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Hovhannes Manoukian (Հովհաննես Մանուկյան, Հովհաննես Գերասիմի Մանուկյան, Ованес Герасимович Манукян, Ованес Манукян, Hovhannes Manoukian, Hovhannes Manukyan) (December 14, 1971, Gyumri, Armenia) is the Minister of Justice of The Republic of Armenia. Befor it Hovhannes Manoukian was the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Georgia. Prior to being appointed to the diplomatic service, Manoukian was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Armenia. Hovhannes Manoukian has a reputation of being a judge with liberal views and a chairmanship, that is being often described, as iron-handed and extremely determined. As an ambassador he is often described as “extremely effective” and “one of the finest Armenian ambaasadors in active diplomatic corps”

Minister Manoukian was born in Gyumri (at the time Leninakan), the second largest city of Armenia to Gerasim and Anahit Manoukian.

After graduating from high school, in 1989, Hovhannes Manoukian entered the Law School of the Yerevan State University, Armenia's leading higher education institution from which he graduated with honours in 1994.

In his last year at the university, Manoukian became the aide to the Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly (The Parliament) of Armenia. From 1995 to 1997 he also served a as a Senior Specialist at the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly. Meanwhile, in 1995 he was appointed a Member of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia. In 1996 Hovhannes Manoukian became the Head of Personnel and Special Projects Department of the Ministry of Justice of Armenia, serving in this position until 1998. In 1998 at the age of 27, he was promoted to the position of the Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia. By 1999 he was already the Chairman (Chief Justice) of the Economics Court of Appeals of Armenia. Economics Court was a High Court, presiding over exceptional cases of economic disputes.

CHIEF JUSTICE OF ECONOMICS COURT (2001-2005)

In 2001 Manoukian became the Chairman (Chief Justice) of the Economics Court of Armenia.

One of the most important achievements of the Economics Court under the leadership of Justice Manoukian was the bill of the bankruptcy that went on to become a law. As a result, almost all of the cases that, questionably and unjustifiably, were previously suspended by the Courts Chairmen Council were revived by Justice Hovhannes Manoukian. The Economics Court also acquired jurisdiction to solely decide on all the corporate bankruptcy cases.

Justice Manoukian was the Chairman of the Economics Court (The Chief Justice of Economics Court), became a member of the board of CIS countries’ Economics Court (2001-2005), CIS Supreme Arbitrage, Economics and Economical Disputes and Other Disputes Court Chief Justices’ Board (2003-2005). On April 22, 2002 Justice Manoukian received a special award from the CIS Countries Economics Court for his active participation in this Court.

CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF ARMENIA (2005-2008)

On June 9, 2005, by the Presidential special Decree NH-108-A, Justice Hovhannes Manoukian was appointed to the high office of the Chairman (Chief Justice) of the Court of Cassation of Armenia (the Highest Court in the country, named "Court of Cassation" according to French tradition, otherwise referred as the "Supreme Court" in Anglo-Saxon tradition). The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Armenia is presumed to be the fourth top official in the country according the Armenian Constitution - first being the President of the Republic, second - the Chairman of the Parliament and third - the Prime Minister.

Justice Manoukian was appointed to the office of the Chief Judge of the country and the leader of the Armenian Judiciary six months prior to the First Amendments of the Constitution of Armenia which were destined to become the source and the inspiration for the Judicial Reforms of Second Generation. Those Reforms were co-drafted and co-authored by Chief Justice Manoukian.

As a Chief Justice Hovhannes Manoukian was known as one of the very rare heads of Judiciary in Armenian history who drafted laws and promoted on them. It is an unnecessary task for a judge in countries with long political history, but for a young democracy like Armenia, what Manoukian was doing, was both a necessity and and an valuable work. Subsequently all of Manoukian’s draft bills on judicial reforms became laws in the Parliament.

In February of 2007, as the Chief Justice of Armenia, Manoukian, drafted and pushed to pass a novelty in the Armenian justice system - the Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia, which became the starting point of the formation of the Judicial Law. After that Manoukian pushed for the legal recognition of the Court of Cassation as the Supreme Judicial body of the country. Another contribution to the judiciary was the introduction of the Case Law in Armenia. This was a major step and a novelty for Armenia which never before - neither during the First Republic, nor in Soviet Armenia and not even in the Third Republic - was a substitute of the judicial system. Another introduction by Chief Justice Manoukian was the Creation of the Judicial Department - a special government body to be in charge of the administrative affairs of the Courts as well as the Court Bailiffs’ Service which was previously non-existent. In 2006 Manoukian ordered the Judiciary and the Supreme Court to go online as part of an effort to bring transparency to previously secretive judiciary and making the citizens’ interaction with courts easier. The website was presented in 2007 and was hosted on court.am and supremecourt.am domains. After the departure of Chief Justice Manoukian, the website for the Armenian judiciary went offline and as of May 2013, was still inactive.

