Gagik Harutyunyan Denies Being Pressured to Resign as President of the Constitutional Court

Former President of the Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunyan, in an interview with Azatutyun, denied claims that he was pressured to resign before the designated term last year, so that member of the Republican Party of Armenia, Hrayr Tovmasyan, could have the opportunity to become the President of the Constitutional Court before the constitutional amendments fully came into effect in 2015. The aim, according to the Special Investigative Service, was for Tovmasyan to serve not for six years, but until the age of 70.

“There is no complexity in understanding. I have mentioned that I was elected as a member of the Supreme Judicial Council on the 28th, and I immediately decided that it was not appropriate for the President of the Constitutional Court to also be a member of another institution. I simply resigned from the powers of the [CC] president, which is my right, and no special procedure is stipulated by law. It is my right. I could have announced my resignation on television,” said Harutyunyan.

“So, you could have not waited for your 70th birthday and stepped down earlier?”

“Certainly, that is a person's right. Look at Article 57 of the Constitution, and it is also my right. I was not elected as the president and then as a member of the court; these were different legal acts. I resigned the powers of the CC president but remained a member until my retirement appointment.”

“You were not forced to take this step so that Hrayr Tovmasyan could become the president of the CC?”

“That is fairy tales; it belongs to the genre of fairy tales. I myself decided that it was inappropriate to be the president of the CC while being a member of the Supreme Judicial Council.”