Armenia’s judicial council reprimands judge Gevorg Manukyan

Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council reprimanded judge Gevorg Manukyan for withdrawing from Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan’s case, Sputnik Armenia said on 3 November, citing the council’s press service. The council granted the justice minister’s application for disciplinary action against the Armavir regional court judge.

The Justice Ministry submitted the application on 10 September. Before the hearing, neither the ministry nor the council had disclosed its grounds, Azatutyun said; the outlet said its own information linked the complaint to Manukyan’s withdrawal at the case’s first hearing.

Why the judge withdrew

Khachatryan’s lawyers asked Manukyan to withdraw because he had worked at the Armavir investigative office that investigated the criminal case. They said they had no objective evidence at the time that he was constrained, but could not rule that out later. Manukyan then withdrew.

The ministry said Manukyan had worked at the Armavir regional investigative department in 2008–2020. It said his reasons also involved previous working relations with the prosecutor and an investigation into the disappearance of drugs held as physical evidence. The ministry judged those circumstances insufficient for withdrawal and said his decision could be perceived as avoiding the administration of justice.

Khachatryan faces a charge of illegal drug distribution by a group acting by prior agreement, Sputnik said. Azatutyun described the allegation as placing drugs in another person’s bag 7 years earlier.

A separate complaint

Azatutyun said a similar complaint had been filed against judge Hakob Manukyan, who withdrew at the first hearing in Catholicos Karekin II’s case. The judge said the Catholicos’s lawyer, Ara Zohrabyan, had previously granted him a lawyer’s license, a circumstance he believed could lead an impartial observer to doubt his objectivity.