CC postponed hearing of "A1+" appeal
The RA Constitutional Court today denied the claim by a National Assembly representative to quash the appeal by "A1+" and postponed the hearing of the appeal to February 23, 2010.
"A1+" demanded that the CC recognize Part 1 of Article 204/28 of the Code of Civil Procedure as anti-constitutional. The part of the article doesn't allow RA citizens to take advantage of their right to an effective defense during a trial and disputing their violated rights in national courts.
Accepting this proposition as a basis, the Cassation Court recently refused to meet the requirement by the European Court on "A1+". Let us remind that in June 2008 the European Court reached a verdict regarding "A1+".
On June 17, 2008 the European Court had decided that the RA authorities had violated "A1+"'s right to freedom of expression due to the fact that the seven contests for the broadcasting tender were held with violations of Article 10 of the Convention.
Today president of the CC Gagik Harutyunyan reminded head of the legal department of the National Assembly, plaintiff for the appeal of "A1+" Ashot Khachatryan, that the CC had already recognized Part 1 of Article 204/28 of the Civil Code of Procedure as anti-constitutional. "I don't understand what the National Assembly has done. The proposition that we recognized as anti-constitutional still acts as a proposition in the Civil Code of Procedure. The president of the CC has sent a rather serious, analytical letter to the chairman of the National Assembly and said to take into account the decisions of the Constitutional Court when making legislative reforms."
The president of the CC gave time to the NA representative to clarify. During the next session, the NA representative must respond to the question as to why the NA has included the anti-constitutional proposition in the law again.
Representative of the "Meltex" LTD-"A1+"-Artak Zeylanyan was satisfied with today's decision by the CC. He stated that it was a global issue because not only "A1+", but more than 20 citizens and companies for which the European Court had reached verdicts that were in favor of them, are not able to restore their rights in Armenia's courts.
"The practice of fulfilling the verdicts reached by the European Court and the RA Constitutional Court is in danger in Armenia," said Artak Zeylanyan.
After the release of the verdict on "A1+", the case was transferred to the Ministerial Council of the CE which is still controlling the fulfillment of the verdict by the RA authorities.
