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On June 3 the RA Chamber of Advocates held an event devoted to the official launching of the Electronic Public Defender program. The program was implemented with the support of the Armenian Representative Office of ABA ROLI and the OSCE Yerevan Office. It is a complete database, which enables centralizing the documentation of PD offices. 

In his opening speech, the Chairman of the RA Chamber of Advocates, Ara Zohrabyan congratulated those present on the occasion of the launching of the Electronic Public Defender program. Speaking about the possibilities provided by the program, the Chairman noted that due to this software the public defenders' workload would significantly decrease. “The program has a system of generating reports automatically and archiving documents. The public defenders will be able to perform their job duties and get new assignments at anytime and from anywhere they want, and the PDO Head will be able to distribute the cases efficiently, carry out oversight, conduct the statistics of ongoing and terminated cases and other functions”, he mentioned. 

Considering natural the fears and worries about working within the system, Ara Zohrabyan drew parallels with the electronic system of circulation of documentation embedded in the Chamber, noting that the staff quickly mastered the principles of the application of the system. He also thanked the Armenian Representative Office of ABA ROLI, the OSCE Yerevan Office for their assistance in implementing the program. 

Opening and welcoming speeches were delivered by the Deputy Head of the Armenian Representative Office of ABA ROLI and the Head of Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). As for the project implementation, Hasmik Hakobyan said that the studies carried out by their organization had shown that it had taken the public defenders a lot of efforts and time to handle the issues concerning the documentation.  She noted that this tool created by the "Armenian Software" would facilitate public defenders’ work contributing to the decrease of the workload and the increase of work transparency.  Jack Anderson, also welcomed the program, expressing the United States' interest in programs aimed at the technical improvement of our country's justice system.

The PDO Head, Melanya Arustamyan, expressed her gratitude to the international organizations for the implementation of the program.  She noted that the application of the embedded modules would increase the quality of pro bono legal aid provided by the Public Defender's Office. Ms. Arustamyan highlighted the fact that the program is the only one of its kind in the region, and in this regard she looks forward to continuing the cooperation for its further improvement and development.

The speeches were followed by a workshop on the Electronic Public Defender program conducted by the Deputy Head of PDO, Varser Karapetyan. Having presented the opportunities and the basic principles of the application of the program, Varser Karapetyan also answered the participants' questions.

Source: http://advocates.am/news/view/1324.html