Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Court Orders New Hearings On Tsarukian’s Arrest

        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian arrives for a court 
hearing in Yerevan, June 21, 2020.

Armenia’s Court of Appeals overturned Wednesday a lower court’s refusal to 
sanction the arrest of Gagik Tsarukian, the indicted leader of the main 
opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).

One of Tsarukian’s lawyers, Samvel Dilbandian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service 
that it ordered a Yerevan district court to hold new hearings on the arrest 
warrant sought by prosecutors.

Dilbandian insisted that the Court of Appeals stopped short of allowing 
investigators to arrest Tsarukian.

Tsarukian, who is one of the country’s richest men, was charged with vote buying 
immediately after the Armenian parliament dominated by Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s allies lifted his immunity from prosecution and arrest on June 15. 
The National Security Service (NSS) said that he “created and led an organized 
group” that bought more than 17,000 votes for the BHK during parliamentary 
elections held in 2017.

Tsarukian strongly denies the accusations. He and his party maintain that 
Pashinian ordered the criminal proceedings in response to the BHK leader’s June 
5 calls for the government’s resignation. Pashinian and law-enforcement 
authorities deny that the case is politically motivated.

The district court refused to allow Tsarukian’s pre-trial arrest on June 21. 
Both the prosecutors and Tsarukian’s lawyers appealed against that decision. The 
lawyers objected to the court’s conclusion that investigators have grounds to 
suspect that Tsarukian handed out vote bribes.

The prosecutors kept pressing for an arrest warrant even after it emerged on 
June 30 that Tsarukian has been infected with the coronavirus.




Armenian President Wants Power To Appoint High Court Judges

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian speaks at a meeting with members of a 
government commission on constitutional reform, Yerevan, July 7, 2020.

President Armen Sarkissian has said that he must be legally empowered to 
appoint, rather than nominate, three of the nine members of Armenia’s 
Constitutional Court.

Under the existing constitutional provisions that came into effect in 2018, the 
president of the republic, the government and the country’s judges each nominate 
three Constitutional Court justices who can then be confirmed or rejected by the 
Armenian parliament.

Sarkissian complained about this “ceremonial” power vested in the presidency 
when he met on Tuesday with several members of a government commission tasked 
with drafting new and sweeping amendments to the Armenian constitution.

“If you ask my opinion, the solution is very simple,” he said. “The president of 
the republic should appoint the three Constitutional Court members reserved for 
him.”

Sarkissian argued that as things now stand now, he may “endlessly” propose 
candidates not acceptable the parliament majority. He said this could 
potentially disrupt the work of the country’s highest court.

Both the current and former parliaments repeatedly rejected Constitutional Court 
justices nominated by Sarkissian in 2018 and 2019. Only one candidate proposed 
by the largely ceremonial head of state has been appointed by the National 
Assembly so far.

Parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan disagreed on Wednesday with Sarkissian’s view 
on the issue. “I think that the existing mechanism [for the appointment of 
Constitutional Court judges] is quite good,” he told journalists.

Mirzoyan noted at the same time that the president can discuss the new power 
sought by him with the commission working on constitutional reform.

“What the president of the republic is proposing requires fresh constitutional 
changes,” he said. “As you know, there is a commission discussing and drafting 
possible constitutional changes, and I think that the president could officially 
or orally appeal to the commission.”




Ousted Armenian Judges Appeal To European Court

        • Gayane Saribekian

Armenia -- Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian presides over a court 
hearing, Yerevan, February 11, 2020.

The chairman and three other members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court dismissed 
as a result of government-backed constitutional changes have challenged the 
legality of their removal at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

They also want the ECHR to have them reinstated at least until a verdict on 
their appeal. The ECHR is expected to decide before the end of this week whether 
to issue such an injunction.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc pushed the controversial 
amendments to the Armenian constitution through the parliament late last month. 
The amendments extended a 12-year term limit to all nine members of the 
Constitutional Court, thereby mandating the immediate dismissal of three court 
justices who had taken the bench in the 1990s. They also stipulate that Hrayr 
Tovmasian must quit as court chairman but remain a judge.

In a joint statement issued on June 25, Tovmasian and the three ousted judges -- 
Alvina Gyulumian, Felix Tokhian and Hrant Nazarian -- said they have no 
intention to resign because they believe the constitutional changes are null and 
void. Tovmasian also said separately that the parliamentary majority’s refusal 
to send the changes to the Constitutional Court for examination before their 
passage was unconstitutional.

The defiant judges appealed to the ECHR in the following days. The 
Strasbourg-based court appears to have acted quickly on the unprecedented legal 
action, sending a number of relevant questions to the Armenian government last 
week.


France - The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, February 7, 2019.

The government answered them in writing on Monday, according to its 
representative to the ECHR, Yeghishe Kirakosian.

Kirakosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Wednesday that the ECHR’s decision 
on the injunction sought by the plaintiffs will likely be announced already this 
week.

The official suggested that the ECHR will not order a freeze on the replacement 
of the Armenian high court judges. “As a lawyer, as someone familiar with 
European Court practices … I don’t think that the court has such powers,” he 
said.

Tovmasian and six other court justices have been under strong government 
pressure to step down over the past year. Pashinian has accused them of 
maintaining close ties to Armenia’s former government and impeding his judicial 
reforms.

Tovmasian and opposition figures have dismissed Pashinian’s claims and in turn 
accused the prime minister of seeking to take control of the country’s highest 
court.

In a written opinion made public on June 22, the Venice Commission of the 
Council of Europe largely backed the amendments in question. However, it 
criticized the Pashinian administration’s refusal to introduce a transitional 
period that would “allow for a gradual change in the composition of the court in 
order to avoid any abrupt and immediate change endangering the independence of 
this institution.”

The Strasbourg-based body also said that the authorities should not rush to have 
Tovmasian replaced by another Constitutional Court chairman.

In a June 26 letter to Tovmasian, Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio 
reiterated that the amendments are “not in line” with the commission’s 
recommendations.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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