ArmInfo.Former President of the Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunyan, in an interview with Radio Azatutyun, denied thea allegation that he was forced to resign earlyso that the member of the Republican Party of Armenia Hrayr Tovmasyan got the opportunity to become President of the Constitutional Court, until the entry into force of the 2015 constitutional amendments.
According to the RA Special Investigation Service (SIS), the goal was for Tovmasyan to hold the position not for 6 years, but until he was 70 years old.
<There is no difficulty in understanding my resignation. I already spoke about this, that on the 28th I was elected a member of the Supreme Judicial Council and immediately decided that it is inconvenient for the President of the Constitutional Court to be a member of the council at another institute. I just simply resigned as President of the Constitutional Court, which is my right, and no law provides for a special procedure. That's my right. I could generally announce on television that I had resigned, "Harutyunyan said.
To recall, the Special Investigative 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 RA Criminal Code (seizure of power through violence or the threat of violence, as well as the appropriation of the powers of the president, Speaker 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. The MP 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, Tovmasyan's MP duties were terminated without a corresponding statement, on the basis of a nonexistent justification by the then NA President. According to Babajanyan, parliamentary duties cannot be terminated on non-existent grounds.