CC to consider `material interest` case 

ArmInfo.The RA Constitutional Court yesterday decided to begin proceedings on the compliance of Article  236.2 of the RA Criminal Code with the RA Constitution. This was announced by social and political figure, coordinator of the "Hayakve" initiative Avetik Chalabyan.

He recalls that in 2022, a fabricated criminal case was opened  against him (and is still ongoing) based on this absurd article, and  they initially challenged in court not only the presence of his guilt  in this case, but also the legality of initiating a criminal case and  compliance the charges brought against the Constitution of the  Republic of Armenia. Now, when a number of new cases have been  initiated against various oppositionists on the basis of the same  article, the issue has acquired additional resonance, and the  opposition to the National Assembly has officially appealed to the  Constitutional Court.

"After even the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe  touched upon this issue in its report and pointed out the illegality  and contradiction of Article 236.2 and its contradiction with the  European Guidelines for Conducting Peaceful Assemblies, the  Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia accepted this issue  for consideration. I am grateful to all those colleagues whose  consistent work and struggle led to this important stage, but there  is still a lot of work ahead to find a legal and fair solution to  this issue," wrote Avetik Chalabyan.

At the end of June this year. It was reported that the PACE  Monitoring Commission published a report on Armenia's fulfillment of  its obligations, which, among other things, specifically mentions the  criminal case brought against Chalabyan. In particular, as the  politician noted, the report expressed deep concern that the RA  authorities used Article 236 of the RA Criminal Code to punish him  politically, without actually having a sufficient legal basis for  this. The report also states that, according to European guidelines  on freedom of peaceful assembly, financial incentives to participate  in assemblies cannot be criminalized, and the application of criminal  penalties in this case is inappropriate. <In this regard, our defense  has long been arguing that Article 236 of the Criminal Code, under  which the current authorities are trying to punish me, is  unconstitutional and illegal. Back in 2022, in August, a  corresponding petition was submitted to the court of first instance  with a request to appeal to the Constitutional Court of the Republic  of Armenia in order to verify the compliance of this article with the  Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, but this court, which was  clearly opposed to me from the very beginning, rejected this  petition," noted <Ayakwe> coordinator.