ArmInfo.The constitutional referendum in Armenia should be supplemented with a political assessment of the process of state capture. Chairman of the Public Council of Armenia Stepan Safaryan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"My personal point of view has been unchanged for quite some time - the problem of the Constitutional Court needs to be resolved. I am convinced that the restoration of the constitutional order and order in the form of a legitimate formation of the legislative and executive power that took place in Armenia after the" velvet revolution "should end with the formation of a legitimate judicial power", he emphasized.
Otherwise, the country, according to Safaryan, will be forced to live between two realities. The executive and legislative powers formed by the Armenian society and the judiciary formed by the former illegitimate regime, which had seized power in the country.
In this light, the Chairman of the Public Council considers the decision to hold a constitutional referendum to be the next step on the path that needs to be continued. In particular, Safaryan sees the need for a political assessment of the state capture process that took place before 2018. In his opinion, this assessment should have been given immediately after the revolution, although it is not too late to do it today.
"If this assessment were given, and the existing Constitutional Court is a classic example of state capture, we would not have faced the need for a referendum today. Hrayr Tovmasyan, appointed a member of the Constitutional Court ahead of time due to certain acquaintances, Gagik Harutyunyan dismissed from the post of chairman of the Constitutional Court and appointed to a position specially created for him, are vivid examples of state capture. And there is still the need to assess this capture, "Safaryan concluded.
At an extraordinary sitting of the National Assembly of Armenia on February 6, the MPs voted "for" the need to hold referendum on amendments to the Constitution, providing for the termination of the powers of the chairman and members of the Constitutional Court. The matter concerns Article 213 of the Constitution regulating the tenure of members and the chairman of the Constitutional Court. The adoption of the amendments will allow the resignation of the current composition of the Constitutional Court.
According to the logic of the ruling party, the continued exercise of the powers of judges of the Constitutional Court, appointed before the constitutional reform of 2015, creates a discrepancy between the terms of office of judges appointed by the Constitution of 1995 and appointed by the Constitution of 2005, while the powers of judges appointed after 2015 are generally limited to 12 years. At the same time, the head of the Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan was elected to this post after the adoption of the new Constitution, but before its entry into force.
To note, however, yesterday, in his speech at the parliamentary meeting, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, in fact, gave a political assessment, which the analyst speaks of. The head of government emphasized that the de facto and de jure the Constitutional Court has become a haven for rigging elections and seizing power. In the 1996, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013 presidential elections, the Constitutional Court acted as an instrument that prevented the people from exercising their right to form a government in the country. The Constitutional Court made it clear that the citizens could not form a government in the country because it contradicted the conventional restraint of the sanction presupposition of a particular part of the case law. Then the members and the Chairman of the Constitutional Court wrote books on the need to conventionally impose sanctions on a particular part of the precedent logic of case law; they kept reading lectures, defending doctoral theses. But they could not answer a simple question of the people. ballot stuffing, dead souls coming to the polls, bribery, beatings, threats to get fired, total control of the TV.", the prime minister noted.
Being one of the authors of the text of the current constitution, or rather Serzh Sargsyan's trusted man in the editorial group and the de facto leader of the process; he did his best to adapt the text of the Constitution to his own plans. In essence, a deal was made between Serzh Sargsyan and Hrayr Tovmasyan with the following logic. Should Hrayr Tovmasyan conceive a text of the constitution that would give Serzh Sargsyan the opportunity to serve for life, then that very text should give Hrayr Tovmasyan the opportunity to serve as CC Chairman for life in spite of the Constitution itself, Pashinyan noted in his speech.
The Constitutional Court has no counterbalance and no restraint at all, it can and does actually restrict the highest holder of power - the people's authority - including the status of the Constitutional Court", he said.