Ara Babloyan: I can only be accused for supporting Nikol Pashinyan in  coming to power

ArmInfo. I can only be accused for supporting RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in coming to power. If they want to investigate this, then I am ready to confirm it.  Former Speaker of the Armenian parliament Ara Babloyan announced this  today at a meeting with reporters. To recall he was involved as a  suspect in a criminal case on usurpation of state power.

Speaking about the progress of the matter, Babloyan refused to go  into details, guided by a secret investigation. "I can only say that  I did everything in accordance with the law and the Constitution," he  said. Meanwhile, the former Speaker noted that he was somewhat  offended by law enforcement officers who called him for interrogation  directly during a child's liver transplant surgery. <The rush was  unnecessary. I've been preparing for this surgery for 20 years. In  the surgery room, my colleagues replaced me, everything went well>,  said Babloyan.  

To recall, former acting Arsen Babayan, deputy head of the  parliament's apparatus, has been charged with complicity in this  crime and committing forgery. "On the basis of sufficient evidence  obtained during the investigation of the criminal case investigated  by the Special Investigation Service, Arsen Babayan was charged with  part 1 of article 38-300 (complicity in the usurpation of state  power) and part 1 of article 314 (Official forgery) of the Criminal  Code of Armenia: In the framework of the same case, the former  Speaker Ara Babloyan is also involved as a suspect.

According to the indictment, on February 12, 2018, the NA President  proposed the candidacy of MP of the Republican Party of Armenia Hrayr  Tovmasyan to the vacant seat of a member of the Constitutional Court.   On March 2, 2018, the National Assembly elected the latter a member  of the Constitutional Court. As of March 1, 2018, when before the 7th  chapter of the Constitution came into force, according to the  referendum of December 6, 2015, there were about 40 days left (the  newly elected President of Armenia was to take office on April 9,  2018), a group of officials in order to avoid constitutional  regulation that comes into force on the election of the head of the  Constitutional Court for a term of 6 years and the possibility for a  member of his team to remain in office for up to 70 years, in  violation of the procedure provided for by the Constitution, seized  power, appointing March 21, 2018 - the entry into force of the  restriction - Hrayr Tovmasyan for the position of President of the  Constitutional Court ", - reported in the SIS.

According to the SIS, in particular,  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  NA Speaker Ara Babloyan on the resignation of the post  of the President of the Constitutional Council, which was dated 1-  March 2018

"This statement was sent from the general department of the  Constitutional Court's apparatus and through the head of the  apparatus was handed to the acting deputy head of the National  Assembly's Arsen Babayan on March 5. Moreover,  Speaker of the  National Assembly Ara Babloyan, having not officially received this  statement, Gagik Harutyunyan, on March 2 illegally signed and made a  statement on the resignation of Gagik Harutyunyan, head of the  Constitutional Court, otherwise the President of the National  Assembly would not have been able to announce the resignation of the  President of the Constitutional Assembly on March 20, 2018.

And after that, in compliance with the three-day period stipulated by  the law, it would be impossible to appoint Hrayr Tovmasyan as the  head of the Constitutional Court, since there was no provision for  the next sitting of the National Assembly, "the SIS said. The  department also emphasizes that Arsen Babayan, violating the legal  regulation in part Of the 6th article of the 97th law "On the Rules  of Procedure of the National Assembly" adopted on February 20, 2002,  with the intention of assisting a group of individuals in usurping  the powers of the Constitutional Court, in the conditions of the  submission of a statement on March 5, 2018 Gagik Harutyunyan's  account in the "Malbury" official electronic system of the general  department of the ND apparatus, through the employees of this  department, introduced false information on the press about the  receipt of this application. "He also noted March 2, 2018 as the date  of receipt in the Malbury system. Thus, he distorted the fact that  Gagik Harutyunyan's statement arrived in the National Assembly on  March 5.

Thus, Arsen Babayan created false grounds for the publication of the  fact that the head of the Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunyan  submitted a letter of resignation signed by the Speaker of the  National Assembly Ara Babloyan on March 2, 2018, in order to usurp  the powers of the Constitutional Court. This, in turn, became the  basis for the termination of his powers, and later on for the process  of nominating and appointing Hrayr Tovmasyan to this vacant post,  "the SIS said, adding that the investigator submitted a motion to the  court of general jurisdiction of Yerevan regarding Babayana arrest as  a preventive measure.  It should be noted that the Special  Investigation Service, on the basis of an appeal from independent MP  Arman Babajanyan, opened a criminal case on the basis of usurpation  of power by a group of people. The statement of Babajanyan concerns  President of the Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan, whose legality  is being disputed by the MP.  Babajanyan, in his appeal to the  Prosecutor General's Office, previously claimed that Tovmasyan  committed violations of the law upon assuming this position in 2018.  According to the parliamentarian, without the adopted procedure,  without the statement of Hrayr Tovmasyan, the then President of the  parliament terminated Tovmasyan's MP duties  on the basis of  nonexistent justification. For nonexistent justifications, a person  cannot terminate MP duties.