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    Categories: 2021

Lawyer: Armenia’s Constitutional Court ‘saved’ current authorities from charges and punishment in future

Panorama, Armenia

Armenia’s Constitutional Court “saved” the current authorities from charges and punishment in the future by ruling that Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code does not comply with the Constitution and is invalid, lawyer Lusine Sahakyan said on Saturday.

"By declaring Article 300․1 of Armenia’s Criminal Code unconstitutional and invalid, the Constitutional Court saved the incumbent authorities from charges and punishment under that article in the future,” she wrote on Facebook.

“Thus, there is nothing extraordinary about the fact that those who became judges of the Constitutional Court as a result of an unconstitutional process also seem to have voted in favor,” Sahakyan added.

The ruling issued by the top court on Friday says that Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code concerning the “overthrowing the constitutional order”, under which former President Robert Kocharyan and three other former senior officials are being prosecuted, runs counter to Articles 78 and 79 of the Constitution. The articles deal with the principles of proportionality and certainty.

Robert Kocharyan and his lawyers asked the high court to determine the constitutionality of Article 300.1 back in 2019. The defense team of the former president argued, among other things, that the clause was added to the Criminal Code in 2009 and cannot be used retroactively against him.

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS