Venice Commission Ready to Provide Advisory Opinion on Robert Kocharian's Case

On August 20, a letter addressed to the President of the Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasyan, from the Director-Secretary of the Venice Commission, Thomas Markert, stated that the Commission is prepared to provide an advisory opinion regarding the case of the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian. This information is included in the press release issued by the Constitutional Court.

"The Constitutional Court informs that, based on the applications from the First Instance Court of Yerevan and Robert Kocharian, a request for an advisory opinion was presented to the Venice Commission. In the letter dated August 20, 2019, Thomas Markert announced the Commission's readiness to provide an amicus curiae opinion," the release states.

It is noteworthy that the Constitutional Court of Armenia has decided to approach the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Venice Commission for an advisory opinion regarding Kocharian's case. "On July 18 of this year, the Constitutional Court of Armenia adopted procedural decisions to seek an advisory opinion on the compliance of Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia with the Constitution, based on the requests from the General Jurisdiction Court of Yerevan and Robert Kocharian, and confirmed that the proceedings on these cases will be suspended until the responses are received, based on Article 56, Part 1, Clause 5 of the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court," the statement added.