GENERAL PART
Section One : GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 2. PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
Article 7. Legitimacy
1. The agency for inquest, the investigator, the prosecutor, the court, the judge, and any other person participating in criminal proceedings shall be obligated to observe the Constitution, this Code, and other laws.
2. In connection with a criminal case, no person may be detained, arrested, searched, taken into custody, or subjected to any other measure of procedural compulsion or conviction or other restriction of his rights and freedoms otherwise than on the grounds and by procedure prescribed by law.
3. The agency for inquest, the investigator, the prosecutor, the court, and the judge shall apply the law in accordance with their own legal knowledge.
Article 8. Equality of All Before the Law
All people are equal before the law and shall enjoy equal protection of the law, without any discrimination.
Article 9. Respect for the Rights, Freedoms and Dignity of an Individual
1. Respect for the rights, freedoms, and dignity of a person is mandatory for all bodies and persons participating in criminal proceedings.
2. The court can warrant temporary limitation of the rights and freedoms of individuals as well as imposition of measures of procedural compulsion only in cases, where the necessity of such warrant is supported with appropriate legal grounds.
3. In the course of criminal proceedings, no one shall be kept in conditions humiliating human dignity.
4. No one may be forced to participate in procedural actions humiliating his dignity.
5. Everyone has the right to defend his rights and freedoms by any means not prohibited by law.
Article 10. Ensuring the Right to Legal Assistance
1. Everyone has the right to receive legal assistance, in accordance with the provisions of this Code.
2. The body conducting criminal proceedings, shall be obligated to ensure that the suspect or the accused receive legal assistance.
3. During criminal proceedings, the civil claimant or his legal representative, the legal representative of the suspect or the accused, as well as the civil defendant shall have the right to enjoy the legal assistance of lawyers invited by them.
4. During interrogation of the injured party, the body of criminal prosecution shall have no right to prohibit the attendance of the attorney invited by the injured party as legal representative.
5. The body conducting the criminal proceedings is entitled to provide the suspect or the accused with free legal counselling based on the financial situation of the latter.
Article 11. Immunity of Person
1. Everyone has the right to liberty and immunity.
2. No one may be taken into custody and deprived of his liberty except on the grounds and by procedure stipulated in this Code.
3. Arrest, keeping in custody, or forcible placement of a person with a medical or correction institution shall be allowed only by warrant of the court. A person may not be subjected to detention for more than 96 hours unless a relevant warrant is issued by the court.
4. Everyone who is detained or arrested shall be informed promptly of the reasons for his detention or arrest, as well as the factual circumstances and legal description of the offense, the commission of which is incriminated to him, or suspected in.
5. The court, as well as the agency for inquest, the investigator, and the prosecutor shall be obligated to promptly order the release of any detained person, if the detention is not lawful. The head of administration of a detention facility shall have no right to place, without a warrant of the court or any other grounds prescribed by this Code, any person into custody, and shall be obligated to release any person, whose detention period has expired.
6. Search or physical examination of a person, as well as other procedural actions interfering with the immunity of a person, can be conducted in cases and by procedure prescribed by this Code.
7. In the course of criminal proceedings, no one shall be subjected to torture, unlawful physical or mental violence, including the use of drugs, hunger, exhaustion, hypnosis, deprivation of medical aid, and any other cruel treatment. It shall be prohibited to use force, threats, fraud, violation of rights, and other unlawful methods while trying to obtain testimony from the suspect, the accused, the defendant, the injured party, the witness, and other persons participating in criminal proceedings.
8. It shall be prohibited to get a person involved in long investigative experiments or other procedural actions or the same causing physical sufferings or endangering his life or the life of other persons around, as well as to subject a person to any other tests of similar character.
9. In the course of criminal proceedings, it shall be prohibited to use methods that may endanger the life and health of people or the environment.
Article 12. Immunity of Residence
1. Everyone has the right to security of one's residence. It shall be prohibited to enter a person's residence against his will, except in cases prescribed by this Code.
2. A residence may be searched only upon a court decision and in a manner stipulated by this Code. In the course of criminal proceedings, examination of a residence, conduct of other procedural actions therein, and entrance into the residence using technical means against the will of the persons occupying it can be done by the bodies of inquest, the investigator by decision of the prosecutor.
Article 13. Security of Property
1. Imposition of an arrest on bank deposits and other property of a person may be ordered in the course of criminal proceedings and upon a decision of the court, the agency for inquest, the investigator, or the prosecutor.
