On 9 September 2022, the Council of Europe Project “Human rights and women in the armed forces of Armenia-Phase II’’ (‘’the Project’’) team organised a round table discussion on the Post Adoption Review of the newly adopted Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Armenia (the ‘’Post-Adoption Review’’). The round table was organised with a view of discussing to which extent the findings of the European Court of Human Rights in the cases related to human rights violations in the armed forces in Armenia were taken into consideration in the newly adopted Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes.

The Post-Adoption Review was developed by Council of Europe international consultants Dr Lorena Bachmaier-Winter and Mr Jeremy McBride, who presented the findings and recommendations of the Post-Adoption Review during the discussion. Representatives of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, Military Prosecutors Office, the Investigative Committee, Security Council, Civil Society Organisations and other interested parties were present at the roundtable. The members of the Working Group responsible for developing the Criminal Procedure Code and the respective Manual were also invited to make interventions during the discussion.

Ms Jennifer Schuetze-Reymann from the Council of Europe underlined the importance of the discussion following the entry into force of the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes and emphasised that this event is yet another step towards enhancing protection of human rights in the armed forces. The participants reaffirmed that the discussion revealed important questions for consideration. At the end of the event, it was decided to finalise the Post-Adoption Review based on the results of the discussion and provide the review to the relevant national authorities for further consideration.

The Project is implemented by the Council of Europe within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia for 2019-2022.