Human rights activist critical of proposal to legally ban  tHelpCourt.am judicial evaluation system

ArmInfo. Human rights activist Ruben Melikyan criticized the Armenian Anti-Corruption Committee's demand to legally ban the unofficial platform HelpCourt.am, which is  used by representatives of the legal community to evaluate the  performance of judges.

"The head of one of Armenia's 'law enforcement agencies' has  approached the Minister of Justice with a proposal to legally ban the  unofficial platform HelpCourt.am, which is used by representatives of  the legal community to evaluate the performance of judges," he wrote  on his Facebook page.

The human rights activist did not rule out that this idea has no  "ulterior motives" and that his concerns are genuine.

At the same time, he noted that HelpCourt's rating is indeed becoming  too important in the perception of some judges, and they are likely  trying to artificially boost their ratings, which, in turn, affects  their independence.

He acknowledged that individual judges may indeed be trying to  artificially boost their ratings and cited the example of Judge  Arusyak Aleksanyan, whose rating, he claimed, was artificially  boosted following the death of public figure Armen Grigoryan.

However, Melikyan is confident that such cases are not grounds for  refusing to use the HelpCourt platform.

"The key issue here is freedom. The state can restrict citizens'  freedom only when it becomes a clear harm to society. HelpCourt.am is  not such a harm. Yes, some may use the platform for harm, but many  use it for good. For example, conscientious judges can improve their  work based on feedback," he wrote.

Melikyan cited the current practice of student evaluations of faculty  members at universities, noting that despite potential abuses, this  system allows conscientious faculty to improve the quality of their  work.

On July 18, 2026, the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia sent a  letter to the Ministry of Justice expressing institutional concerns  regarding the activities of the HelpCourt.am platform. The ministry  noted potential risks to the guarantees of judicial independence, as  well as the likelihood of informal influence, dependence, or pressure  being exerted on them. In this regard, the Committee proposed  discussing the advisability of legislatively banning HelpCourt.am, as  well as other potential private platforms that publicly evaluate and  rate judges.