Restrictions on Access to Cassation Court under the Recent Procedural Rules
12:36, June 13, 2014 | Announcements, Own | Right to an Effective Remedy of Legal Protection, Right to Fair Trial
On November 29, 2013, the amended draft Criminal Procedure Code was submitted to the National Assembly or the RA. One of the provisions in the draft stipulates that non-lawyer private participants can file an appeal before the court of cassation only via an advocate.
It is noteworthy that this provision is closely related to the need for both equal access to advocate services and a well-established free legal aid system in the RA. Even if such restrictions pursue a legitimate aim, it should be stated that they appear to be ill-timed in view of the severe difficulties on the way of providing everybody with access to the court of cassation at the current stage of both advocate services, and free legal aid system.
Apart from their pointless nature and risk of extra obstacles to the proper exercise of the right to a fair trial, such legal regulations are also in contradiction of the RA law as well as stances expressed throughout the case law practices of the RA Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
The RA Administrative Procedure Code effective since January 7, 2014 also contains similar legal regulations. This provision of the Administrative Procedure Code in itself involves the risk above. Nevertheless, as for the Criminal Procedure Code, it would be more reasonable to impose the restrictions on access to the court of cassation only under administrative procedure based on the assessment of their impact.
Guided by the requirement to ensure an equal access to courts within the right to a fair trial, the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office conducted a legal analysis of the issue at hand and developed a recommendation submitted in February-March of this year to the Ministry of Justice and the RA NA Standing Committee of State and Legal Affairs.
We hereby provide the complete analysis of the issue.