01 February 2020, 11:55
PACE urges Armenian authorities to reduce pressure on Constitutional Court
The unprecedented level of tensions of the government with the Constitutional Court (CC) threatens the whole judicial system, the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for Armenia have stated.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in autumn of 2019, investigators accused Grair Tovmasyan, the CC head, of fictitious auctions. In the winter of 2019, Tovmasyan was charged with abuse of office powers, when he was the Minister of Justice. Mr Tovmasyan himself treats his criminal prosecution as politically motivated.
The Armenian Premier, Nikol Pashinyan, has broken the presumption of innocence by posting the details of Tovmasyan's criminal case in the social network, rights defenders assert.
The statement of Andrei Shircel (Slovenia) and Kimmo Kiljunen (Finland), the PACE co-rapporteurs for Armenia, posted on January 31 on the PACE's website, expresses the PACE's concern about the high level of tension of the Armenian Premier's Office with the CC head.
The tensions could harm the entire judicial system, the credibility of which is already low, the statement adds.
The PACE MPs have urged the authorities to refrain from actions and statements that can be regarded as pressure on the judicial system, as well as to take measures to reduce tensions.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 1, 2020 at 06:21 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Tigran Petrosyan Source: CK correspondent
