Head of Public Council: Constitutional referendum needs to be  supplemented with a political assessment of state capture

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.