Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee seeks closure of judge-rating platform

Lia Avagyan

Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee has asked the Justice Ministry to consider shutting down HelpCourt.am, a private platform that allows lawyers to rate judges, and banning similar services by law.

Anti-Corruption Committee Chairman Artur Nahapetyan raised the proposal in a letter to Acting Justice Minister Tigran Dadunts. The committee published the initiative on July 18, while the document itself carries an electronic signature dated July 17.

Nahapetyan said the platform raised “serious institutional concerns” related to judicial independence and the standing of the justice system. He argued that its operation could expose judges to conflicts of interest, informal pressure and external influence.

Under HelpCourt’s rules, members of Armenia’s Chamber of Advocates can give a judge or a judicial decision a positive or negative rating. Each lawyer may rate the same judge or ruling once, although the assessment can later be changed.

The committee said the model could not provide a complete or objective assessment of a judge’s professional work because only lawyers are allowed to participate. Prosecutors, investigators and other legal professionals are excluded.

The resulting score may therefore reflect the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of a group of lawyers rather than the overall quality of a judge’s work, the letter said.

The committee also questioned the platform’s methodology. It said judicial performance was too complex to be reduced to a mechanical count of positive and negative votes.

According to the letter, judges should instead be assessed using professional and verifiable criteria, including the reasoning behind their decisions, compliance with procedural deadlines, courtroom management, conduct and the rate at which their rulings are overturned by higher courts. HelpCourt does not provide such a system, the committee said.

Nahapetyan argued that the platform could be used both to target judges and to give them unjustified positive ratings. A judge who issues an unfavorable ruling could face coordinated negative assessments, while another could receive favorable ratings because some lawyers consider the judge convenient or acceptable.

That could create a situation in which a judge’s public reputation depends less on the quality of judicial decisions and more on assessments made by lawyers who appear before the courts, the committee said.

The letter also warned that the risks increase when news outlets reproduce the rankings and create a public image of “good” and “bad” judges.

“A judge should not be the object of an approval vote,” the committee said, arguing that such rankings could undermine both public confidence in the courts and judges’ internal independence.

The committee also alleged that the system could encourage some judges to approach lawyers, directly or indirectly, in an effort to secure positive ratings and improve their standing.

It asked the Justice Ministry to consider whether the model was compatible with judicial independence, whether it created risks of pressure or dependency, and whether such private rankings should be legally permitted.

The committee ultimately proposed discussing both the termination of HelpCourt’s activities and a legal ban on private platforms that publicly classify or rank judges.

HelpCourt rejects proposal

HelpCourt has rejected the Anti-Corruption Committee's proposal to shut down the platform and ban similar judge-rating services by law, saying it will continue operating.

In a statement shared on Facebook by the platform's founder, Levon Sahakyan, HelpCourt said it had operated in full compliance with Armenian law for nearly 10 years. It argued that if there had been legal grounds to suspend its activities, judges dissatisfied with their ratings would have pursued legal action long ago instead of seeking legislative changes.

"If HelpCourt threatens the independence of any judge, then that judge is not independent in the first place and is not fit to serve," the statement said.

The platform said it would continue its lawful activities and added that, in the future, independent ratings by the legal community would be expanded beyond judges to cover other public officials.

HelpCourt was created as an initiative aimed at increasing transparency and public accountability in Armenia’s judicial system. Its founders say the platform gathers lawyers’ professional experience, identifies problems in the courts and contributes to improving the quality of justice.