From the very beginning Manoukian started the very complicated process of the judicial reforms in Armenia which reshaped the whole judicial system of the country. Being a former Soviet state, Armenia had a strong and heavy legacy of judicial corruption, sensible absence of independent judges and nepotism in the justice system, some of which still exist.

During his time a as the Chief Justice, Hovhannes Manoukian finalized the Second Stage of the Judicial Reforms of Armenia, thus acquiring more independence for the judiciary. He also built several new courthouses throughout the country, and renovated all the other ones in Armenia. It is by his initiative that the mandatory system of audio recording of the judicial processes was introduced to the Armenian courts. Before that the sessions and hearings were transcribed manually by the special secretaries to the courts. This change, though seemingly small, was essential in terms of improvement of the hearing processes and in terms of the fact recording during the processes and the transparency in general.

As Chief Justice of the country, Hovhannes Manoukian made it difficult for every case to easily reach the final instance - the Supreme Court - like they did before. He delegated more practical powers to the Court of Appeals of Armenia, thus making the Supreme Court a more exclusive judicial instance, modeled after the U.S. Supreme Court. The Armenian Supreme Court, though, lacks Constitutional jurisdiction, which is reserved for the Constitutional Court of Armenia. The latter deals only with the Constitutional matters.

During his tenure as the Chief Justice of Armenia, Hovhannes Manoukian earned a lot of praise in the judiciary and justice systems as a powerful Justice who would prevent and successfully resist any attempts of external pressure from the executive branch.

Chief Manoukian has also refreshed the human resources pool of the entire Armenian judiciary. He has hired and promoted to higher ranks and positions of  judges  many young professionals, thus replacing  the retiring judges and judicial officials, especially the ones that were still bearing the strong footprint of Soviet times and those who were known to have questionable reputations.

Chief Justice Manoukian has established tight cooperation between the Armenian Judiciary and the judiciaries of Germany, UK, USA, Georgia, Belarus etc. and established a cooperation with UN International Development Agency, The US Bar Association, OSCE, EU, CoE, World Bank, the GTZ (Germany) and other organizations. In September of 2008, as a Chief Justice of Armenia, Hovhannes Manoukian organized and hosted the  51st Annual Conference of the International Union of Judges with 216 envoys from 53 countries. This even took place in Armenia and at that conference, the country became a full member of the organization. Memorandums of mutual cooperation and information exchanges with Ireland and Latvia were signed as well. It has been widely reported in the international press that the Yerevan Conference was amongst the best in terms of effectiveness, establishment of mutual ties and organization.

OTHER ACTIVITIES AND POSITIONS

Hovhannes Manoukian’s other professional and work-related activities include: 1999 - 2005 Member of the CIS Economic Dispute Resolution Court, 1999 - 2005 Member of the Plenum of the CIS Economic Courts, 2005 - 2008 Chairman of the Council of Court Chairmen of Armenia, 2005 - 2008 Chairman of the Council of Justice of Armenia.

THE MATAGHIS AFFAIR (2003-Present)

One of the most well known and notorious cases ever heard in the Supreme Court of Armenia was "The Mataghis Affair". Mataghis is a village in the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Republic of Artsakh - an independent republic which is the subject of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and is inhabited and under the Armenian control) which is also home to an Armenian Armed Forces base.

On December 24, 2003 the bodies of two soldiers - Roman Yeghiazaryan and Hovsep Mkrtumyan were discovered in a nearby water reservoir. It was established that they were murdered. Three other soldiers - Razmik Sargsyan, Musa Serobyan and Arayik Zalyan were accused for the homicide and by the civilian court of first instance have been convicted to 15 years in prison. Their appeal was rejected, but, meanwhile, the previous verdict was overturned and, surprisingly, replaced by life sentence. The parents of the victims, curiously enough, were against the decision of the courts, stating that they believe that three innocent men have been convicted and that the real murderers were some of the commanders of the Mataghis battalion, always at large. The defense was also arguing that the conviction was a cover-up by the high-ranking military officials to hide the real perpetrators. It is well established that both under the Soviet rule, and during the years of the subsequent Third Republic, the Supreme Court has always been influenced by the Attorney General's Office (Prosecutor General) in terms of meeting the prosecution's demands and sentencing the accused accordingly. That was not the case for the period of Hovhannes Manoukian in office. On December 22, 2006, under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Manoukian, the Court of Cassation of Armenia overturned the decision of the lower courts and has released the three accused men from the prison, sending the case to a re-examination. "It is the first time in the history of the Republic of Armenia that the Supreme Court overrules the decisions of the lower - first instance and Appeals Court altogether and frees people who have been convicted and given the life sentences", commented a well-known attorney for one of the defendants, Zaruhi Postanjyan, who later went on to become an MP from the opposition (www.armenianow.com/news/6911/free_at_last_struggle_to_prove_sol).

On December 18, 2012, the First Instance Court of Shirak Region of Armenia, long after Hovhannes Manoukian had left his post, confirmed Chief Justice Manoukian's position on the innocence of the accused. As of May 2013, six years after the release by Chief Justice Manoukian and the subsequent acquittal by the Shirak Court, the prosecution (the military attorney general's office) was still seeking a new life conviction for the three.