2. Any property seized during a procedural action should be mentioned and described in detail in the record of the respective procedural action, and the owner of the property shall receive a copy of the record.
3. In the course of criminal proceedings, imposition of fines as well as forced alienation of property may be ordered only upon a decision of the court.
Article 14. Confidentiality of Correspondence, Telephone Conversations, Mail, Telegraph and Other Communications
1. Everyone has the right to confidentiality of correspondence, telephone conversations, mail, telegraph and other communications. No one can be unlawfully deprived of the said right or limited in that right in the course of criminal proceedings.
2. Imposition of arrest on postal and telegraph correspondence, its examination, wire¬tapping and interception of conversations over the telephone or other means of communication, may be ordered in the course of criminal proceedings only upon a decision of the court and in the manner prescribed by law.
Article 15. Language of Criminal Proceedings
1. Criminal proceedings shall be conducted in the Armenian language. Everyone has the right to use, in the course of criminal proceedings, the language he masters, except the body conducting the criminal proceedings.
2. By decision of the body conducting the criminal proceeding, the persons participating in criminal proceedings, who lack sufficient command of the language of criminal proceedings, shall be provided, free of charge, with the possibility to exercise, with the help of an interpreter, all rights belonging to them under the provisions of this Code.
3. Certain persons, who lack sufficient command of the language of criminal proceedings, shall receive a verified copy of those documents, which, in accordance with law, should be delivered to them in their native language.
4. Documents in other languages are attached to the case with the translation into the Armenian language.
Article 16. Public Trial
1. Trial shall be public.
2. Trial in camera is held, in cases and in the manner prescribed by law, shall be held only upon a court decision, for the purpose of protection of public morals, public order, state security, and the private life of the parties, as well as the interests of justice. The court verdicts and final decisions in all cases are announced publicly.
Article 17. Fair Trial
1. Everyone has the right to a fair trial with observance of all requirements of fairness, by an independent and impartial court, of any criminal case affecting one's interests.
2. The judge, the prosecutor, the investigator, the officers of the agency for inquest can not participate in the proceedings of a criminal case, if they are directly or indirectly interested in its outcome.
3. The body of criminal prosecution is obligated to undertake all measures prescribed by this Code for a comprehensive, full and objective investigation of the case circumstances, to reveal all the circumstances both convicting and absolving the suspect or accused, and also the circumstances reducing and aggravating his responsibility.
4. All statements of the suspect, the accused, and their defense attorney about their innocence, on the availability of evidence absolving the suspect or the accused or reducing their responsibility, all appeals on violation of the law in the course of criminal proceedings shall be thoroughly examined by the body conducting the criminal proceedings.
Article 18. Presumption of Innocence
1. Every person suspected in or charged with a criminal offense shall be presumed innocent unless proved guilty in the manner prescribed by this Code and unless the verdict comes into legal force.
2. The suspect or the accused is not obligated to prove his innocence. The obligation to prove the innocence of the suspect or the accused can not be imposed on the defense party. The obligation to prove the charges and to disprove the arguments brought in favor of the suspect and the accused lies upon the prosecution.
3. No conclusion that a person is guilty of a crime can be based on suppositions, and such conclusion has to be supported by sufficient combination of reliable and compatible evidence [cumulative evidence], which is relevant to the case.
4. All doubts concerning the charge to be proved, which cannot be eliminated through a due process of law in accordance with the provisions of this Code, are interpreted in favor of the accused and the suspect.
Article 19. The Right to Defense of the Suspect and the Accused and Guarantees for this Right
1. Every suspect and the accused has the right to defense.
2. The body conducting the criminal proceedings, is obligated to explain to the suspect and the accused their rights and provide them with actual possibility to defend themselves against the charges by all means not prohibited by law.
3. The body conducting the criminal proceedings, is obligated to ensure that the legal representative of the suspect or the accused takes part in the case.
4. The suspect and the accused are entitled to defend themselves against the charges either in person or through the legal assistance of a defense attorney and legal representative. Participation of the defense attorney and the legal representative in the criminal proceedings shall not restrict the rights of the suspect and the accused.
5. The suspect and the accused cannot be forced to testify, submit any materials to the bodies of criminal prosecution, or provide any assistance to them.
