Thovmasyan: My Participation in the Discussion on Termination of Powers in the National Assembly is Inappropriate

The President of the Constitutional Court, Hrayr Thovmasyan, has issued a statement indicating that given the political and subjective motives behind the National Assembly's draft decision to appeal to terminate his powers, he does not consider it appropriate to participate in its discussion.

In the statement, he said, "Dear compatriots, the process initiated by the 'My Step' faction of the National Assembly to terminate my powers as a judge of the Constitutional Court is, in essence, politically and subjectively motivated. This conclusion arises from events preceding and following this process, particularly:

• Prime Minister N. Pashinyan's call on May 19, 2019, to block the entrances and exits to the courts, including the Constitutional Court, which was implemented on May 20 with the active participation of representatives of the ruling political force, including members of the National Assembly;
• During the tenure of the current President of the Constitutional Court, the June 20, 2019 session of the National Assembly saw the 'self-declaration' of newly elected judge V. Grigoryan as President of the Constitutional Court, with the open support of the political majority in the National Assembly for this move;
• Regular subjective comments and personalized approaches by the ruling political force regarding the further tenure of the President of the Constitutional Court and the judges of the Constitutional Court;
• Indecent expressions directed at the Constitutional Court and myself made by Prime Minister N. Pashinyan in an interview with Radio Liberty on July 17 of this year, which insult the authority of the judicial power;
• Statements and evaluations made by the President of the National Assembly, A. Mirzoyan, and Prime Minister N. Pashinyan regarding decisions made by the Constitutional Court on September 16, 2019;
• Baseless references to my name in criminal cases against various individuals;
• The official invitation directed to me by V. Vardanyan, the head of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on State-Legal Affairs, on September 23, 2019, to participate in the committee's meeting on October 24 of this year, although that meeting took place on September 24 of this year, indicating a lack of intent to hold an impartial discussion on the subject matter.

Taking the aforementioned circumstances into account, I do not consider it appropriate to participate in the discussion of the draft decision on the appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding the termination of the powers of Hrayr Thovmasyan, a judge of the Constitutional Court, in the National Assembly. I apologize to the members of the 'Prosperous Armenia' faction of the National Assembly for not being given the opportunity to ask me questions during the discussion of this issue in the session of the National Assembly."