Hrayr Tovmasyan: The purpose of the authorities is to remove me from the post of head of the Constitutional Court

Arminfo, Armenia
Jan 24 2020

ArmInfo. The purpose of the authorities is to remove me from the head of the Constitutional Court. Head of the Constitutional Court of Armenia Hrayr Tovmasyan  stated this on January 24 in an interview with reporters, commenting  on the search in his apartment.

He noted that he was invited to interrogation several times. "Today,  when investigative actions began in my apartment, I requested that  during these actions a photo-video recording and sound recording be  carried out." The fact is that everything will not end with today's  search, this process will continue, and everything that happens will  fall into basis of new criminal cases. Therefore, I requested that  all actions be filmed. And I don't understand why the investigation  refuses to record the interrogations and the search of my apartment,  "Tovmasyan emphasized.

The head of the Constitutional Court said that by its actions the  government undermines the authority of the country. "The actions of  the authorities, carried out in my attitude, are very rude and not  covered up. I am very sorry that this happens, because for me the  most important thing is not my personal affairs, but the future of  the country. I would not want everything that we reached for many  years, in a few minutes it was nullified, "Tovmasyan stated.

In turn, Tovmasyan's lawyer Amram Makinyan stated that the search was  over, but nothing was found.

It should be noted that this morning the SIS reported that a search  was being conducted in the apartment of Hrayr Tovmasyan. However,   lawyer of Tovmasyan, Amram Makinyan, said in an interview with  reporters that the search was not carried out, since the rights of  his client and lawyers were violated, they were not allowed to  familiarize themselves with the court decision on the search.

Then, the SIS  denied the lawyer's statement, saying that the lawyers  and Tovmasyan were given the opportunity to familiarize themselves  with the court decision. "The persons participating in the search,  including lawyers, the investigator were given the opportunity to  familiarize themselves with the court's decision in accordance with  the criminal procedure law," the SIS statement emphasized. 

To recall, Tovmasyan was charged under Article 308 of the Criminal  Code of the Republic of Armenia (abuse of power, resulting in  negligence with grave consequences, Ed). This is the same criminal  case in which the godson of Tovmasyan Norair Panosyan was indicted.