Thursday, June 2, 2020 Armenian Constitutional Court Judges Refuse To Quit • Artak Khulian • Tatevik Lazarian • Robert Zargarian Armenia -- A Constitutional Court hearing in Yerevan, February 11, 2020. The chairman and three other members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court indicated on Thursday that they have no intention to resign despite government-backed constitutional changes mandating their replacement. They said that the amendments passed by the National Assembly on Monday cannot come into force because they run counter to another Armenian law. Armenia’s constitution barred Constitutional Court judges from serving for more than 12 years when it was previously amended in April 2018. The country’s former leadership made sure that this term limit does not retroactively apply to those judges who were installed prior to that. A transitional clause allowed them to retain their positions until reaching retirement age. The latest amendments drafted by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc and condemned by the Armenian opposition eliminated that clause. They call for the immediate dismissal of three of the nine judges who had taken the bench in the 1990s. They also require Hrayr Tovmasian to resign as Constitutional Court chairman and become an ordinary member of the country’s highest judicial body. The four judges were quick to question the legality of the amendments. In particular, Tovmasian said that the parliamentary majority’s refusal to send them to the Constitutional Court for examination before passing them in the final reading was unconstitutional. In a joint statement issued on Thursday, the judges argued that the authorities have not made similar changes to a separate law on the Constititutional Court which also exempts them from the 12-year term limit. The authorities should comply with that law and “not transend the bounds” of their legal powers, added the statement. One of the judges, Alvina Gyulumian, insisted that she cannot be relieved of her duties now when she spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian service earlier in the day. “Show me the legal act with which you are dismissing me,” she said, appealing to the authorities. Armenia - Constitutional Court Judge Alvina Gyulumian, . Justice Minister Rustam Badasian dismissed the joint statement issued by Tovmasian, Gyulumian, and the two other judges: Felix Tokhian and Hrant Nazarian. He said that the constitution takes precedence over the law cited by them. The law will soon be brought into conformity with the constitution, added Badasian. For his part, Pashinian, the main driving force behind the constitutional changes, said that they were formally promulgated by parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan on Thursday and will therefore take effect from midnight. Tovmasian will cease to be Constitutional Court chairman while the three other judges will resign from the court altogether a few hours later, Pashinian wrote on Facebook. Hrachya Hakobian, a pro-government lawmaker and Pashinian’s brother-in-law, said that the four judges must be banned from entering the court building on Friday morning if they continue to defy the amendments. The amendments were passed at an emergency session boycotted by the two opposition parties represented in the National Assembly: Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) and Bright Armenia (LHK). The BHK tried to ask the Constitutional Court to declare them unconstitutional. But the LHK refused to provide signatures of its lawmakers needed by it. LHK leader Edmon Marukian on Wednesday attributed the refusal to the Constitutional Court’s decision to open on July 7 hearings on the legality of coup charges brought against former President Robert Kocharian. Marukian claimed that appealing to the court now could be seen as taking sides in Kocharian’s standoff with the Armenian government. Kocharian responded on Thursday by instructing his lawyers to withdraw his own Constitutional Court appeal filed one year ago. However, the LHK remained adamant in opposing the BHK’s court challenge against the dismissal of the judges. “It’s a wrong move because the case will be heard [by the Constitutional Court] anyway,” Marukian told reporters. Other, more radical opposition forces not represented in the current parliament condemned the LHK’s stance and accused Marukian’s party of helping Pashinian gain control over the court. Pashinian’s administration decided to amend the constitution after a yearlong standoff with the Constitutional Court and Tovmasian in particular. The prime minister has repeatedly accused Tovmasian and six other judges of maintaining close ties to the country’s former government and impeding judicial reforms. Tovmasian and opposition figures sympathetic to him have dismissed these claims, saying that Pashinian is seeking to install new judges loyal to him. Opposition Parties Vow Joint Action Against Government • Narine Ghalechian Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian arrives for a court hearing on his pre-trial arrest sought by prosecutors, Yerevan, June 17, 2020. Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) and two other opposition groups have pledged to work together in challenging the government and “restoring the constitutional order” in the country. Tsarukian, the de facto head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), Ishkhan Saghatelian, and former National Security Service (NSS) Director Artur Vanetsian made the announcement after trilateral talks held on Wednesday. In a joint statement issued on Thursday, the three men said their parties will set up a “working group” tasked with drawing up a plan of joint actions and coordinating its implementation. The statement gave no details. Vanetsian, who leads the recently established Hayrenik (Fatherland) party, said that their cooperation is necessitated by the “abnormal” political situation in the country. “The representatives of our political forces have common concerns over the political situation,” Vanetsian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. He noted that he has regularly met with Tsarukian lately. Armenia -- Former National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsian speaks to journalists outside a court in Yerevan, June 17, 2020. “There are many proposals and ideas but it will be wrong to talk about them until they are adopted by the governing bodies of the three parties,” Saghatelian said for his part. “We do not rule out the possibility of holding rallies but have made no such decision yet.” Vanetsian suggested that the BHK, Hayrenik and Dashnaktsutyun will not hold joint anti-government rallies as long as there is a coronavirus-related state of emergency in Armenia. BHK representatives could not be reached for comment. Tsarukian’s party, which has the second largest group in the Armenian parliament, reached out to other opposition forces after its wealthy leader was indicted last week on vote buying charges strongly denied by him. Dashnaktsutyun and Hayrenik have also condemned the charges as politically motivated. Unlike the BHK, they are not represented in the current parliament. All three parties have called for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation, accusing his government of mishandling the coronavirus crisis and its socioeconomic consequences. They have also strongly condemned government efforts to replace at least three of the nine members of the Constitutional Court. Pashinian’s political allies have dismissed these statements. Vanetsian was appointed as head of Armenia’s most powerful security agency just days after Pashinian swept to power in the “Velvet Revolution” of April-May 2018. He resigned in September 2019 and subsequently decided to enter active politics. Armenia’s Daily Coronavirus Cases Hit Fresh Record High • Susan Badalian Armenia -- A healthcare worker clad in protective gear looks after COVID-19 patients at the Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, Yerevan, June 5, 2020. Health Minister Arsen Torosian insisted on Thursday that the authorities are still able to cope with the continuing coronavirus epidemic in Armenia after the number of new infections there hit a fresh daily high of 771. The figure accounted for one-third of coronavirus tests carried out in the country of about 3 million on Wednesday. The total number of coronavirus cases rose to 22,488, up from almost 18,700 cases recorded as of June 18. The Ministry of Health also reported that 11 more people died from COVID-19 in the past day, bringing the official death toll to 397. The figure does not include the deaths of 131 other people infected with the virus. The ministry says that those deaths were caused by other, pre-existing conditions. Torosian noted the record daily number of new cases when he spoke during a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. He said that the epidemiological situation in Armenia remains “stable” despite the continuing spread of the disease. “The virus is now everywhere but we have no big outbreaks,” said the minister. “Infection rates among young people are not increasing … but we have the opposite trend among elderly people: the higher the age the higher the infection rate.” “Since last Sunday … the situation has been fairly good in terms of the hospitalization,” he went on. “As of nine o’clock in the morning there were only 51 citizens who needed to be transferred to hospitals dealing the coronavirus.” Torosian added that there are now “several” vacant intensive-care beds at those hospitals. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian again indicated that despite the high infection numbers his government has no plans to re-impose lockdown restrictions and will continue instead to put the emphasis on getting more Armenians to practice social distancing and wear face masks in public. The national police chief, Vahe Ghazarian, said in this regard that on Wednesday alone more than 1,700 people were fined for not wearing masks. The Armenian government issued stay-at-home orders and shut down schools, universities and most nonessential businesses in late March shortly after recording the first COVID-19 cases. But it began easing those restrictions already in mid-April and all but lifted the lockdown by the beginning of May. The number of coronavirus cases has risen substantially since then. Pashinian Lambastes Opposition • Anush Mkrtchian Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks in the parliament, Yerevan, . Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian lashed out on Thursday at his political opponents accusing him of stifling dissent, mishandling the coronavirus crisis and failing to address its socioeconomic consequences. Pashinian said that they stand no chance of coming to power despite exploiting the pandemic for political aims. “The political bacteria think that they have got a chance to revive themselves,” he said, speaking in the Armenian parliament. “Now they are talking of famine, social revolts … You should be afraid of that social revolt because if it happens we have nothing to become victims of a social revolt. “It’s your illegally built mansions and Bentleys that will first and foremost become victims of a social revolt. Do you want a social revolt? Provoke a social revolt. We’ll see where you will end up as a result of that social revolt.” Pashinian went on to predict that only those political forces that “unequivocally support the values” of the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” will be represented in Armenia’s next parliament, which is due to be elected in 2023. Although the premier did not name anyone, Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the main opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), was clearly one of the targets of his harsh criticism. The parliament controlled by Pashinian’s My Step bloc last week allowed law-enforcement authorities to arrest and prosecute Tsarukian on vote buying charges rejected by him and his party as politically motivated. BHK lawmakers have seen boycotted parliament sessions in protest. Pashinian defended the indictment of Tsarukian, who called for the Armenian government’s resignation earlier in June. He also said that vote buying by the BHK is a widely known fact. A senior BHK member, Mikael Melkumian, hit back at Pashinian later in the day, repeating Tsarukian’s claims that the government has failed “in all spheres.” “Who is responsible for the [coronavirus-related] deaths of our fellow citizens: the opposition or the authorities?” Melkumian added in a Facebook post. In his speech, Pashinian also rounded on Mikael Minasian, former President Serzh Sarkisian’s fugitive son-in-law also prosecuted on corruption charges. Minasian has repeatedly alleged in recent weeks that the premier and his relatives themselves are illegally enriching themselves. “Since they want to carry out a revolution they want to portray me through ‘free’ media as Serzh Sarkisian … as a disgusting figure like them,” stated Pashinian. “There must be no doubt that we will subject that corrupt system, all of them in a single basket, to capitulation because there is only one thing behind us, on our minds and in our hearts: the truth,” he added. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.