October 26, the regular sitting of the Artsakh NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs was convened.

The package of draft laws “On Amendments to the Law “On Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure”", "On Making Amendments and Additions to the Law “On Advocacy", "On Amendments and Additions to the Law “On Psychiatric Assistance”" were put on the agenda and the draft amendment of the Constitution of the Republic of Artsakh were put on the agenda for discussion.

The package of projects includes bills on amending and supplementing the Code of Civil Procedure and Laws No. 2.

With the package of draft laws presented by the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Artsakh,  J. Mirzoyan, it is planned to give the persons treated in psychiatric institutions the opportunity to receive free legal aid, which will be provided by the attorney appointed by the public defender. Amendments to the Law "On Advocacy" create a basis for the public defender's office to provide free legal aid to the mentioned persons.

According to the minister, it is at the same time planned to reserve the right to free legal aid to persons displaced from the settlements that were left out of the control of the Republic of Artsakh after September 27, 2020.

The amendment to the Civil Procedure Code envisages a provision is planned to be added, according to which the presence of a public defender or a lawyer is also mandatory during the examination of cases regarding recognizing a citizen as incapable or limited in capacity. But the applicants will not be exempted from the obligation to pay money for the lawyer's reasonable remuneration.

The package which was developed by the legislation improvement department of the Republic of Artsakh Department of Legislative Affairs of the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Office of the Human Rights Defender. Further, with a positive conclusion will be presented to the discussion of the regular session of the National Assembly.

The next item on the agenda was the discussion of the draft amendment to the Artsakh Republic Constitution.

According to the Chairman of the Professional Commission for Constitutional Reforms attached to the President of the Republic of Artsakh, Head of the Government Affairs Department of the Office of the President of the Republic of Artsakh A. Lazaryan, taking into account geopolitical developments, the current military-political situation in the Republic of Artsakh, internal and external threats, the draft amendment to the Constitution of the Republic of Artsakh proposes to establish a more flexible instrument for the implementation of constitutional and legal changes, that will prevent possible constitutional crises. In order to ensure the flexibility of constitutional and legal changes, it is proposed to revise the legal regulations regarding the ways to change the Constitution, leaving unchanged Article 163 of the current Constitution, according to which Articles 1-4 and 163 of the Constitution are not subject to change.

As a result, it is proposed to establish that the amendments to the Constitution and Article 175 of the Constitution (the borders of the jurisdiction of the Republic of Artsakh) are adopted only through a referendum, leaving unchanged the circle of persons entitled to adopt and amend the Constitution.

The draft with a positive conclusion will also be presented in the first reading at the next sitting of the National Assembly.