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The examination of appeals in criminal cases is being carried out on the basis of facts established by the Court of First Instance and evidence investigated. The Code also provides the participants in the proceedings with the opportunity to submit a motion to examine the evidence within the framework of the reexamination, and the Code establishes a high evidentiary threshold for the satisfaction of such a motion, which can often result in both the rejection of the motion and the failure to submit such a motion. As a result, it turns out that in the event of failure to submit a motion to examine the evidence, the Court of Appeal conducts an examination of the appeal within the framework of the factual circumstances established by the Court of First Instance, convening court hearings for this purpose and incurring expenses as a result of the use of significant resources. The RA Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan voiced about this. She noted that in such conditions, in terms of ensuring the legal significance of the institute of appeal, it is important to develop such procedural rules that will provide an opportunity to alleviate the suboptimal workload of the courts and also solve the issues regarding the examination of appeals within reasonable time limits and ensuring the efficiency of justice. In this context, the draft proposes to establish a general regulation, according to which, appeals in criminal proceedings will be examined in a written procedure.

It was underlined that certain exceptions will be established in cases where, upon the motion of a party or on its own initiative, the court concludes that a re-examination is necessary through an oral procedure or when the Court of Appeal grants a motion to submit new evidence or examine evidence.

“The written procedure in criminal proceedings is not new, and some proceedings are now being examined in written form. The draft adds the entire review proceedings to the list of these proceedings,” the Minister stated.

According to Srbuhi Galyan, the draft also proposes to establish a six-month period for the examination of appeals, which can be extended once by a reasoned decision of the court for up to four months.

The Chair of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs Vladimir Vardanyan made a co-report. Urging his colleagues to vote in favour of the initiative, the MP noted that it is aimed at introducing efficient procedural procedures and achieving a certain predictability in the examination of cases in court.

The bill on Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Criminal Procedure Code was debated in the first reading at the sitting of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs and endorsed on November 5.