in the judicial system. What changes will the judicial system undergo and which laws will be made compliant with the Constitution? We asked this question to the chief justice of the NKR Supreme Court Vladimir Osipyan.

“In NKR the first stage of the judicial reform was carried out in 1998-2002. Nevertheless, the laws were often amended. The Constitution set the basic principles of the judicial reform to be carried out within two years. After the reform we will have a judicial system consisting of the First Instance Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. In accordance with the law, specialized first instance courts may be set up. Hence, a three-level judicial system will be established in Karabakh with the Supreme Court at the top including the Court of Cassation and the Constitutional Court.

The Supreme Court will administer constitutional law. According to the final and transitional provisions of the Constitution, immediately after the enactment of the Basic Law a number of provisions and principles on the courts will come in effect. Some of these changes will come in effect later. For instance, the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation will start functioning from June 1, 2009, and from July 1, 2009 any person can appeal to the Constitutional Court for definite cases on which a verdict was passed. But only if all the means of defense have been used and the ruling of the court is against the Constitution,” Vladimir Osipyan said.

According to the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the courts will continue to perform the functions under the constitution until the new judicial system will be formed.

“Within 2 years after the adoption of the Constitution the parliament must adopt a number of laws on the constitution of the court, the Council for Justice, the status of judges, standards of behavior, the Court Service on Constitutional Law, the judicial department, etc. There is little time, and there is a lot of do,” said Vladimir Osipyan.