ArmInfo. The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia presented the rationale for its actions against members of the family of the chairman of the Constitutional Court of Armenia. The department's message, in particular, notes that the grounds for inviting Vardan Tovmasyan, the father of the chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, Hrayr Tovmasyan, to the NSS could be abuses committed in 2012-2014 during construction works in the building on the balance sheet of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia (855 mln drams), as well as during repairs in the "Abovyan" penal institution and a school in the Sari-Tagh community of Yerevan (15 mln drams). According to the National Security Service, during these works, appropriation and embezzlement might have occurred, in connection with which Vardan Tovmasyan was asked to give explanations.
In the framework of the materials prepared by the NSS, a number of examinations were appointed. The NSS turned to Vardan Tovmasyan to conduct a study of the roof of his mansion, but a refusal was received. Moreover, meeting V. Tovmasyan's request, he was asked to give clarifications in his house, and the NSS officer went there, however V. Tovmasyan preferred to give explanations in the administrative building of the NSS in the presence of his lawyers. According to the report, on the basis of the prepared materials, measures are being taken to concretize the damage caused to the state, as well as to identify officials who accepted the work that was not actually performed. At the same time, the NSS notes that the clarifications from the family of Hrayr Tovmasyan are needed in the framework of conducting checks of the information received on undeclared property in the established order belonging to the official or his relatives. "The mentioned procedural actions were performed in the presence of lawyers of the indicated persons in compliance with guarantees of his rights," the NSS said.
To note, on October 17, the Special Investigation Service opened a criminal case on the seizure of state power by a group of persons on the basis of a statement by the independent MP of the National Assembly of Armenia Arman Babajanyan. The case was brought under Article 300 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (seizing power through the use of violence or the threat of violence, as well as the appropriation of the powers of the president, chairman of the National Assembly, government or the Constitutional Court by methods not provided for by the Constitution). The statement of the MP concerns the legality of the chairmanship of the head of the Constitutional Court of Armenia Hrayr Tovmasyan in this position. TheMP in his message to the Prosecutor General's Office noted that Tovmasyan committed violations of the law upon assuming this position in 2018. That is, the parliamentary powers of Tovmasyan were terminated without a corresponding statement on the basis of a nonexistent justification by the then NA President. According to Babajanyan, parliamentary powers cannot be terminated on non-existent grounds.