This is unprecedented cynicism by the court: Vahe Grigoryan

Lawyer Vahe Grigoryan wrote on his Facebook page: “Dear friends,

You are already aware that Judge D. Grigoryan decided on 20/05/2019 to suspend the proceedings of the case 'Republic of Armenia vs. R. Kocharyan and others' to appeal to the Constitutional Court. I am currently ignoring the procedural violations that have already been raised regarding such a decision.

Yesterday, I published the victims' position on appealing this decision.

Although I have not yet received the decision, I was working on filing an appeal against this decision based on the text of the decision available in the Datalex legal information system, citing several violations of substantive and procedural rights, as well as gross violations of the criminal procedure code.

And just a moment ago, when I called the reception of Judge D. Grigoryan to check whether the decision subject to appeal had been sent to me and the victims, I inquired whether the court, respecting the parties’ right to appeal against the suspension of the case on this basis (Article 31, paragraph 3 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code), is waiting for the realization of our right to appeal.

I was informed from the reception of Judge D. Grigoryan that the decision subject to appeal and not yet appealed has ALREADY BEEN ENFORCED and THE CRIMINAL CASE (with all volumes) HAS BEEN SENT TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT, unlawfully and severely violating the rules of criminal procedure, depriving all parties involved in the trial of the opportunity to appeal.

By sending the entire criminal case to the Constitutional Court along with all its materials, our right to appeal has effectively ceased, as the appellate criminal court cannot hear our appeal without the materials of the criminal case.

On the other hand, the Constitutional Court is not authorized to begin proceedings on the case based on Judge D. Grigoryan's decision, as doing so would violate the victims' right to appeal. But it will still be evident why this case has reached the Constitutional Court with such urgency. This will become clear during the Constitutional Court's decision on the hearing of this case. What is evident is that with numerous violations of substantive and procedural law, Judge Grigoryan hastily expedited the case 'Republic of Armenia vs. R. Kocharyan and others' to the Constitutional Court. This is certainly an unprecedented and not coincidental urgency...

Strange and unlawful haste from a judge who for days failed to impose any limitations during the judicial theatrics that occurred last week. And I have no doubt that this illegality was allowed by the judge due to ignorance or confusion about the criminal procedure code. This is unprecedented cynicism by the court, and it clearly smells of a dead rat. Fact. More detailed comments will be presented later.”