PRESS RELEASE

Today, April 13, at the “Garni” Hall of the “Ani Plaza” Hotel, a round-table meeting was held during which challenges and difficulties in the public defense system of the Republic of Armenia were discussed. Additionally, suggestions were offered aimed at the improvement of thepublic defense system based on current issuesin Armenia and the findings of research of public defense systems in the US and a number of European countries.

The meeting was organized by the “Helsinki Association”human rights NGO. Representatives of the Chamber of Advocates, the Office of Public Defender, human rights NGOs, the mass media, individual advocates and other interested people attended.

The meeting lasted longer than planned. Agreeing with the presented challenges, the participants initiated an active and interesting discussion, presented their views and made new proposals, also agreeing that further meetings would be required.

The meeting was the first round-table discussion held within the framework of the project “Human Rights Monitoring and Advocacy”. The project aims toincrease the efficiency of justice in Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor, to raise public awareness and legal protectability. Among the activities of the project is the monitoring of trials in involvement with public defenders in the courts of different instances. The second meeting is scheduledfor the next month, which will be more expanded and representative-oriented and will focus on summarizing the received proposals.

The round-table meeting materials will soon be available at www.hahr.am and www.hrtv.am.

“Helsinki Association” NGO