Armenian parliament elects new human rights defender

Armenia’s former justice minister Kristine Grigoryan was elected by the parliament as new human rights defender.

Grigoryan served as deputy justice minister since 2019. On December 17, 2021, the parliamentary standing committee on human rights protection approved her as a candidate for the post of human rights defender.

Grigoryan will replace Arman Tatoyan whose term in office expires in February 2022. The ruling party explained that it did not re-nominate Tatoyan due to a Venice Commission recommendation, according to which after serving one term in office human rights defenders should not be re-elected not to harm the independence of the institution.

Kristine Grigoryan was born in 1981 in the town of Sevan. She served as a national human rights expert at the Council of Europe from 2016-2017. In July 2019, she was appointed as Armenia's Deputy Minister of Justice.