"The Mataghis Affair" was an extraordinary and unprecedented event that, undoubtedly, became the proof of Hovhannes Manoukian's determination to end the enduring influence of the Executive Branch of the power over the Judicial one.

MARCH 1 EVENTS and RESGNATION (2008)

After the tragic events of March 1, 2008 (referred as “March 1 Events”), when ten people were shot dead in clashes between opposition protesters and police forces, Armenian courts began seeing many cases where the accused were the opposition leaders who were branded as "political prisoners" by many human rights organizations as well as the opposition supporters themselves. It is rumored, both in press and the public, that Chief Justice Hovhannes Manoukian suggested to President Robert Kocharyan to find a political solution for this problem, i.e. to release the prisoners before the cases would reach the courts in order to save the judiciary from potentially incendiary and discrediting processes. President Kocharyan declined the suggestion, continuing prosecution. Meanwhile, Chief Justice Manoukian's position, according to these publications, triggered mistrust amongst the executive leaders of the country and a decision was taken to retreat any support from the Supreme Court. In September of 2008, the Chief Justice, who, according to the Constitution, was to preside over the highest court of the country until the age of 65, presented his resignation to the new President of the Republic. It was immediately accepted and the very next day a new Chief Justice was appointed. In a subsequent interview Manoukian rejected claims that he was forced to resign, thus, not giving any credible reasons for his sudden and unexpected departure.

2008-2011

The following two years Chief Justice Hovhannes Manoukian spent in obscurity. According to some reports, Manoukian was dividing his time between Moscow, Russia, Kyiv, Ukraine and Yerevan, Armenia launching different business projects. His official website, though, lists that time spent as the founder and president of Armenian Center of Law, NG (2008-2011). AMBASSADORSHIP (2011-PRESENT)

On February 21, 2011 Hovhannes Manoukian was appointed as the Ambassador of Armenia to Georgia. Georgia, being one of only two friendly immediate neighbors of Armenia, is a crucial country for Armenia and Armenian diplomacy. It is also the only landline that connects Armenia to its strategic partner, the Russian Federation. Georgia's importance for Armenia can't be overestimated. This appointment came as a surprise to public, though it became clear that President Serge Sargsyan had decided to trust the former Chief Justice with an important and difficult task of improving the relations with its northern neighbor.

According to publications in the Armenian press and reports from Georgian media, Ambassador Manoukian, presently, is the most active member of Armenia's foreign diplomatic corps and has been the most effective Ambassador in improving the Armenian-Georgian relations that have been previously strained.

In 2013 the Armenian slaq.am news site, in its list of most influential Armenian ambassadors, has ranked Hovhannes Manoukain second, preceded only by Andranik Manukyan, the Ambassador to Ukraine and a tycoon. April 30, 2014, Hovhannes Manoukian was appointed to the post of Minister of Justice in accordance with a presidential decree.

FAMILY

Hovhannes Manoukian comes from a large family with very strong family ties. His father, Gerasim Manukyan, was a prosecutor in the Second Republic of Armenia. Gerasim Manoukian has served for more than 30 years in the law enforcement. Amb. Manoukian's mother, Anahit Manoukian, is a medical doctor. Manoukians own a mansion in downtown Yerevan, a part of which Ambassador Manoukian has constructed for his parents. While in Yerevan, the large family lives together. Manoukian met his spouse, Armine Manoukian, and married her while both were students at the Yerevan State University.

Hovhannes and Armine Manoukian have two daughters, Anna and Bella, both students in a prestigious UK university and one son, Alexander (born in 2008).

INTERESTS

Hovhannes Manoukian is an avid traveler. He is also a passionate art collector. Since his youth he has amassed a large collection of artworks by classical Armenian and Russian painters and sculptors. He has patronized many emerging and modern artists, some of whose works he had commissioned for the Supreme Court building while in the office.

Hovhannes Manoukian speaks Armenian, Russian and English.

TITLES AND RANKS

Current Title: H.E. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Current Diplomatic Rank: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Academic Titlle: PhD in Law Other Titles and Ranks: General of Justice, Ret. State Counselor of Justice of the Third Degree Judge (or Justice) Chief Justice

EXTERNAL LINKS

OFFICIAL WEBSITES and WEBPAGES

Official Site www.hmanoukian.com

Official Embassy Page http://georgia.mfa.am/en/ambassador

Official Foreign Affairs Ministry Webpage www.mfa.am/en/by-countries/ge

Official Twitter Account https://twitter.com/HGManoukian

SOME MIXED PRESS

http://lithuania.mfa.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=433&info_id=12543 http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/149594

http://orer.eu/en/archives/5385

http://times.am/?l=en&p=9975

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/687593

www.persons.am/en/681.html

http://iravaban.net/en/2007/03/12/hovhannes-manukyan-chairman-of-the-court-of-cassation-of-the-republic-of-armenia

www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Hovhannes_Manukyan

http://news.am/eng/news/49448.html

ru:Манукян, Ованес Герасимович