Mr. Marukyan has been a human rights NGO activist and now is a human rights attorney. Since 2001, he has specialized in the protection of human rights and has been considerably involved in the strengthening of democracy and civil society in Armenia.  In 2005, as a human rights NGO representative, he became an observer at the Public Monitoring Group, observing the rights of persons taken into custody at criminal-executive institutions within Armenia. He has provided legal consultation to a number of projects, defended citizens in court hearings, and submitted applications to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. His work has been closely associated with: the construction of democratic society; the formation of civil society; the protection of human rights; the increase of civic participation, particularly as a mechanism for public monitoring; and, the designing of anticorruption initiatives in Armenia. He holds a master’s degree in jurisprudence from the Public Administration Academy of Armenia. During his year as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow, Mr. Marukyan will focus on international human rights mechanisms as well as the role of human rights attorneys in the formation of international case law.