Article 20. Privilege Against Self-Incrimination
1. No one shall be obligated to furnish evidence against himself, his/her spouse, and close relatives.
2. Any person, who is suggested by the body of criminal prosecution to furnish data or materials incriminating himself, his/her spouse or close relatives, has the right to refuse from doing so.
3. This Code can stipulate also other cases of privilege against testifying or furnishing evidence.
Article 21. Inadmissibility of Repeated Conviction and Criminal Prosecution for the Same Crime
1. No one can be convicted twice for the same offense.
2. After the judgment of the court enters into legal force, the person involved shall be guaranteed, with respect to the same event, against any resumption of criminal prosecution or any replacement of the charge or the penalty with a more severe one.
3. Aquittal or termination of the case or suspension of the criminal prosecution, cassation appeal against the court decision, can be brought within six months after the came into legal force.
4. The decision to suspend the case, or terminate the criminal prosecution can be eliminated only by the attorney general, within six months after such decision has been made.
5. The deadlines mentioned in this Article are not valid in the case of newly discovered circumstances.
Article 22. Rehabilitation of the Rights of the Persons who suffered from Judicial Mistakes
1. An acquitted person is entitled to rehabilitation of his rights, including the compensation financial damages caused to him in the course of criminal proceedings conducted by the bodies in charge of criminal proceedings. Rehabilitation measures shall be implemented by the bodies conducting the criminal proceedings, in the manner prescribed by this Code.
2. Also, entitled to compensation of inflicted financial damage, is any person who was illegally subjected to forced measures by the body in charge of criminal proceedings.
3. The bodies conducting the criminal proceedings must implement all measures envisaged in this Code for the rehabilitation of the rights of the acquitted person.
Article 23. Adversarial System of Criminal Proceedings
1. Criminal proceedings shall be conducted on the basis of the principle of adversarial process.
2. Criminal prosecution, defense, and final resolution of a case shall be separated from each other and shall be conducted by different bodies and persons.
3. The court is not a body supporting either the prosecution, or defense party, while maintaining and expressing only the interests of the law and justice.
4. The court trying a criminal case, shall uphold the principles of objectivity and impartiality and shall create necessary conditions for both parties to comprehensively and fully examine all the circumstances of the case. The court is not bound by the opinions of the parties and is entitled to undertake, upon its own initiative, all the necessary measures to reveal the truth in the criminal case.
5. The parties to a criminal proceeding are empowered by the criminal-procedural legislation with equal rights and chances to defend and support their own positions. The verdict of the court may be based on such evidence only, examination of which has been made equally accessible for both parties.
6. In the choice of their standpoints and methods and measures to be used to maintain those standpoints in the course of criminal proceedings, the parties shall be independent of the court or any other bodies and persons. Upon the motion of a party, the court shall assist such party in receiving necessary materials, in the manner prescribed by this Code.
7. The court shall ensure the right of the parties to participate in the trial of the case by the court of first instance and the appellate court. The person who brought the appeal is entitled to be present in the cassation court.
8. Participation of the parties in the examination of a criminal case at the court is obligatory. In every criminal case, prosecution shall be represented at the trial by a prosecutor.
Article 24. Administration of Justice Exclusively by the Court
1. In the Republic of Armenia, justice shall be administered exclusively by the court. Establishment of extraordinary courts is not permitted.
2. No one can be adjudicated guilty in commission of a crime or undergo criminal punishment otherwise than upon the judgment of the court and in accordance with law.
3. Misappropriation of judicial authority shall be punishable under the criminal law.
4. Jurisdiction of the court and procedures for administration of criminal justice may not be arbitrarily changed with respect to particular cases, persons, or situations, or for a particular period of time.
5. No one can be deprived of the right to have his case tried by that particular court or that particular judge, to the jurisdiction of which or whom it is assigned by the law.
6. The judgment or any other decision rendered by the court with regard to criminal cases may be reviewed only by the relevant superior court, in the manner prescribed by this Code.
Article 25. Independent Assessment of Evidence
1. The judge, as well as the agency for inquest, the investigator, or the prosecutor shall assess the evidence independently, relying on their own belief.
2. No evidence shall have a pre-determined force in criminal proceedings. The judge, as well as the agency for inquest, the investigator, or the prosecutor shall not deal with the evidence in a biased way or give more or less significance to ones in comparison with the others, before the examination of all the available evidence in accordance with a due process of law.
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