Artsakh  Newsletter

VOLUME 4, No. 2

Judicial Reforms

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the Status of Judges", "On Judicial Sustem" and "On the Council of Judicial Magistrate" were ratified.  A two-level judicial system has been introduced with the Court of First Instance and the Supreme Court. The latter will carry out the

functions of a court of appeals.  The Council of Magistrates, which consists of seven persons representing all branches of government and the highest judicial structures, will resolve the issues of the judges' status. To ensure maximum efficiency, the Prosecutor's Office is given the authority to issue

sanctions.  On February 15 of this year, new criminal and civil codes became law.  The first group of judges of the Courts of First Instance and the Supreme Court were nominated by the President and confirmed by the National Assembly.

OSCE Mission Conducts a Routine Monitoring of the Contact Line in Jraberd Province of Nagorno Karabagh

Stepanakert, February 14.  OSCE representatives conducted a routine monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabagh and Azerbaijan in the northeastern part of Jraberd province of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic.  Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Lt. Col. Imre Palatinus (Hungary), Florin Roshu (Romania) and Yevgeny Sharov (Ukraine) conducted the

monitoring session from the direction of the NKR Defense Army.  From the opposite direction, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk headed the mission, accompanied by Field Assistants Antal Herdich (Hungary), Zbignew Fec (Great Britain) and OSCE High Level Planning Group Representative T. Suarez (Spain).  Another monitoring session was conducted February 26 in the northern part of Jraberd province.  Both

missions went without incident and according to the prearranged schedule.  Representatives of the NKR Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense accompanied the OSCE representatives.  The regular OSCE sessions are designed to monitor the May 1994 cease-fire regime agreed upon by Nagorno Karabagh, Azerbaijan and Armenia. 

Ghoukasian's Interview To De Facto News Agency

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Ghoukasian stated that Azerbaijan fails to realize that in order to achieve viable peace, negotiations have to take place between the actual parties to the conflict, namely Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabagh.  On the other hand, the "compromise" that Azerbaijan is offering, which is the return to the situation that existed prior to the break-out of the con

flict is "not serious", since it does not address the cause of the conflict. Any attempt to subordinate Nagorno Karabagh to Azerbaijan, without taking into account reality i.e. the facts on the ground, will definitely lead to more bloodshed.  Ghoukasian repeated again that Nagorno Karabagh is ready to discuss mutually beneficial opportunities for cooperation with Azerbaijan on the basis of equality. 

According to Ghoukasian, the Nagorno Karabagh authorities are committed to enhancement of democracy in the society and establishment of the rule of law in the country.  Both the government and parliament are working on improving the judicial and electoral systems, so that they correspond to European standards.