Thursday, November 14 2019 13:25

ArmInfo. Former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Parliament Arsen Babayan intends to seek an end to his criminal prosecution. Recall that he was charged with part 1 of  article 38-300 (complicity in usurping state power) and part 1 of  article 314 (official forgery) of the RA Criminal Code.

At a November 14 press conference, Babayan noted that the criminal  case, in fact, has a political connotation and is a "shameful  lawlessness". According to him, this case, in principle, could not be  opened on the basis of the act of amnesty.

<The purpose of these actions is to achieve the resignation of Hrayr  Tovmasyan from the post of head of the Constitutional Court, and  later on of all other judges of the Constitutional Court (except for  one or two people). In order to achieve this, the political  authorities do not stop at anything, and they do not care who will be  imprisoned. After spending 22 days under unlawful arrest, I consider  myself a hostage to the authorities>, he said.

Babayan emphasized that he would fight for the termination of the  criminal prosecution by all available legal methods, since it was  "initially carried out on illegal grounds".

Noting that he continues to believe in a fair judicial system in  Armenia, he, meanwhile, did not exclude the likelihood that the court  would sentence him to 15 years in prison. "But I suppose that I will  spend only two years behind bars because there is a European Court of  Human Rights," he said.

Speaking about plans for the future, Babayan said that he plans to  engage in human rights activities.  According to the investigation,  the former head of the Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunyan, whose  term of office (70 years) was supposed to end on March 23, 2018,  signed a statement addressed to the NA Speaker Ara Babloyan on the  resignation of the post of the President of the Constitutional  Council, which was dated March 1 2018 year. The then NA Speaker Ara  Babloyan, having not officially received this statement by Gagik  Harutyunyan, on March 2 illegally signed and made a statement on the  resignation of the head of the Constitutional Court Gagik  Harutyunyan. Otherwise, the President of the National Assembly would  not have been able to announce the resignation of the President of  the Constitutional Assembly before the next ordinary sitting of the  National Assembly on March 20, 2018.

It should be noted that in the conditions of observing the three-day  period provided for by the law, after that it would be impossible to  appoint Hrayr Tovmasyan as the head of the Constitutional Court,  since before this a regular meeting of the National Assembly was not  provided. As a result, favorable conditions were created for the  process of nominating and appointing Hrayr Tovmasyan to the vacant  post of head of the Constitutional Court.

In this case, Ara Babloyan was prosecuted as part of a criminal case  against usurpation of state power. A recognizance not to leave was  chosen as a preventive measure.