The Urgency of Sending Constitutional Court Judges to Early Retirement is Strange: Tonoyan

The discussion on the draft to send Constitutional Court judges to early retirement has not taken place; I can express my personal opinion that the urgency is more than strange. This was stated by Iveta Tonoyan, a member of the 'Prosperous Armenia' faction, during a briefing with journalists in the National Assembly.

“I do not understand how this issue has ripened enough to be discussed in a hasty manner,” Tonoyan said.

Regarding the supposed consequences, Iveta Tonoyan noted: “I am more than confident that no judge of the Constitutional Court can be forced into retirement, and, of course, all processes must take place in a legal framework, and only legal mechanisms should be employed concerning this issue.”

Tonoyan also found it strange that Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan claimed that the purpose of the draft is to clarify issues related to the judges' conduct. “It is extremely unclear how a project on early retirement aims to clarify the judges' conduct,” she said.

It should be noted that the draft on sending Constitutional Court judges to early retirement was recently approved at a government meeting.

Regarding the bill related to the criminal subculture, she mentioned that their vote against the law is not at all related to individuals or “thieves in law.” Tonoyan stated that any crime should be punishable; however, in this case, when the law is fundamentally flawed, there are numerous serious issues. “For example, what does it mean to measure the status in the criminal world? Is that a document-issued credential? We have serious concerns; that is why we voted against it,” she said.