Today a working arrangement was signed between the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia and Eurojust on the implementation of the “Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Armenia on the Cooperation between the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) and the Authorities of the Republic of Armenia Competent for Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters”.

The document shall regulate issues related to the secondment of the liaison prosecutor, the scope of his/her activities, in particular, issues related to his/her participation in the meetings of the College of Eurojust, the works of the working group, strategically important meetings, trainings as well as awareness raising events and programs.

The working arrangement has been signed by Grigor Minasyan, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, Anna Vardapetyan, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia and Ladislav Hamran, President of Eurojust.

Rustam Badasyan, Head of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia (former Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia), Paruyr Hovhannisyan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Arman Yeghoyan, Chairman of the Standing Committee on European Integration of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Vassilis Maragos, Ambassador, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia, Tigran Balayan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Kingdom of Belgium, Head of the Mission of Armenia to the European Union and others participated in the event.

Grigor Minasyan, Minister of Justice highlighted that this document is an important benchmark in strengthening the cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union in the field of justice and rule of law as well as in the fight against transnational crime. According to the Minister, the agreement will be irreplaceable for strengthening sectorial cooperation between the competent authorities of Armenia and European Union the aim of which is the promotion of mutual legal assistance and development of joint investigation strategies. 

In her speech Anna Vardapetyan mentioned.

“Transnational crime is one of the main challenges of the current criminal justice system. The scope of the latent and organized crime is beyond the borders of one country and it may involve the entire region and even continent, thus it require new quality of international-legal cooperation between the criminal prosecution authorities.”

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia is aware of this reality and is trying to continuously expand the cooperation with foreign colleagues.

The geography of cooperation of the Prosecutor’s Office with its colleagues is expanding, we have both bilateral or regional contracts and multilateral contracts concluded in the scope of UN and EC.

Our cooperation with Eurojust is new, however we have success stories related to legal assistance in money laundering, illegal drug circulation and corruption cases.

We have already managed to get acquainted with the toolkit of Eurojust, we are convinced in its effectiveness and we are sure that the working arrangement that shall be signed with Eurojust today, will create an opportunity for the law enforcement authorities of Armenia to apply that toolkit more widely. In particular, the representation of the Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia in Eurojust through a liaison prosecutor will make it possible to ensure operational connection with contact persons of EU members states and non-member third states, thus it will enable the organization of more effective international-legal cooperation under the criminal proceedings initiated in the Republic of Armenia.

Dear colleagues,

Today’s ceremonial event is a conclusion of three years long discussions: they started in 2021.

Due to joint and effective work we reached to the stage of signing the working arrangement for the implementation of the provisions of the Agreement, which means that today we are taking a step closer to the implementation of all the provisions of the Agreement.

I am grateful and I would like to emphasize the work of the diplomatic representatives of Armenia in EU counties in attesting the cooperation with an agreement. I am particularly grateful to the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia as well as all our colleagues from legislative, executive and judicial authorities who had their contribution in making this day a reality. I would like to congratulate us all, and wish us an effective cooperation”.

Ladislav Hamran, President of Eurojust attached importance to the signing of this document and mentioned that it is a historical event. “Armenia is taking another step towards the European values in legal field by joining Eurojust”, highlighted Ladislav Hamran and wished a successful cooperation to Armenia and Eurojust.