The CC president awaits Serzh Sargsyan’s decision
The Constitutional Court of Armenia has not received the president's appeal on the accordance of the Turkey-Armenia Protocols with the RA Constitution, as president of the Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunyan told "A1+".
"The law foresees a procedure by which the protocols must be examined, but we have not received any appeal yet," said Gagik Harutyunyan.
The RA National Assembly will discuss the Turkey-Armenia Protocols after the Turkish parliament's ratification. However, before entering the Armenian parliament, the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs will send the documents to the president who will then send them to the Constitutional Court which will discuss the accordance of the Protocols with the constitution. The Constitutional Court will send its decision to the president and the latter will send it to the parliament.
Accompanying Serzh Sargsyan on his Diaspora tour was president of the RA Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunyan. A number of oppositionists viewed that as a violation of Article 98 of the RA Constitution according to which the president of the Constitutional Court is openly involved in political actions and may be removed from office based on that. In response to "A1+", the CC president Gagik Harutyunyan said that he saw nothing unconstitutional about it.
"That's their opinion. The representatives of all organizations were gathering during those meetings, including representatives of the "Hayastan" All-Armenian Fund. I was on vacation those days and I participated in the tour as vice-chairman of the fund. Among issues discussed were also issues of national concern, particularly from the angle of Armenia-Diaspora relations," said Harutyunyan, adding that his participation had nothing to do with the discussion on the Turkey-Armenia Protocols and their content.
The government doesn't need the CC
Gagik Harutyunyan participated today in the two-day seminar with the theme "Perfection of the procedure of individual appeals within the framework of the RA existing Constitution" organized for representatives of the Constitutional Court and workers.
According to the CC president, the RA courts, the president, the government and a large part of NA deputies are not taking advantage of their opportunity to appeal to the court. In the course of this year, the CC has received only one or two appeals, while the local self-government bodies haven't appealed to the court at all within the past three years. According to Gagik Harutyunyan, the appeals that the court has received until now have been from citizens after an anti-constitutional norm had been applied. "This is absurd. It is not another process of violating justice, but violating the rights of citizens."
Harutyunyan says that currently almost 99% of the appeals on constitutionality of laws are examined based on individual appeals. The laws on over 20 cases have been recognized as anti-constitutional and the institutes have been revised.
